Burgess to Serve as Vice Chair of GOP Policy Committee

The GOP has tapped Michael Burgess (TX-26) to serve as Vice Chair of the GOP Policy Committee. The committee, according to a release by Burgess

....serves as a formal council to meet regularly to facilitate the formulation and carrying out of national policy, and to improve relationships between the executive and legislative branches of government.

Burgess joins another Texan, Kay Granger, appointed as GOP Conference Vice Chair, in the GOP leadership ranks.

The GOP Policy Committee is headed by Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan, who had this to say about his election.

U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, a Livonia Republican who ascended to the chairmanship of the influential House Republican Policy Committee, knows it was more than his charm, popularity and dry sense of humor that led to the post.

There's some history to the new position. Past chairmen have included former President Gerald Ford and Vice President Dick Cheney.

"There's a lot of bald guys on that committee. It seems to be the official bald guys' spot," he said. "That's the only reason I got it."

Do you really think he's trying to bring our attention to his hair, or hint at larger political aspirations? Anyway, it was clever.

He also had this to say about Iraq.

Right off the bat, we need to make sure to have a policy that will bring victory in Iraq," said McCotter. "That is the No. 1 issue on the American public's mind."

In his defense, this quote was from November, before James Baker put the lie to that part about "victory." But here's the important part: The GOP Policy Committee is putting Iraq front and center, and a North Texas congressman is number two on that committee. It sounds like a good time for North Texans to remind Congressman Burgess what the November elections were all about.