END OF STORY - Nancy Pelosi

With all the hand wringing going on as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's failed leadership continues to crumble around her (or, at least, that's what one would think given how much ink her support of John Murtha over Steny Hoyer for Majority Leader has gotten), I think that it's important if we distill this down to its most rudimentary components. Per Atrios, who absolutely slams it out of the park:

Pelosi backed her friend out of loyalty, he lost, everybody moves on.

Wow. I don't think anyone could have put that any plainer. Thank you, sir.

Of course, if you're interested in something a bit more complex in its analysis, I direct you to The Nation, who does its best to quell the tempest in a teapot this stupidity has become.

Democrats from both camps contended that while Pelosi may have miscalculated in backing Murtha so aggressively, the entire race will be forgotten in a week. "She's a very smart woman who made a mistake in judgment," said Barney Frank. "But it's a one-off thing." Added David Obey, the 68-year-old incoming chair of the Appropriations Committee: "I've seen a lot of bigger fights. This was mild by comparison."

And through it all, the Democrats will somehow forge on. After 12 years of lock-step discipline within the Republican caucus, it's understandable that the media might not recognize quaint notions like debate and differences of opinion. Hopefully, in time their memories will be sufficiently jogged.