Why is Steny Hoyer Siding With bush Instead of Kennedy re: Congress' Power?

[leftchick]

And Joe Biden for that matter? I just heard it on KO that they are distancing themselves from Ted Kennedy's proposed legislation regarding the troop surge? They are both saying congress's hands are tied? WTF? It sounds like Hoyer for sure is compromised. At least Biden is supposed to come out with another plan.

Here is Sen. Kennedys plan:

<snip>

Declaring that “American values and America’s role in the world are all at stake,” Sen. Edward M. Kennedy on Tuesday said he will lead an effort to block funding for a troop surge in Iraq “unless and until Congress approves” President Bush’s plan for such a deployment.

In a speech at the National Press Club, Kennedy, D-Mass., the No. 2 Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said he and Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., would introduce legislation later in the day aimed at forcing Bush to gain congressional consent for his new Iraq strategy, which the president plans to unveil in a televised address to the nation Wednesday night.

Bush is expected to announce that roughly 20,000 more soldiers and Marines will be sent to augment the 140,000 troops now serving in Iraq. He also is expected to seek at least $100 billion in supplemental fiscal 2007 war spending next month.

“The president’s speech must be the beginning – not the end – of a new national discussion of our policy in Iraq,” Kennedy said. “Congress must have a genuine debate over the wisdom of the president’s plan. Let us hear the arguments for it and against it. Then let us vote on it in the light of day.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20070109/pl_cq_politics/congressshouldvoteontroopsurgeiniraqkennedysays

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[AlCzervik]

3. Did i hear right today that AIPAC is exempt from the new ethics bill?

[DemBones DemBones]

6. I certainly hope that's NOT true. nt

[AlCzervik]

14. from rawstory

WASHINGTON -- A major loophole in the Democrats' recently unveiled ethics package will allow non-profit arms of controversial lobbying organizations to fund travel excursions for members of Congress, RAW STORY has discovered.

Though tasked with authoring the legislation, Rules Committee Chair Louise Slaughter (D-NY) said she disagreed with the exemption in an exclusive interview.

"I would've done it straight out," Slaughter said, noting that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the Aspen Institute are exempt from many of its harshest restrictions.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/Major_loophole_in_Democrats_ethics_bill_0109.html

[babylonsister]

19. Ain't that the pits? I'm with Slaughter on this. nt

[burythehatchet]

25. AI-fuckin-PAC

[partylessinOhio]

28. What bull shit! So who is really running this asylum?

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

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[Jacobin]

30. that just about does it

[leftchick]

8. well I suspected that but damn!

To put Israeli policy before the safety of our own US troops? That should be suicide for any politician. What a God awful pick for this position. I hope this move puts him out and Murtha in. :puke:

[ChairmanAgnostic]

20. ms.chick, your wisdom shines as always.

damn them for caving so early to the worst of the worst twisters of US foreign policy.

Between AIPAC and the House of Saud, we must face facts. We are phucked.

[Canuckistanian]

39. B..B...But Israel is the enemy of our enemies!

Our policy is their policy. Right? Right?

And this argument is from the same people that hate the UN and "foreign made laws".

Astounding.

[Flabbergasted]

23. Yep

[Imagevision]

2. Steny Hoyer has made his first h-u-g-e mistake, he better rethink before 08 elections!!

[dflprincess]

9. As should Biden if he thinks he's got any chance of being president

right now I don't see him picking up a single delegate.

[jody]

4. AIPAC n/t

[DemBones DemBones]

5. Steny's wearing the pink tutu now. Not only

is he spouting this line of bullshit, he agreed to John Boner's request to have the day off Monday for a football game. It's being treated in the media as if the Dems decided to take the day off. Thanks a lot, Steny. I wish John Murtha were Majority Leader; he wouldn't be saying this and he probably would have told Boner to forget about getting the day off.

MSNBC is asking on the crawler about the House not voting due to a football game. They quote Pelosi as saying something like "Look at BCS." Anyone know what BCS is???

[acmejack]

7. It's the Bowl Championship Series

The Ohio State Florida Football game at the Fiesta Bowl last night.

http://www.bcsfootball.org/bcsfootball/

[babylonsister]

16. That's been debunked:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x3075272

[Cha]

10. Where's John Murtha?

I want to hear what he has to say.

[babylonsister]

17. Per Tweety, he's supposed to get his turn tomorrow. nt

[Cha]

27. Yay~!

And thanks for that great quote in your sig, babylonsister!

[babylonsister]

37. Thanks. I

got it off Senator Boxer's website. I thought it was fitting considering the apathy in this country.

[judaspriestess]

11. is this one of the reasons why Nancy Pelosi did not want

steny hoyer?

[Wiley50]

12. AIPAC but DNC Also n/t

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

13. Your OP title is not backed up by the link. Clumsy psy-ops, anyone?

MKJ

on edit: where in the link is any quote by Steny Hoyer? MKJ

[leftchick]

15. I believe I explained

that I heard Hoyer's comments on Countdown. How can I link to that? :eyes:

[bluewave]

22. Anyone looking at the news knows this. No need for a link. nt

[leftchick]

26. no kidding

:)

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

34. I just got home, saw the OP, clicked the link and responded badly.

I have no excuse, you were completely clear. I'm sorry.

