Stop the DLC...support Murtha (w/ contact information)...DU get active!

[jackbourassa]

Alright the tide is turning and Speaker Nancy Pelosi's letter is having a serious effect, changing the minds of Hoyer supporters.

It's time that we DUer's do our part as well. It's time to bombard the switchboard on Capitol Hill with calls and emails supporting Jack Murtha for Majority Leader.

We all know that the DLC is trying to take credit for this election. After all, isn't that what they always do? Never mind the fact that this election was won by progressives in the east, economic populists in the midwest and reformers in the west. And, oh ya, those who came out AGAINST THE WAR!

Where does the DLC stand on any of those issues?

Now they want to control the House Majority Leader position with their stooge Steny Hoyer. This is the guy who wants to create a K-Street Project of his own. This is the guy who held a rival press conference denouncing his own leader (Nancy Pelosi) when she called for a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. This is the guy who is DLC to the bone.

So give us your help. Email or call your Democratic Congressman. If your member is newly elected, then contact his/her constituency or campaign office.

Make your voices heard. SUPPORT MUTHA! SUPPORT OUR SPEAKER!

House email information:

www.house.gov/writeup/

House Switchboard (toll free):

1-800-828-0498

Do everything you can to help.

Keep kicking up this post so everyone can read it and contact their reps.

[iconoclastic cat]

1. Well, what about the issues CREW has raised about his ethics? nt

[jackbourassa]

6. Murtha? What about Hoyer and K-Street?

You know what they say about people who live in glass houses!

[iconoclastic cat]

23. Hoyer isn't the one making the allegations. CREW is. nt

[fadedrose]

37. Murtha - Mighty Joe Young

Murtha's come out and said that Hoyer was "swiftboating" him, accusing him of stuff not exactly true.

But even if the "wink-winks" are true, my feeling is that Murtha redeemed himself when he showed the courage to speak the truth about the war.

This is like when Mighty Joe Young was going to be punished for wrecking stuff and then became a hero when he climbed a burning building and saved a child.

Murtha is smart, brave and I forgive him for whatever jobs he gave his relatives. He climbed a burning building....my analogy.

[iconoclastic cat]

38. That's a nice story,

but it does not mean he should be majority leader.

[fadedrose]

39. We all have our opinions

You must be very young and didn't see the movie.

[iconoclastic cat]

40. I suggest that you self-copulate. nt

[rinsd]

2. LOL. Murtha is a conservative Democrat who happens to be against this war

Now he's a progressive champion!?!?!

On edit: Here's Murtha's record

http://www.ontheissues.org/PA/John_Murtha.htm

[jackbourassa]

9. Well rinsd

Our progressive Speaker strongly supports him. That's good enough for me.

I think she should have someone she is comfortable with as Majority Leader.

[rinsd]

13. Our progressive speaker supports him because he supported her

This is political payback for Murtha's work on her leadership bid.

I am fine with either man but to cast Murtha as a leader for progressives is so far from the mark it had to be corrected.

[PVnRT]

45. Good to know there are some around here

not wearing the rose-colored glasses.

All you supporting Murtha for Majority Leader, you better fucking pray that social issues don't start coming up. He is NOT on your side there.

[geek tragedy]

3. Murtha makes the DLC look like pinkos. Wait for the

war talk to begin regarding Iran, and he'll be right there beating the war drums.

[rinsd]

5. "Murtha makes the DLC look like pinkos"

LOL!

[wyldwolf]

12. so very true

[jackbourassa]

4. DONE!

I just emailed my Congressman...have you emailed yours?

[Dhalgren]

7. I support Nancy Peolsi. Murtha is her choice. That ends the

discussion as far as I am concerned. I will make the calls.

[rinsd]

10. I support Pelosi but this about political payback

Murtha was a big supporter of hers when she ran for her leadership position.

I am fine with either Murtha or Hoyer but would have preferred that the Democrats select a less suspect candidate in terms of ethics in light of what exit polls are saying.

[jackbourassa]

14. Well shouldn't that disqualify Hoyer as well?

Given his connections to K-Street?

[rinsd]

17. As I said either man is fine.

Though both men have their ethical issues it would appear.

So onto the question:

Why is the progressive first woman Speaker of the House endorsing a conservative Democrat for a leadership position?

There are two likely reasons, not necessarily exclusive.

One is political payback for the work Murtha did on her leadership bid

Two would be a recognition that this is a big tent win and requires leaders of all stripes of Democrats.

[Dhalgren]

26. The point is, that even with everyone's concern, I trust Pelosi. I

think that Speaker Pelosi is a very sharp, very intelligent, very liberal politician. I think that she knows all of the players involved and I think that if she thought Murtha would be detrimental to her agenda (which includes women's right - always has), she would not put Murtha foreword regardless of how much she owed him politically. All Democrats are going to be pilloried by the media and the republicans (mostly the same thing), regardless of how "clean" they are or what their positions on the various issues are. If Speaker Pelosi thinks she needs Murtha in the ML position to best accomplish our agenda, then I trust her experience, knowledge and acumen...

