Wherein Steny Hoyer Gets Cordially Invited to Shut It - FDL

[WillyT]

Wherein Steny Hoyer Gets Cordially Invited to Shut It
By: David Dayen
Monday September 27, 2010 7:05 am

<snip>

If the Democrats lose the House in the midterm elections, their top public official in the lower chamber could well become Steny Hoyer. Traditionally, Speakers of the House do not become backbenchers after losing their gavel in a partisan changeover. So if Nancy Pelosi follows suit, and even if she doesn’t, it’s more than possible that Hoyer will be made Minority Leader. And then you’ll have a lead Democrat in the House who thinks like this:

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md) was neither humored nor pleased with Stephen Colbert’s recent testimony before the House Judiciary committee’s subcommittee on immigration, calling it an embarrassment for the Comedy Central host.

“I think his testimony was not appropriate,” said Hoyer, during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.” “I think it was an embarrassment for Mr. Colbert more than the House.”

“You asked me, Chris whether the testimony was appropriate,” he added. “I think it was not appropriate.”

First of all, Hoyer should talk about the testimony to some of his fellow Democrats, like Rep. Judy Chu, who were in the hearing, rather than John Boehner, who clearly spooked Hoyer into this by criticizing Democrats for bringing a comedian to Congress “when they should be passing jobs bills.”

Second of all, Hoyer didn’t even bother (nor did he seem to know) that the legislation about which Colbert testified WAS A JOBS BILL. The AgJobs bill would allow for a path to legal residency for a couple million seasonal agricultural workers, most of them already in the US, instead of the current policy, where they face incredible hardship and toil and no guarantee of any legal rights. Hoyer could have identified the policy and welcomed the opportunity to give it the attention it deserves. He could have noted the bipartisan support and asked if John Boehner has spent any time in the fields to understand the struggles of the migrant community. There were about ten ways to parry the question which Hoyer blew right by.

Incidentally, Hoyer has apparently been the counterweight on holding a vote on the Bush tax cuts before the midterms, with Pelosi wanting to draw a contrast with Republican fealty toward the rich, and Hoyer, well, desperately afraid of that, again.

Welcome to your Hoyer era in Democratic politics, should it come to pass. It will feature pathetic, knee-jerk cutting off of the legs of any remotely liberal-sounding policy. It will feature a rhetorical agenda designed to please Fox News. It will feature the kind of “liberals” America hates, because they sense they have no principles or values.

<snip>

Link: http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/09/27/wherein-steny-hoyer-gets-cordially-invited-to-shut-it/

:kick:

[LiberalFighter]

1. Hoyer must be clueless about life outside DC as well as his dumb ass staff

for not cluing him in about the purpose of Colbert's appearance.

[LiberalFighter]

2. If I was a member of Congress I would instructing my staff

to keep their eyes and ears open about what is happening. And provide a rundown on what is happening.

[OHdem10]

3. Joe Liebarman #2

[WillyT]

5. Yep... Two Of Faux News Favorite Democrats

:puke:

:shrug:

[blondeatlast]

17. You got that right. nt

[gratuitous]

4. Colbert was an embarrassment to the House, Steny?

You sure you want to go with that? This is the same House of Representatives that sat there like statues while tobacco company executives solemnly swore that nicotine was not addictive, or while Rafael Palmeiro was sternly intoning that he had never, ever used steroids, right? I guess in that case, the House is pretty much proof against embarrassment, and getting schooled by a basic cable comedy show host is just one more chapter in a story rife with humiliations piled one on top of the other.

[WillyT]

6. + 1,000,000,000... What You Said...

:applause::applause::applause:

:kick:

:hi:

[madmax]

15. Beautiful nt

[Bitwit1234]

7. I agree they should have had Colbert the comedian because

with all those republicans who are comedians they have quite enough thank you very much.

[tritsofme]

8. Wait, there are actually people who think the Colbert thing was a good idea?

Talk about being detached from reality.

[WillyT]

9. Well Yeah... Compared To The Amatuer Clowns Who Inhabit The Congress...

It was refreshing to see a professional comedian for once.

And... he got to say this within the walls of Congress:

REP. CHU: Mr. Colbert, you could work on so many issues. Why are you interested in this issue?

COLBERT: <Takes a pause of two or three beats to think before answering, dropping character> I like talking about people who don’t have any power, and it seems like one of the least powerful people in the United States are migrant workers who come in and do our work, but don’t have any rights as a result. And yet, we still ask them to come here, and at the same time, ask them to leave. And that’s an interesting contradiction to me, and um… You know, “whatsoever you did for the least of my brothers,” and these seemed like the least of my brothers, right now. A lot of people are “least brothers” right now, with the economy so hard, and I don’t want to take anyone’s hardship away from them or diminish it or anything like that. But migrant workers suffer, and have no rights.

Link: http://bluewavenews.com/blog/2010/09/24/stephen-colbert-does-congress-video-accurate-transcript/

:hi:

[BzaDem]

10. "It will feature pathetic, kneejerk cutting off of the legs of any remotely liberal-sounding policy"

Actually, if your scenario comes to pass and we lose the House, that will feature the pathetic, knee-jerk cutting off of the legs of any remotely liberal-sounding policy. The cause of that will be the fact that we are in the minority. Not who the minority leader is.

[Canuckistanian]

11. Actually, Boehner criticized Dems for "not passing tax cuts"

I've got to give them credit - they're single-minded to the point of idiocy.

Dems could actually take some lessons in passion like that.

[Radical Activist]

12. Very imaginative post.

The FDL blogs are often imaginative.

[bvar22]

13. Steny Hoyer???...Isn't he a Republican?

Sure talks like one.

[WillyT]

14. Yeah... And If We Get In The Minority...

And he becomes minority leader...

Well... that will be... EXTREMELY disappointing.

To say the LEAST...

:evilfrown:

[pa28]

16. “liberals” America hates, because they sense they have no principles or values.

Democrats epitaph if we lose in November.

No matter how things turn out we need to take a good hard look in the mirror as Britain's Labour party has done.