The Times, the Globe and just about everywhere else report today that Nancy Pelosi has backed away from her choice to head the House Intelligence Committee, Florida congressman Alcee Hastings.

The real story, though, is not that she didn’t follow through on a stupid pick; it’s why she was pushing the scandal-tarred Hastings in the first place. After all, back in 1988, Pelosi herself had voted to impeach Hastings from his position as a U.S. District Court judge (a fact unreported by either the Times or the Globe); Hastings was accused of taking a $150,000 bribe from two alleged mobsters in exchange for return of their seized assets and a lenient sentence. Hastings had previously squeaked out of a criminal conviction when his accused co-conspirator went to jail rather than testify against him. (Hmm. Wonder what he was afraid of?)

The Globe reports (and the Times didn’t, but should have) that…

Hastings…had been scrambling to secure the intelligence post in recent days. Last week he circulated an angry, rambling letter to his Democratic colleagues in which he accused the FBI of evidence-tampering and conservative commentators of making uninformed judgments.

“I hope that my fate is not determined by Newt Gingrich, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Michael Barone, Drudge, anonymous bloggers, and other assorted misinformed fools,” Hastings wrote. “I have been entrusted with America’s secrets. And, I have never violated that trust.“

Love that punctuation, Mr. Congressman. And, here’s something else that may have been a factor for Pelosi:

The decision to bypass Hastings could damage Pelosi’s strained relations with the Congressional Black Caucus. The caucus clashed with Pelosi earlier this year over her efforts to press Representative William J. Jefferson of Louisiana to resign his primary committee post when investigators found $90,000 in his freezer.

90k in your freezer? Nah. Nothing wrong there. I’ve got about $75,000 in mine. But I’ve been eating out a lot lately.

The Times quotes Hastings saying that he would continue to have a role in public life.

“Sorry, haters, God is not finished with me yet,” he said.

Well, don’t blame us for being optimistic.

The reason Pelosi needed to appoint someone to the post is because she does not like the ranking Democrat on the intelligence committee, California representative Jane Harman. The ostensible reason is because Harman did not criticize Bush administration intelligence analyses before the war in Iraq.

But then, lots of people made that mistake. And Harman has appeal to moderate and conservative Dems, as well as being good on TV. You’d think Pelosi would see the value in that.

So I think there’s something else going on here…maybe the fact that Harman is, like Pelosi, a high-profile, attractive female politician from California. And unlike Pelosi, Harman is blonde.

You guessed it—it’s a catfight!