Majority Leader - A big decision to make

Whom do you prefer?

Steny Hoyer has been a little abrasive, publicly to Nancy Pelosi. So I am not too sure of that one. He has, however, a decent record of doing his job. A big minus: if Democrats are seriously concerned with looking squeaky clean, Hoyer may not be our man.

Jack Murtha wants an immediate change in Iraq, which mirrors the American public's loud voice on Tuesday. Hoyer preaches patience with the occupation.

I think the battle for Majority Leader will be a battle for the direction of the party - both for our strategy on Iraq and our path to 2008.

I obviously lean towards Murtha - but what do you think - and please post why. I am information gathering right now.

Thanks.

What do you think?

For the past 2 years, it's been him that has worked hard along with Nancy Pelosi to take on the Republican House Leadership. He'd be a tough and effective Majority Leader.

http://www.beyonddelay.org/


So, if that's what we want for the new Majority Leader, neither of these two is the best bet.

but Hoyer has also been connected to Abramoff cash.

Did he ever return that? I know it was indirect, btw.

I see the pros and cons of either one. I think Murtha would certainly make more of a political statement, and would also probably mean a more cohesive Democratic leadership. However, Hoyer has a proven leadership record as minority whip, and that position also makes him the obvious choice -- meaning passing him over could cause a serious rift.

All in all, I think Murtha's better for the big picture, while Hoyer's better on a more-micro level.

I lean Murtha, but I don't know enough about Hoyer, and how the two would perform at the job.

Pelosi, I might add, was stellar. Hard shoes to fill, imho.

voting industry. Never researched any ties, but he always played an obstructionist role to genuine reform re those confarned machines. And didn't he have a key role in that appalling bankruptcy bill -- ties to the same corps that "persuaded" Chris Dodd and Joe Biden to support the bankruptcy bill?

Not sure I spelled his last name right. My vote would be for somebody else if you had that option. I just hope that this battle isn't too divisive, the dems need to stick together right now.

Murtha is tough, and he isn't afraid. I understand he is a Pelosi loyalist, and we need to get our incoming speaker some help from someone she can count on. It doesn't bother me that Murtha is conservative on domestic issues, because Pelosi's the one who will be in charge.

that would be nice - united leadership.

Do you think Hoyer would try to undercut her, though?

He has, already, but this would be a bigger defection.

The other thing is that I haven't really heard anything about Steny Hoyer to make me think that he is anything other than your average-joe politician. Murtha, on the other hand...we all know what he did, and he is not an average-joe.

Da MAN!!

:patriot: :patriot:

Hoyer is a weepy, spineless DLC Douche that could make us look bad in the House. Murtha is a strong Democrat that isn't afraid to say what's on his mind, he will be a effective leader in my opinion.

NT!

These choices don't instill me with confidence. Murtha's a bit too right-leaning in some cases for me.

I like the concept of putting forth the image of someone who can change their opinions with the FACTS.

Murtha, unlike the majority of people who voted for the war, didn't offer some lame excuse or equivocation of why he voted how he voted. (I voted to authorize the war, but not to go to war...) He was clear, concise and allowed the facts as he believed them to dictate his position.

That is the face I would like to see on the Democratic Party.

When the Republicans bash him, he hits them back with stark truth. He doesn't use the deceitful language of the Sunday morning talk-show game. He gets right down to business. As far as lobbying is concerned, I don't think you can pick one over the other. Murtha has ties to the military-industrial complex. He isn't exactly a revolving-door politician, but he's not perfect. I think he's better if we want to get out of Iraq. And from an image standpoint, he is much easier for the public to take a liking to. They already think that he is a bold, no-nonsense straight-talker who votes his conscience and is able to admit when he is wrong. Despite his earlier lapse in judgement voting for the war, he has shown real concern for the well-being of our troops.

If either becomes leader, all the corruption in the GOP party just moves over to the Dems.

We will then become the party of corruption.

