Steny Hoyer (D-Md) has just been elected to the number two post of Minority Whip in the House, “making him,” according to the Washington Post this morning, “the leadership’s most visible centrist.”
According to the Americans for Democratic Action, in 2001 (the last rankings available) Hoyer had an ADA rating of 95%. By way of comparison, long-time Whip, David “Baghdad” Bonior (D-Mich) had an ADA rating of … 95%. Outgoing Minority Leader Gephardt had an ADA rating of … 95%.
This raises the interesting question of exactly what a “centrist” is.
Maybe all the Washington Post means by “centrist” is any Demcorat to the right of Nancy Pelosi, whose rating was 100%.
He just had a bad year, man! Steny Hoyer’s lifetime American Conservative Union rating: 8; his lifetime rating from ADA is a mere 83.
Compared to Pelosi (D-CCCP) (lifetime ACU: 2; lifetime ADA: 94), he is a centrist.
But, as you say so well here, so is the new Chinese leader, Hu Jintao.