[rinsd]

29. I understand your position

And as I said, if these are the two choices I am fine with either.

As far as the ethical thing goes, it was TPM and CREW that pointed those things out, not the GOP.

[Orangepeel]

8. Personally, I'd rather have Hoyer

I admire Murtha for coming out so strongly against the war. The fact that he is such a conservative hawk gave him credibility and cover than other congresspeople wouldn't necessarily have had.

But he IS a conservative hawk, generally. Neither he nor Hoyer are liberal in any way shape for form, but Murtha does NOT have the credibility and cover on corruption issues that he has on war issues.

[jackbourassa]

11. And Congressman K-Street does?

Are you serious?

[Orangepeel]

25. I'd rather not get into an argument about which of our two only choices is worse

but, IMO, FBI investigations and allegations to ties to scandals with catchy names provide substantially less cover than allegations of corporate cronyism. Your millage may vary.

edited because subject-verb agreement is a good thing

[paulk]

31. actually, Hoyer is pretty liberal

he has a 95% lifetime ADA rating.

[wyldwolf]

15. care to prove a charge you just made?

We all know that the DLC is trying to take credit for this election.

How do "we all know" this?

[rinsd]

20. "DLC is trying to take credit for this election."

Apparently the DLC has done such a good job, they have the more "liberal" candidate up for leadership election!

DLC to DU: All your Party Belong to US!

[greeneggs708]

35. DLC Boo Hoo, Boo Hoo

God is this pathetic. Get ready for two years of whiners like this.

Get ready for the Republicans to come back in power.

WHINE, WHINE, WHINE, WHINE, WHINE, WHINE, WHINE

America is going to get sick of you whiners in about a week.

What Republican can should I back in 08.

Because you are living proof Dems can't govern.

[jackbourassa]

41. Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!

n/t

[wyldwolf]

16. thank you. You just convinced me to support Hoyer. Murtha's too conservative...

...for my taste, anyway.

[twilight_sailing]

18. a sincere question-

How much influence does the rank and file have in such matters?

[jackbourassa]

19. If you stay silent...NONE!

If you bombard the switchboards, you'll see how much influence you may have.

[GoblinToe]

21. Murtha seems very much against abortion....

I must admit, I've really been cheering for Murtha after listening to his position on the Iraq war over the past year or more, but there is no way in hell I'm giving up the right for women to choose what to do with their bodies just to get out of Iraq a year earlier.

He's apparently voted against abortion pretty consistently.

I have very low tolerance for politicians that vote against abortion, I'm sorry. End Iraq now to give the repukes a little extra leverage for overturning Roe -vs- Wade? No thank you. That's incredibly shortsighted, IMHO.

I'm not entirely certain Murtha is the person to be Majority Leader now that I see his voting record.

[PassingFair]

22. I'm not "thrilled" with Murtha...but he beats Hoyer by a country mile

Hoyer is a (chicken)HAWK dem, DLC war-lover.

I agree with you, Jack.

[flyarm]

24. Hava and Hoyer..who stole our votes??

goggle this up....and google Hoyer and K street..you will have your eyes opened!!


Gates was on the board of directors of VoteHere, the company that was the biggest elections industry lobbyist for the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). VoteHere spent more money than ES&S, Diebold, and Sequoia combined to help push HAVA through congress. And HAVA was a bill sponsored by convicted Abramoff pal Bob Ney and K-street lobbyist buddy Steny Hoyer. HAVA put electronic voting on steroids.

I would say with Hoyer..you can kiss voting reform good bye!!

fly

[flyarm]

27. Hoyer was the principal House Democratic sponsor for the Help America Vote Act

Meet Hoyer and Hava...



Hoyer balances demands of constituents, Capitol Hill
Hoyer was the principal House Democratic sponsor for the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) election reform legislation aimed at improving the election system ...

democraticwhip.house.gov/media/articles.cfm?bSuppressLayout=1&pressReleaseI...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Online NewsHour Vote 2004 | The Democratic Primaries | The Help ...
Hoyer said voting technologies are available that will meet HAVA requirements, including "optical scan" machines and "direct recording electronic" machines ...

www.pbs.org/newshour/vote2004/primaries/sr_technology_act.html

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

VerifiedVoting.org : An Open Letter To the House Administration ...
Representative Steny Hoyer, who introduced HAVA with Representative Ney, stated its purpose in this way: ...it will significantly improve the integrity of ...

www.verifiedvoting.org/article.php?id=882


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Carpetbagger Report » Blog Archive » Murtha vs. Hoyer
However, Hoyer has VERY SHADY company in pushing the HAVA, and I would rather have the devil I know, rather than the angel I don’t. ...

www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9050.html


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


Rep. Steny Hoyer :: newsroom
WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement ... Generally, I have been pleased with HAVA’s performance. ...

www.hoyer.house.gov/Newsroom/index.asp?ID=422&DocumentType=Press+Release


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Rep. Steny Hoyer :: newsroom
Congressman Hoyer was the lead Democratic sponsor in the House of Representatives of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and incorporated this program in the ...

www.hoyer.house.gov/Newsroom/index.asp?ID=74&DocumentType=Press+Release

[flyarm]

28. who was involved with VoteHere and HAVA..WHO HOYER SUPPORTED!