It's not easy to be that corrupt. It takes some real work. I think it'll be at least a few years before the Dems become that corrupt.

Honestly, I'm not trying to be snarky or devisive. I'm taking into consideration who will be a strong presence in front of the cameras as well as keeping people in line behind the scenes.

Steny Hoyer - can present well, but as Minority Whip there were several key votes that could have been won if the Democrats had all stuck together. Did he have those numbers ahead of time to let Pelosi work on those who were going to be falling away? :shrug:

Jack Murtha - Strong and sound on the military ideas, but public speaking I have some concerns about. For instance, with the John Kerry thing he didn't challenge that it wasn't what Kerry had said nor did he give (much) credit to Kerry as a veteran. He sounded like he got his news from Faux. :shrug:

So, maybe it's not so much the Leader as it is the go-to guy/gal for the press that I'm thinking of. Sort of like the Cons did with David Dreier till his ummm...lifestyle began get some notice. Personally, I'd like to see maybe Debbie Wasserman Schultz or Kendrick Meek. Chris Van Hollen is another that would be good pick.

I don't even think Pelosi likes him very much. lol

Murtha is, for lack of better description, a conservative Democrat. He's not a raging right-winger by any means, but his background is labor/military. At the first (anti-)flag-burning (or similar) vote, the screams of WHORE! TRAITOR! will be raised. I do not think he was ever involved with the DLC, but I'm sure many DUers will accuse him of being a DLC Democrat and, of course, a WHORE! TRAITOR!

But his voting record is pretty good. So is Lieberman's, for that matter, but the source of Lieberman's ill-repute is his high-visibility defections from the Democratic mainstream.

Murtha also has a nepotism problem to deal with. It's nothing as horrendous as, say, pestering House pages, but it reflects quite badly on him, and it's something we wouldn't accept in a Republican for a second. My fellow Pennsylvanians just kicked Curt Weldon's sorry ass out of Congress for something similar, although much bigger in scope -- his daughter used his connections to make over $1 million for herself in the last couple of years.

I personally think Murtha is a pretty good rep, but I don't think he should be Majority Leader, at least not until after he's dealt with the nepotism issue. But he'd be great as a Defense chairman or in a similar military-related position.

Steny Hoyer, while he "preaches patience with the occupation," will preach a little less patience if he's prevailed upon. We may not see eye-to-eye, but the man is certainly no fool. Like Murtha, he's one of the good guys. I'm leaning toward him myself, but like most DUers, I find neither candidate idea.

I don't think we ought to use the war in Iraq as a litmus issue; I never have, for the simple reason that we do know that the Congress was lied to, but we still don't know how deep the lies were. Most of the information they received was classified, and we're still in the dark about it. I do support, strongly, investigating the depth and scope of the (mis-)Administration's lies, ASAP. Now that we've won the Legislature, a lot of Democrats will be speaking more strongly against the occupation; if an investigation turns up unambiguous evidence of fraud, it will be close to unanimous. After an investigation or two, we'll know much better who believed what and on how much evidence, and can make adjustments in the next Democratic primary.

What we DO need is someone who is unafraid of Li'l Boots. Both Jack and Steny are endowed with sufficient vertebral calcium to deal with him. Either would be a good choice, but of course, either will greatly piss off many DUers.

--p!

This isn't ideological. I can deal with a right-winger in the position even, so long as they maintain party discipline. Hoyer has his own agenda and what we do not need is organizational liberalism, but rather iron-clad unity and discipline.

I just don't trust him. He was on MSNBC earlier today and every other word out his mouth was a reference to how good President Regan was.

He's bad on Iraq. And he's a loose cannon. Bad for discipline. We need a Democratic Tom Delay, minus the felonies.

likes Steny Hoyer a little more than he likes everybody else. That alone disqualifies him, IMO.

as the next leader.

He's being groomed though.

Seriously, wasn't Hoyer Minority Whip, responsible for rallying the party to vote down party lines? I'm not sure what Murtha's credentials are for that type of work.