SMWalt has a diary on the recommended list: Steny Hoyer is Mad at You. The question is -- how mad are you at Steny?
Hoyer never really did answer how he planned to expand Democratic numbers while funding the war, but did comment that "I know the base is mad at us – and I’m mad at the base." When he tossed that off, I inquired "Because.....?" He basically said the base has unrealistic expectations in terms of ending the war, and the Dems can’t de-fund it because doing so would anger the moderates they need to win more seats in ’08.
So what to do about Hoyer?
A little research this morning at Maryland's State Board of Elections proved fruitful. As it turns out, despite my glum prognostications to the contrary he does have a challenger in the MD-05 Democratic primary to be held February 12, 2008.
Next, does the challenger have a web site up and running? Yes, -- it's on a free web host, but it's a start. Ideally, we'd like an anti-war Democrat that will give Mr. Hoyer a genuine scare. Let's evaluate the candidate.
The Basic Platform
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- I am pro life and my opponent Hoyer is pro abortion.
OK, I can't go for this myself, but I know there are a few here willing to negotiate, so let's continue.
- I want to control the growth in our area while Hoyer is overloading our area with his greed driven growth.
This one's a winner folks. A common complaint, and currently, some of Hoyer's MD-05 developer friends are writing checks to blogosphere nemesis Al Wynn of MD-04 (Donna Edwards, challenger).
- I want the USA to back human rights and Hoyer accepts torture of prisoners.
I suspect we're all on board.
- I want to reform the child support laws and Hoyer ignores the injustices.
Huh? What's this about? Let's dig a little deeper. Moving on to the bio/qualifications:
In 1994 was the first time incarceration 3 months for child support and again 6 months in 1997. The incarcerations were done wrongfully by the Court with unethical pressure from the child support agency for St. Mary's County. Mr. Cusick did try to cooperate but the child support enforcement was too severely corrupt.
So because of that corruption he was released from jail in a worse condition of homeless and destitute with the child support officials demanding more cash payments regardless of his condition so Mr. Cusick proceeded to spray paint the 4 pillars on the front of the Circuit Court house in Leonardtown with green spray paint writing out the words "Child Support is Legalized Stealing", and, "Thou Shalt Not Steal", and, "Michael Haris Thief Master", and, "Inside this Court is a Den of Thieves". No other damage was done. He just wanted others to know what was going on. He was arrested, pleaded guilty, served 18 months in the County Detention Center.
Then 1998 Mr. Cusick went and painted the 2 pillars in front of the child support enforcement office in Leonardtown with similar words of, Child Support Thieves, and, "Thou shalt Not Steal". Got arrested, pleaded guilty again, served 14 months in County Detention Center.
Oh, crap. I knew it was too good to be true. But wait a minute ... how mad are we at Steny Hoyer?