Is Steny Hoyer Setting Up a Coup?
Either Steny Hoyer has a much higher opinion of Nancy Pelosi’s intelligence than he should or he’s goading her to jump off a very high cliff.
House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) is pushing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to take a harder line with the Senate after a trio of Republican senators forced Congress to trim billions from the $787 billion economic stimulus package.
It’s not clear how far Pelosi is willing to go in standing up to the Senate — or, realistically, what effect Hoyer and Pelosi combined could have in the face of the 60-vote hurdle Senate Democrats face.
But after last week’s stimulus votes, Hoyer called on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to force Senate Republicans to mount actual filibusters if they want to stand in the way of bills “so that the American people can see who’s undermining action.”
I’m going with the latter on this one.
Steny works with Pelosi every day, so he has to know that she’s dumber than a box of hammers – dumber even than Harry Reid, against whom he wants her to compete in what would be the most pathetic battle of wits since Daffy Duck took issue with Elmer Fudd over the matter of hunting seasons.
I can only guess that, as the Number Two guy who doesn’t quite have the cojones to challenge Pelosi’s competence right out in the open, he’s looking to further erode the confidence House Democrats have in her. Thus far she’s been a crashing failure, co-piloting Congress’ approval ratings to their lowest levels ever. It shouldn’t be hard to make the case that a more capable person should replace her as Speaker. But Hoyer’s not going to make that case himself. Politically, he can’t.
Remember also that Pelosi did not want Hoyer as her Number Two. She wanted Jack Murtha but he beat her favorite rather handily. Hoyer says there were no hard feelings but, come on. We’re talking politics here.
This is worth keeping an eye on over the next year or so. If Hoyer can nudge Pelosi into a power struggle that she’s almost certain to lose and make it look like she’s the one holding back the untrammeled victories of the progressive left, then she’s toast and Hoyer will be right there to step into the spot.
UPDATE: Linked by The Anchoress who thinks there may be more than one coup cooking right now.
UPDATE 2: Linked by Dan Riehl. Dan and The Anchoress both think this has the President’s fingerprints all over it. I’m not quite sold on it, though. If the President really has it out for the Speaker, why would he basically let her write the Stimulus Bill and then push it through the House with only minimal involvement? If the Stimulus succeeds, Pelosi stands to gain at least as much credit as the President since the bill, basically, was hers.
Other Posts of Interest:
- Harry Reid Wants to Shut You Up. Don’t Let Him.
- Pray Your Members of Congress Took Speed Reading Lessons (UPDATED: It’s Worse – Oh and Help a Little?)
- Harry Reid, Furiously Trying to Look Smart and Relevant
Category: Our New Democratic Overlords
"If the Stimulus succeeds, Pelosi stands to gain at least as much credit as the President since the bill, basically, was hers."
But how many people know that, or will remember it in a year or three? With his prime-time presser a week ago and his solo signing ceremony today, Dear Leader has indelibly linked the porkulus bill with him, and him alone. I'd go so far as to guess that the three names most likely to be linked with it, other than his own, are Specter, Collins, and Snowe. Pelosi's name was in some news stories about the bill, Reid's in others, but nearly every story mentioned the three RINOs who broke ranks with their party and gave the bill the needed votes to pass the Senate.
That is entirely possible, but you can believe that as things progress, her name will come up one way or the other. If nothing else, she'll see to it. She may be stupid, but she's not a bad politician.
It may have been Pelosi's bill, but did you see her at the signing?
I didn't.
"It may have been Pelosi’s bill, but did you see her at the signing?"
He was in Colorado where he signed it.
Seems to me Obama wanted sole credit. Today it was just him, Unca Joe, and about a zillion American flags.
[...] II: Sundries Shack wonders if Pelosi is facing a coup, too. If so, it would only be with Obama’s [...]
[...] of coups, here is one of the funniest analogies I have read on the net, courtesy of The Sundries Sack (regarding a potential Steny Hoyer attempt to take over the House of Representatives Democratic [...]