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PrintFebruary 9, 2011
By the Numbers: Who is 'Struggling With Leadership'?
As reported, the House had only 277 votes Tuesday night to pass extensions of the Patriot Act, falling short of the 284 needed. Among the Nay votes were 26 Republicans. Leading Dem Congressman Van Hollen said on this that, "I think our Republican colleagues are struggling with the burden of leadership and clearly they have not found their footing going forward."
This comes from a man whose party had 67 members who sided with 210 Republicans to vote Yea. In addition, the Dem leadership was not on the same page: Of the top five Dems in the House, Pelosi, Larson (CT-1), Clyburn, and Becerra voted Nay, but the number two person, Congressman Hoyer, voted Yea. Of course, CNN Political Ticker -- at the time of this writing -- is happy to report the Van Hollen quote as linked above, but without of course mentioning that almost three times more Dems than Republicans defected on this vote.
Let us not forget that Pelosi, who was a "master" at keeping her House in order, got only 220 votes when ObamaCare came to the final floor vote despite having in her caucus more than 250 members. Pelosi's record did not hold back Politico from trumpeting that "Republicans Endure Another Floor Loss," regarding a vote where the Majority Party0- - which has only 242 members -- actually mustered 259 votes, but the bill failed because 290 votes were needed.
