Some Democrats are skilled enough at communication to handle Fox News Sunday. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer isn't among them.
Unfortunately, Hoyer nonetheless subjected himself -- and as a result, the entire Democratic Party -- to FNS yesterday. The results (see the full video below) were embarrassing.
In particular, Hoyer butchered the Democratic message on tax cuts. Instead of going on offense and attacking Republicans for holding Democratic middle-class tax cuts hostage, Hoyer played defense throughout the interview. As Chris Wallace repeatedly pressed Hoyer to explain why the House would not hold a vote on the middle-class tax cuts, the best Hoyer could come up with was an attack on the Democratic-controlled Senate for not having held a vote either. Although Hoyer never did explain why the House should defer to the Senate, he did say it would be "specious" for the House to act first.
Hoyer did this even though John Boehner had just given him an easy way out: earlier on the program, Boehner said that Republicans would vote against extending middle-class tax cuts if they were brought to the floor on the suspension calendar, a complete reversal of his position from the Face the Nation interview in which he pledged to vote for middle-class tax cuts if they were the only option. But instead of using Boehner's flip-flop against him, Hoyer instead blamed the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Hoyer did pledge that after the election the House would pass the tax cuts, but offered no reason for anybody to believe him on that pledge. Indeed, in promising to pass the tax cuts after voters vote, Hoyer's pledge had all the credibility of David Vitter on his wedding night.
It's only fair to point out that Hoyer's appearance on Fox News Sunday isn't the only reason Democrats risk losing the middle-class tax cuts issue. Hoyer has spent the last few weeks working with Blue Dogs to make sure there isn't any sort of action before election day, so his FNS appearance is probably best understood as the culmination of a long effort to turn lemonade into lemons.
But despite his yeoman work to give the GOP the advantage on middle-class tax cuts despite their efforts to hold them hostage, on a visceral level, Hoyer's worst moment yesterday may have came when discussing Stephen Colbert's testimony last week on immigration reform. I'll let Hoyer's words embarrass him for themselves (my emphasis, obviously):
WALLACE: And finally, 30 seconds left. On Friday, comedian Stephen Colbert testified before a congressional committee in his fake comedic character. At a time when the country faces real problems, sir, was this an embarrassment for the House?
HOYER: I think his testimony was not appropriate. I think it was an embarrassment for Mr. Colbert more than the House. He was...
WALLACE: Well, he was called by the Democratic chair...
HOYER: He was called...
WALLACE: ... of the subcommittee.
HOYER: You asked me, Chris, whether the testimony was appropriate. I think it was not appropriate.
WALLACE: And he should not have been called.
HOYER: Well, I don't know about whether he was called, but what he had to say, I think, was not the way it should have been said.
WALLACE: Why was it...
HOYER: If he had -- if he had a position on the issues, he should have given those issues. And I think -- you asked my personal opinion.
WALLACE: You regret it.
HOYER: I think it was inappropriate.
Here's the full video of Steny's trainwreck: