Denying Pelosi the Record

"We're going to take a two-year hiatus," Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said yesterday. Referring to incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he added, "My goal and job will be to make sure she never sets the record that Denny Hastert set." The New York Times helpfully explains that "Mr. Reynolds was referring to the current speaker, Representative J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, who has held the job longer than any other Republican in the nation's history."

So Reynolds' job is to prevent Pelosi from being a longer-serving Republican speaker than Hastert? Mission accomplished. Or maybe he meant his job is to prevent Pelosi from being the longest-serving female speaker. In that case, as of January it will be too late.