Apparently, our local Congressional Representative, Steny Hoyer (D – Md. 5) is losing his cool after being called out on the failed policies he has backed in recent months. The Hill reports that Hoyer blew his top Tuesday at House Republicans who gave a series of speeches blasting Democratic policies and asking “where are the jobs?”

Hoyer was quoted as saying “I've been listening to this litany of 'Where are the jobs?' " Hoyer fired off. "We have lost 200,000 less jobs per month than Bush lost in his last three months in office over the last three months. Is that where we want to be? It is not. But it is 200,000 better than your last three months in your administration. Those are the facts. Refute them if you can. Keep talking."

Let’s take Hoyer’s comments at face value and give him the benefit of the doubt. Let’s assume the last three months of the Bush administration (which would cover November and December of 2008 and January of 2009) saw an average of 200,000 more jobs lost per month than we have seen over the last three months (notice that Hoyer only mentions the past three months, why could he possibly be avoiding the rest of Obaman’s term?). There is a very pertinent point that Hoyer is omitting here, probably because it would involve stepping up to the plate and accepting part of the blame. The thing is, since January of 2007, both the House of Representatives and the Senate have been firmly under the control of the Democratic Party. And Steny Hoyer is not just a member of that majority party, he is high up on the totem pole serving as the #2 House Democrat behind only Nancy Pelosi. Steny Hoyer is the House Majority Leader, and has been for more than two years now. So if things were bad in late 2008 and early 2009, then Hoyer better look in a mirror when he is ready to assign blame – since his party had control of the legislature with him as first mate.

To try and cast all the blame on the outgoing, lame-duck Bush administration is yet another attempt by Hoyer to avoid being held accountable for his party’s failed policies. While the Bush administration is not blameless here, neither are the Democrats who had a firm grasp over the legislature during this time. Casting blame on the previous administration is all well and good, but perhaps it is time for the House Majority Leader to start asking the same questions as his opponents. We have had a stimulus that was supposed to end the recession, turn the economy around and keep unemployment below eight percent – a policy Hoyer fought and voted for – which has failed to meet any of the benchmarks set out by its supporters. We had government bail-out “loans” for auto-makers to prevent them from going bankrupt, and that policy failed as well, merely delaying the inevitable for a few months. These failures are the beginning of the legacy of single party dominance by the Democrats, and as one of the party’s leaders, it is Hoyer’s legacy as well. Is it any wonder he is eager to go on the attack and shift the blame anywhere else?

Our Representative has gotten a free ride for too long. He tells us one thing when he is in St. Mary’s or Calvert County, then runs up the road to the Capitol, and does the exact opposite. He positions himself as a moderate for the voters, and acts as a liberal for his party. Since none of our local media seem willing to expose Steny Hoyer for the partisan liberal he is, it falls to those of us in the blogosphere to do so. From here on out, Red County’s St. Mary’s County team has Rep. Hoyer under the microscope, and we will not hesitate to call him on his actions rather than the lip service he pays his constituents.

To wrap up, there is one question we would like to ask Rep. Hoyer – Where are those jobs you promised we would see as a result of your policies?