Board of Directors of SAIC and VoteHere is weird as well
Thu Nov-09-06 05:53 PM

http://www.whoscounting.net/TheCompanies.htm#VOTE%20HER...

SAIC was the company who approved Electronic Voting systems and in a strange coincidence both Owens and Gates moved from SAIC to VoteHere around the same time



Many SAIC officers are current or former government and military officials. Retired Army Gen. Wayne Downing*, who until last summer served as chief counter-terrorism expert on the National Security Council, is a member of SAIC’s board. Also on the board is former CIA Director Bobby Ray Inman, who served as director of the National Security Agency, deputy director of the CIA and vice director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. During the first Bush administration and while on the board of SAIC, Immen was a member of the National Foreign Intelligence Board, an advisory group that reports to the president and to the director of Central Intelligence.

Retired Adm. William Owens, a former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who sits on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s Defense Policy Board, served as SAIC’s president and CEO and until recently was its vice chairman. He now is chairman of the board of VoteHere, which seeks to provide cryptography and computer software security for the electronic election industry. Robert Gates, ex-CIA director, former SAIC board member and a veteran of the Iran-Contra scandal, also is on the board of VoteHere.

SAIC has a history of problems. In a 1995 article in Web Review, investigative journalist Stephen Pizzo notes that in 1990 the Justice Department indicted SAIC on 10 felony counts for fraud, claiming that SAIC mismanaged a Superfund toxic cleanup site. SAIC pleaded guilty. In 1993 the Justice Department again brought charges against the company for “civil fraud on an F-15 fighter contract.” In May 1995, the company was charged with lying “about security system tests it conducted for a Treasury Department currency plant in Fort Worth, Texas.”

It is not clear how SAIC became the company of choice to evaluate security standards of the voting machine industry. Under HAVA, Bush is required to establish an “oversight committee, headed by two Democrats and two Republicans, as well as a technical panel to determine standards for new voting machinery. The four commission heads were to be in place by last February, but just one has been appointed. The technical panel also remains unconstituted, even though the new machines it is supposed to vet are already being sold in large quantities,” Gumbel says.

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/voting_ma... /



*Wayne Downing is of course the man behind the the first plan for the invasion of Iraq which was ridiculed and called the "Bay of Goats" and then Downing went into retirement.

[flyarm]

43. Daily Kos: For the Love of God, Please Stop. It's Embarrassing. Like, Really Embarrassing

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/14/11534/580

Daily Kos: For the Love of God, Please Stop. It's Embarrassing. Like, Really Embarrassing.


snip:
For the Love of God, Please Stop. It's Embarrassing. Like, Really Embarrassing.
by davidsirota
Tue Nov 14, 2006 at 08:05:34 AM PST
For the last many weeks, I've worked about 18 hours a day in a basement campaign headquarters in Meriden, Connecticut trying to show voters that Senator Joe Lieberman has been using Nixonian tactics to hide his position on the Iraq War. During the stretch run of the 2006 Connecticut Senate campaign, Lieberman constantly said "no one wants to bring the troops home more than I do" - all while he attacked proposals to bring the troops home and pushed for continuing the Iraq War indefinitely. The Associated Press subsequently reported that Lieberman's margin of victory was provided by a segment of the population that was strongly anti-war, but believed Lieberman's position was anti-war, too - even though, as we can see from his post-election statements, it most certainly was not.

davidsirota's diary :: ::

I thought when the campaign ended, we would all get a break from people lying about the Iraq War - and especially from faux "centrist" Democrats lying to us. I thought the strong anti-Iraq-War mandate of the election would shock the system into at least a brief few weeks of clarity and honesty.

I was wrong.

It seems that the "Yay Iraq War! Oops, Let's Now Pretend We Were Always Against the War" wing of the Democratic Party is trying to nationalize Lieberman's Nixonian model and apply it elsewhere. To understand what I mean, just take a quick look at what's going on in the race for House Majority Leader between anti-Iraq-War leader Rep. Jack Murtha (D-PA) and recently-reconstructed pro-war mouthpiece Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD).

