Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Steny Hoyer Shows His Worth

Just when you least expect it...

Steny Hoyer pulled a nice one on the GOP.  When the GOP managed to find a budget more odious than even Paul Ryan's, they brought it to the floor for a vote, expecting it to fail in the face of moderate(sane) GOP and unanimous Democratic disapproval.

Instead, Hoyer had the Dems change their vote to "present" which would have made the budget pass with a majority of Republican votes.  And then the Democrats could run against THAT piece of budgetary cruelty.

It's theater, I know.  Hoyer (and Boehner) knew the bill would die in the Senate.

But the Democrats have been so god awful at the theater of politics, it is nice to see them embrace it.  I also think that the GOP plans to end Medicare have unleashed Nancy Pelosi's inner Mama Bear.  She rose to prominence by marshaling the Democratic response to the Bush plan to end Social Security.  This is in her wheelhouse, and Democrats seem to be finding their legs on this issue.  Which is reassuring.

Also, too, we have Obama calling out the GOP on a "live mic" incident.  Again, this is refreshing.  Obama is never going to embrace his inner populist, but at least he's a little pissed.

Apparently, the GOP is going to double down on this ending Medicare crap.  But at some point, their pollsters are going to have to have a word with them.  Now, that won't matter to the freshmen Teatards.  But it will matter to Boehner and maybe Cantor.  They aren't suicidal.

You also have the dynamic of Boehner not delivering his caucus on the budget bill this week.  Pelosi could always get you 219 votes.  Boehner can't.

So what happens with the upcoming negotiations on the debt ceiling and the 2011 budget?  If Boehner can't deliver his votes, then shouldn't Pelosi be at the table, too?

A House that functions a bit like the Senate could be a good thing under these particular circumstances.

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