Hmmm... Is Hoyer DLC ??? - Lemmee See Here...

[WillyT]

The DLC

Al From's Columns & Memos

Statement | November 13, 2006

Al From: Hoyer for Majority Leader

<snip>

Last Tuesday, Democrats won back control of the House in a stunning reversal of the 2004 election. The Democratic victory represented a striking repudiation of a Bush administration and Republican Party that has so often subordinated problem-solving to power seeking, competence to ideology, honesty and integrity to corruption and cronyism, and the politics of national unity to the politics of polarization.

Republicans deliberately abandoned the political center and invited Democrats to occupy it. If you look at the victorious Democratic candidates in "red" and "purple" states and districts, it's clear that they did. And while Democrats benefited from an energized party base, the key to the victory was in the contested center of the electorate, among moderates, independents, middle-class voters, and suburbanites. These voters could represent an expanded Democratic base, and an enduring progressive majority, if they can keep it. The best way to achieve that is for Democrats to use their new power wisely.

That's why House Democrats should elect Steny Hoyer as majority leader. As Democratic Whip, Hoyer was a vital part of the team that produced this victory. His record as Whip has been exemplary. In a year where corruption was cited in exit polls as a critical issue, Hoyer is a leader with integrity who has been out front on reform issues. His background and experience position him, and the Democratic Caucus, exactly where they ought to be if they hope to turn the temporary majority of November 7 into an enduring majority in 2008 and beyond.

<snip>

Link: http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=86&subid=84&contentid=254108

Damn... it would seem so!

:shrug::evilgrin::shrug:

[tritsofme]

1. Yeah, I guess I'll take the guy with the 0 score from NARAL

At least he's not part of the "DLC" boogeyman.

[WillyT]

2. *singing* "Whatever Nancy Wants, Nancy Gets..."

Don't need the Hoyer\Pelosi bullshit right out of the gate, now do we?

:shrug:

[tritsofme]

3. Things like that just bother me.

However, I feel I don't know enough about either to have a horse in the race.

[John Q. Citizen]

7. Nancy Pelosi has a 100% NARAL Rating. If you want to undercut the

the leadership of the first woman Speaker of the House, then push the guy who will undercut her.

That would be Hoyer.

[stevedeshazer]

8. Consider this

The right wingers sure aren't attacking Steny Hoyer.

I don't agree with Murtha's anti-abortion view, but on the whole his opposition to the Iraq occupation is Job #1 right now.

He may be "pro-life" and that's his prerogative, but nowadays, pro-life to me means ending the madness. I'm all for that.

[Rainscents]

4. Murtha will be NeoCons nightmare and that is why, DLC and GOP

don't want him as a Majority Leader.

[upi402]

5. WillyT, do ya think the CREW charges will give the R's a media run

that undermines us?

Cuz ya know it will be on a tape loop, ABSCAM too -fart in the wind or not.

[John Q. Citizen]

9. Yeah, and John Kerry should apologize too. And let's be scared of the Dean scream

I'm tired of Dems doing the Repos work for them.

[MADem]

11. Me too. And the bottom line is, this is NOT up to US. It's a decision that the

House members will take, thankfully, TODAY (so we don't have to see a thousand more Steny vs. Jack threads, like it's a boxing match) that will decide who will be the head cat herder of their delegation. Pelosi likes Murtha, he quietly helped her get the whip job and the minority job, but Murtha has never officially held a leadership job in all his years in the legislature. Steny has been a good whip, he's been faithful playing second banana to Pelosi as minority leader, and he has been a good recruiter for a lot of the freshman class of legislators.

I really don't give a damn who gets it--I just wish the childish bickering and false accusations (ooooooh, Hoyer MUST be "DLC" and therefore he's eeeeeeeevil) would stop. It's all ignorant horseshit, IMO.

You're completely right--we've got fools who carry GOP water, on this subject, Kerry, Dean and who knows what else, and I can only hope they are doing it unwittingly.

The bright spot--in a week or two, no matter who gets the job, this will fade.

[WillyT]

10. Frankly, I'm Not That Big A Fan Of Hoyer, Or Murtha...

I'm not so much worried about Murtha's 26 year old "scandal", as much as the wheeling and dealing he's done across the aisle, and all the earmarks he's spread around for votes.

On this one, I'm just gonna hope and pray Pelosi knows what she's doing. And if ya think about it, it's almost a mirror image of maybe why the rePukes put Lott back in the picture. In some positions, ya want the guys who can not only wheel and deal, but who know where the bodies are buried.

A side of politics I dislike to be sure, but one that may remain a necessity for at least the next cycle or two. That is, if reform can EVER get rid of that side of politics?

:shrug::hi::shrug:

[upi402]

13. What about the 2002 charges though?

http://www.beyonddelay.org/node/96

http://www.beyonddelay.org/summaries/murtha.php

Rep. John Murtha (D-PA)

John Murtha is a seventeenth-term member of Congress, representing the 12th district of Pennsylvania. His ethics issues stem from abuse of his position as Ranking Member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee to benefit clients of his brother, Robert “Kit” Murtha, a registered lobbyist.

KSA Consulting

In 2002, Kit Murtha was hired by KSA Consulting, a firm that lobbies the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee on behalf of defense contractors. Mr. Murtha joined the firm at the invitation of top KSA official Carmen Scialabba, who had worked for Rep. Murtha on the House Appropriations Committee for 27 years.

In 2004, Congress passed a $417 billion defense appropriations bill that went through Rep. Murtha’s subcommittee. The bill benefitted at least 10 companies represented by KSA and KSA directly lobbied Rep. Murtha’s office on behalf of seven of those companies, which received a total $20.8 million in earmarks.

PMA Group

Paul Magliocchetti worked with Rep. Murtha as a senior staffer on the Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense for 10 years. After leaving the committee, Mr. Magliocchetti founded the PMA Group, which has become one of the most prominent Washington, D.C. defense lobbying firms. In the current campaign cycle, the PMA Group and 12 of the firm’s clients rank in the top 20 contributors to Rep. Murtha, having made campaign contributions totaling $274,649. In turn, many of PMA’s clients have benefited significantly from Rep. Murtha’s earmarks. In the 2006 Defense appropriations bill, PMA clients received at least 60 earmarks, totaling $95.1 million.

House ethics rules prohibit members from taking any official actions for the prospect of personal gain for themselves or anyone else. In addition, Rule XXIII of the House Ethics Manual requires all members of the House to conduct themselves “at all times in a manner that reflects creditably on the House.” By earmarking funds for companies represented by Kit Murtha and Paul Magliocchetti, Rep. Murtha has violated House rules.

<<<I'm fine with either myself, because neither is a read Dem in my view. But Murtha would definitley be my first choice if not for the '02 charges. -Knowing I count for zip, just sayin'>>>

[ShockediSay]

6. never heard of the guy til this past week; heard him this AM on NPR

and he sounded like the typical both sides of the mouth politician, from the inside the beltway track

Murtha, however, came out ahead of the troops, and took the flak that went along with it; plain spoken (GOD we need plain spoken leadership) and principled (ditto principled leadership) when everybody else was looking to capture what the pollsters told them ... and nobody in their right mind would criticize Murtha for being "soft on defense." On top of it all, he ain't no chicken hawk, or chicken dove for that matter

If Steny Hoyer (who?) is in, I'm looking for a third party who can provide plain speaking principled leadership

[gulfcoastliberal]

12. K&R - LOL, I should've known this already got posted!

Always good to check in with the 5th column website!

[Tom Joad]

14. The DLC is not only a threat to the party, but to the planet.

The world cannot afford the endless war it supports.