In the last few days, both the Democratic Leadership Council and Hoyer's own allies on Capitol Hill have mimicked Lieberman's tactics in an effort to reposition Hoyer as one of the longtime leaders of the global anti-war movement. The DLC's vice president, for instance, proclaims on his website that "It's not as though Steny has done anything to undermine House Democrats in their criticism of Bush Iraq policies." Similarly, Hoyer ally Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) appeared on MSNBC last night to claim Hoyer has "been very supportive in the last two years for a phased redeployment" from Iraq and that "I don't see any difference certainly on Iraq" between Hoyer or Murtha.

Ah yes, haven't you seen those pictures of Hoyer wearing the tie-died t-shirt with the peace symbol on it, two fingers extended, stomping around Capitol Hill whipping votes to bring the Iraq War to an end? Didn't you hear those impassioned speeches Hoyer gave from the floor of the House saying it is time to change course in Iraq? Didn't you see Hoyer standing right behind Murtha when Murtha courageously changed the entire national debate on Iraq last year? No, you didn't. You actually saw Hoyer slithering around on the floor like a snake, spitting venom at Murtha and others who were working to get Democrats to take a tough position on Iraq.

Apparently, the DLC, Tauscher and Hoyer himself believe that the Members of Congress who will be voting in the Majority Leader race are very, very stupid people who have no access to the Internet and have never heard of Google or Yahoo. They must believe this, because it takes about, oh, 10 seconds online to figure out that, in fact, Hoyer led the charge against Democrats taking a strong position on Iraq, publicly attacking the House Democratic leadership for having the guts to follow Murtha's lead and get up the guts to challenge Bush on the war.

[cali]

30. DUers Micromanaging An Inside Congress Vote

about organization. Something that we have no say and should have no say in. I'm not saying we shouldn't have opinions, and discuss the matter, but face it, we don't have a clue as to who could best fulfill the tasks of ML, or the inside politics that's playing out.

Sometimes the dominant memes playing out on DU are hilarious.

[jpwhite]

32. I like Murtha and here's why

I like Murtha to be the speaker because he is older and has the maturity and wisdom to be an effective speaker. I have found that the older I get the more willing I am to listen to both sides before I make a decision. I think that he will do a fine job. No one person really leads the House. It is going to be a group of people within the dems who will make the key decisions. I think Jack will do a fine job.

James
[email protected]

[greeneggs708]

33. Great Job

This is what the Democrats were elected to do. Fight each other.

[jackbourassa]

42. What gives Hoyer an automatic right to the job?

The way I see it is like this...

Nancy was the Democratic Leader and is now moving on to become Speaker. This leaves the position of Majority leader vacant. That's right...it's VACANT. As in 'no one occupies it.' Which leaves it open for ANYONE to fill.

Hoyer could have stayed in his old job as Majority Whip. But he decided to jump in and become House Leader. Another candidate, Jack Murtha, decided that he too wanted the job. So now an election will be held to decide who gets to be Majority Leader.

If anyone is fighting anyone, it's Hoyer who is running a smear swift-boat like campaign against Murtha.

Understand?

[PVnRT]

46. INDEPENDENT THOUGHT IS NOT ALLOWED

Yours,

The DLC

[SaveElmer]

34. Murtha is fine...hardly progressive...but Hoyer is the better choice...

Hoyer has more experience with the nitty gritty rough and tumble side of political life in the House...this job will require scrounging for votes, arm twisting, cajoling etc...something frankly that Hoyer is very good at.

[Ignacio Upton]

36. How about neither

n/t.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

44. Murtha will be hammered on ethics if he gets the job

Melody Sloan was on Franken yesterday (Nov 14) and Murtha's brother got a job a couple of years ago lobbying for defense firms.

According to CREW, Murtha's brother lobbied him over the last couple of years. Murtha has taken campaign money from his brother's clients and earmarked contracts for them in defense bills.

It's all legal, but certainly smells bad.

If Pelosi wants the most ethical congress ever, Murtha shouldn't be second in command.

[jackbourassa]

47. SUPPORT MURTHA

nt

[jackbourassa]

48. MURTHA HAS THE VOTES!

So they said on Hardball. The reason I believe this is because Hoyer is out there smearing Murtha. If you were the frontrunner, why would you have to smear anyone?

Plus isn't it funny how all the DLC supporters here are supporting Hoyer and using his "progressive" stances on certain issues as the reason why.

Too funny.

Murtha's only "ethics" problems took place 26 years ago, when Jimmy Carter was President. And oh ya, he was exonerated.

Murtha is moderate, appeals to a larger base, has credibility on Iraq, and compliments Pelosi instead of undermining her.

Hoyer has his own ethics problems (Congressman K-Street), is too disruptive and would undermine our leader, doesn't stand for anything but power, and has no credibility on Iraq.

Murtha is the better choice.

Good luck tommorrow Jack. I think you got it.