Murtha or Hoyer as majority leader

I think the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid is against abortion, as are the new Senators from Pa. and Montana.
Don't look for any anti-abortion legislation, but don't look for any pro-abortion legislation. The status quo on that issue will be maintained.
Besides, there are so many more importnat issues.

 

If social issues were that high on Shuler's agenda, he could've challenged Taylor in a GOP primary instead. The freshman Dems have chosen to focus on the things that unite them, not the things that divide them.

 

And exactly how powerful do people think Heath Shuler is? Is he going to be able to raise an anti-abortion majority on the Rules Committee, the Judiciary Committee and then in the full House in defianc of the leadership, and then do the same in the Senate?
Grasping at straws here, folks.

 

I listened to Heath Shuler in an interview on NPR. One of things he talked about was the fact that 20 percent of children are in poverty and the lack of health insurance for a large portion of the people. You can call him a conservative Democrat, but what he said ain't exactly policies of the conservative movement.

The conservatives have pretty much played out gay marriage being a main issue, and if they don't figure something out they are going to lose the next election, too.

 

You say that as if abortion is actually an issue. It wasn't even really an issue when the GOP controlled both houses. Like gay marriiage, it was merely a wedge to get the "base" out. Now that everyone else has left and the "base" is all that's left of the party, the fringe lunatics can sit around and grouse among themselves. Perhaps Rick Santorum can be a guest speaker at their luncheon.

 

And he's further to the left on trade than Bill Clinton is.

 

Boys, I didn't say Heath shuler and the other conservatives and moderates among the Dems weren't going to do Nancy's bidding. I only wondered if they would. Let's wait and see. They don't take office until Jan. 3.

 

They will.
They would all like to have careers ahead of them.

 

What you're not getting, Hondo, is that none of these "social conservative" issues that you think will cause some sort of split in the leadership -- gay rights, abortion -- are going to be on the Democrats' agenda. Those "issues" are just Karl Rove political devices that were used to fool and scare people into voting for the party of the rich. On the real issues there really isn't that much differrence to overcome in terms of developing consensus.

 

And, of course, there's this:
http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/11/post_122.html
Imagine if, say, Nancy Pelosi ever said anything like this.

 

Put it this way. If some of the newbie House reps don't get off to a flying start, you gotta wonder how many rematches of close 2006 races you'll see in 2008... and how many this time go to the GOP.

 

As long as she doesn't let her ego turn on that power trip. Besides, it's still a good ol' boy network out there. She stays in line and do what the Senate Democrats and her aisle tells her to do.