From the past to remind: Sirota on Hoyer

[SouthernBelle82]

I did some searching on Hoyer to learn more about him and saw this post at the Huffington Post from David Sirota. I hope you all check it out:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/hoyers-campaign-to-under_b_11848.html

Here are some questions every Democrat in America should be asking: why is Steny Hoyer, the House's second-ranking Democrat, going out of his way to undermine the Democratic Party's message on Iraq? Why is Hoyer using his taxpayer-paid staff to place stories bragging about his efforts to shakedown corporate lobbyists? And why has Hoyer undercut his party on critical votes that would have helped Democrats craft a strong, crisp message? I used to think it was because Steny Hoyer was just an extraordinary stupid person who had been insulated in the Beltway for so long that he was simply suffering from severe brain rot. But alas, I was stupid in thinking that. What's really going on is very obvious: Hoyer is waging a not-so-secret, but oh-so-self-serving campaign to topple House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D) and assume the top job in the Democratic Caucus - a job he has coveted since Pelosi beat him out for whip a few years back. And he's waging his campaign even though it is destroying his own party.

You don't need to look very far to see how Hoyer is doing everything he can to self-servingly undermine his party as a way to hurt Pelosi. In today's Washington Post, for instance, the paper reported that according to congressional sources, Hoyer "told colleagues that Pelosi's recent endorsement of a speedy withdrawal combined with her claim that more than half of House Democrats support her position, could backfire on the party." You might recall that last week it was Hoyer who, after Pelosi came out in support of Jack Murtha's plan for an exit strategy, was quoted in the Post saying withdrawal "could lead to disaster" - a statement only a Washington politician wholly out of touch with ordinary Americans could make, considering a disaster has long been unfolding in Iraq, and considering most Americans now support an exit strategy.

Then, while Pelosi works to resist the influence of corporate interests as she goes after the GOP's "culture of corruption," it is Hoyer who is deliberately landing stories in newspapers about his efforts to formalize his own system of legalized bribery - putting his own campaign wallet ahead of Democrats' efforts to develop a message of reform. Today in Roll Call, for instance, it was Hoyer who placed the story that details his efforts to "woo K Street" (aka. the corporate lobbying community). The story notes he convened a meeting of "50 business-minded Democratic consultants, lobbyists and corporate officers to get them to commit to writing checks." And in case you didn't think Hoyer was trying to land these stories - just check out his website where he brazenly displays a similar story, as if his corporate shakedown operation is a trophy to be marveled at - and not an albatross that directly undermines his party's message.

Finally, it has been Hoyer who has made a point of actively working against Pelosi on major congressional votes. You remember, it was Hoyer - the Democratic Whip - who refused to whip votes together to try to defeat the corporate-written Central American Free Trade Agreement. When Pelosi tried to build opposition to the disgusting bankruptcy bill, it was Hoyer, the second-ranking Democrat in the House, who not only didn't whip against the bankruptcy bill, but actually voted for it, after pocketing massive campaign contributions from the banking industry. While Pelosi was taking a stand by voting against the Iraq War, Hoyer was voting for the Iraq War. And when Pelosi worked to keep her caucus together in opposing the GOP Energy Bill, it was Hoyer who voted for the nauseating legislation after pocketing more than $300,000 from energy/natural resource industry cash. That legislation that literally gave away billions of taxpayer dollars to the energy industry profiteers who proceeded to bilk Americans with higher and higher gas prices.

More at the link

[atreides1]

1. We're screwed

End of message

[KoKo]

6. Let's hope there are "emboldened progressives" who will stand against

Hoyer. When we were the minority party he might have been able to grab some DINO votes...but there are people in the House who know how they got their majority status and it wasn't the lobbyists who gave it to them.

Let's hope Hoyer's star is fading as new Dems who are more progressive join with the old war horse progressives for change. Dems did try to amend the Bankruptcy bill but were blocked by Repugs...still there were more safeguards in the dreadful thing because of the Dems. Hopefully it can be legislated away with more amendments.

[texpatriot2004]

2. "...Hoyer who has made a point of actively working against

Pelosi on major congressional votes."

Again, with Democrats like Hoyer, who needs enemies.

[SouthernBelle82]

5. Exactly

That's why I'm worried about him. :\ Plus I read on another post here that he was the one who sent out the video of Murtha from the past.

[bigtree]

9. like he was the only one

there have been plenty of Democrat defectors when their votes wouldn't have made a difference in the outcome of the vote. Now the stakes are higher, and the penalty for fighting the leadership could be the demise of the congresspersons pet projects which have better prospects now that we have the majority.

Hoyer will be excellent in whipping the votes together from the less progressive Democrats. He's #2 in the majority party now and will act like a Democratic leader instead of a mere backbencher.

[texpatriot2004]

3. kick nm

[LSK]

4. Murtha voted for the War, the Energy bill and the Bankruptcy bill

http://www.vote-smart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=H3460103

The article leaves that out.

[lyonn]

10. Thanks for info site. EOM

[bigtree]

7. Sirota again?

lol.

Murtha voted for the energy bill as well.

Murtha voted for the IWR

I think he voted for the bankruptcy bill

what the hell is Sirota talking about?

[lyonn]

8. Well hell, I didn't know all this, politics is sneaky business

Who has time to catalog in their minds all the info that comes out that is not stressed in the media. The internet has been a big boost to help get info out and This Site definitely keeps many untold newsworth stories alive.

Obviously Nancy has been able to hold some of those toadies at bay and kept her top position. She managed to defeat Ford in the Leadership position a few years ago, he was a formidable contender, so it looks like she has a loyal following. She is Leader and Hoyer is the whip (?) and she has proved she can direct traffic....