We're all a little stressed, I guess.

MKJ

[leftchick]

35. no problem

we all are stressed.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

42. ,

:toast: :pals: MKJ

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

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[Olney Blue]

21. Lowering expectations?

:shrug:

[leftofthedial]

24. DLC

[Jacobin]

29. AEI

[Zhade]

31. If Hoyer is saying Congress' hands are tied, he's LYING.

NT!

[Imagevision]

32. Murtha would disagree with Steny Hoyer -- certainly makes one wonder about Dems decisions...

[texpatriot2004]

36. Because he's a snake in the grass, Steny "snake-in-the-grass"

Hoyer!

[Mend]

38. Hoyer also thinks bombing Iran should be kept as an option....

Jerusalem Post Jan. 7, 2007....google it. How do we unelect this turkey?

[sampsonblk]

40. Steny Hoyer is a DUD

Bad choice from the start. And now we are going to pay for it.

[Imagevision]

41. It would appear that Nancy Pelosi needs to keep a short leash on Steny Hoyer

[mzmolly]

43. There is a reason that Pelosi wanted to work more closely with Murtha.

That reason is Iraq. We can and should make calls to Hoyers office and demand he re-think his position.

[Jcrowley]

44. Why all the surprise?

When House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) was introduced, he was wrapped in a platonic but full-bodied embrace with Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.). �I�ll be right with you,� Hoyer called from the depths of Lincoln�s neck. The senator, who looks like a soccer mom, is neither attractive nor unattractive enough for this to have been awkward, and the crowd roared with delight. As Hoyer strode to the podium, he passed House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), a politician with a reputation for schmoozing perhaps equal to Hoyer�s own, and the two literally slapped each other on the back simultaneously. �Do you have the votes?� Hoyer asked Boehner, a propos, it seemed, of nothing except a shared love of the legislative process. Once in front of the microphone, Hoyer milked the Lincoln moment a little longer (�I�ve got enough time to be hugging beautiful women from the United States Senate,�) then got down to business: �There are no more important people in American society than its teachers,� he declared slowly and firmly, and, for the first time, the crowd burst into spontaneous applause. They had come to Washington to see a show like this.

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If Hoyer, 67, appears to have an extra spring in his step lately, there�s a good reason. As the number-two Democrat in the House, he�ll likely become majority leader if Democrats win control this November. And if they don�t, he�ll be well placed to capitalize on Democratic disappointment by challenging Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for her job. Either way, then, Hoyer seems assured of entering 2007 as one of the most powerful elected officials in Washington, yet one of the least known outside of it.

As the Milken performance suggested, Hoyer can often seem almost a caricature of an old-school politician. A large, broad-shouldered man with a shock of silver hair, he favors well-tailored though not ostentatious suits, and the American-flag lapel-pin that since 9/11 has become de rigeur for elected officials and Fox News commentators everywhere. Hoyer�s wife died of stomach cancer in 1997, and the reception room of his office displays a framed version of the slightly sad photograph favored by virtually every unmarried member of Congress: Hoyer, grinning gamely, with his dog. �If you had to go to Hollywood and cast a politician, you�d pick Steny,� a Hill staffer once told a reporter.

Like a lot of politicians, Hoyer uses humor both as an icebreaker and as a kind of weapon. �So you�re doing an expos� on me?� he asked when we met at the reception, then winked and hit me in the chest, in a way that seemed intended to be playful. (I noticed him wink twice more, at two other people, over the 15 minutes that followed.) Later, as I sat down to interview him at his office in the Capitol, I asked if I could use a digital recorder. Sure, Hoyer replied, then told me, deadpan, that the room contained a machine that would erase the recording anyway.

Since entering Congress in 1981, Hoyer has forged an identity as a centrist, particularly on foreign-policy issues, that has helped make him the leadership�s unofficial liaison to the Blue Dog Democrats�a group of the caucus�s more conservative members�but has at times created tension with the more liberal Pelosi. On the day last December that she publicly backed a call from Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) for withdrawal from Iraq, Hoyer released a statement declaring that such a policy �could lead to disaster.� And earlier that year, he angered the leader by supporting a bill being pushed by the credit-card industry designed to make it harder for people to declare bankruptcy.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0611.roth.html

[leftchick]

46. very illuminating

thank you.

[Selatius]

45. Gee, uh, it seems AIPAC has been hard at work here.

So when are we going to send 20,000 more troops to fight a war we didn't need to fight?

[ellisonz]

47. UFO.

The extraterrestials run the government and are the true source behind AIPAC's power.

:popcorn:

[Moderator]

locking....

AIPAC rules the US is considered
to be anti-semitic.

[Orsino]

48. 'Cuz he's owned by some of the same sponsors as *?

I suspect that the explanation isn't complicated. You're either convinced that the war has proven futile, or you think that stalling on withdrawal has some sort of payoff.