It’s understandable that a politician facing a difficult election cycle would put on a brave face and pretend that his party will be fine. That’s what Steny Hoyer is doing in this interview:

Countering the emerging narrative that next year’s midterm elections will be a replay of 1994, when Republicans took back control of Congress, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer stressed that ‘94 doesn’t compare with what’s happening today.

“If it were November of 1993, we would be having this meeting? No, because in November of 1993, people weren’t discussing that we were going to have tough races in November of 1994. We were sure that what was would be, as a result we weren’t as on guard as we should have been.”

Hoyer continued, “That is definitively not the case in 2009. There were issues in 1994, but they were not analogous to the issues of today. The economy was not nearly as stretched as it is today…In the success that we had, which was a major success in 1993, nobody realized its positive impact until three or four years later when the economy really started to reduce deficits…Democrats have been working very hard from the beginning of this year, with the realization that next year would be a significantly contested year.”

What a bunch of BS. Simply put, many of the things that got Democrats in trouble in 1994 are re-emerging today. In 1993, Democrats tried ramming through a wildly unpopular health care bill. In 1993, President Clinton’s budget included an unpopular gas tax. In 1993, Democrats were embroiled in a series of major ethical scandals. In 1993, Democrats couldn’t be bothered with listening to their constituents or living up to their campaign promises.

Sound familiar?

Today, the Democrats’ health care bill is as popular as it was in 1993. Today, the Democrats’ national energy tax is dramatically less popular than the wildly unpopular gas tax was in 1993. (BTW, this year’s national energy tax is tied to a major scandal that the Democrats are pretending doesn’t change things.) While there aren’t any House Post Office or House Banking scandal-level scandals, there’s still tons of corruption happening. Barney Frank’s involvement in the Fannie/Freddie scandal still has people angry. On the Senate side, Chris Dodd’s Friends of Angelo’s sweetheart deal has New England voters hopping mad.

Then as now, Democrats made a habit of talking down to their constituents, suggesting that they didn’t need to pay attention, that Democrats would take care of everything. What’s different is that today, the TEA Party activists are doing the research into legislation, then telling Congress what’s in the bills.

What’s also different is that TEA Party activists and other everyday citizens are the experts, not the politicians. They’re experts thanks to the internet and thanks to the fact that the unpopular legislation that they’re passing worries people.

What’s also different is that, in 1993, President Clinton “focused like a laser beam on the economy” from Day One, whereas this president and this Democrat congress focused on everything but putting our financial house in order. The American people, indeed the world’s people, see this administration and this majority leader and this Democratic Congress spending like there’s no tomorrow.

Mr. Hoyer is spinning the Democrats’ election chances this cycle. What he says, though, is irrelevant because the American people don’t trust this Congress and they’re starting to doubt this president’s qualifications to be the leader of the free world.

It’s never a good thing to whistle past an ever closer graveyard.

Technorati: Elections, Scandals, