The new Majority Leader(s). Sort of.

Ick. Replacing Tom DeLay with Roy Blunt is like replacing Richard Ramirez with Ted Bundy. The only difference is the body count.

They're also putting up Californian David Dreier, aka 'good cop,' aka Mr. Inclusionary.

Pure politics-- they want to look like nice guys by making Dreier the poster boy, but have the reactionary Blunt at the controls.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert planned to recommend that California Rep. David Dreier and Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt, the GOP whip, temporarily split DeLay's duties without getting his official title, a senior GOP leadership aide told CNN. Republicans could vote Wednesday on the recommendation.

The rules of the GOP conference call for members to give up their leadership posts if they are indicted, but Republican members must vote on the matter.

Friendly reminder: earlier this year, the GOP planned to do away with that rule-- largely because of DeLay's looming problems. They backed off under massive public pressure.

UPDATE: AmericaBlog points out that there's an unsurprising reason Dreier wasn't given the post-- there are long-standing rumors that he's gay, which wouldn't wash with "the base." (say, isn't that what al Qaeda means in Arabic?) Or as the poster refers to Dreier, he's a "closeted heterosexual."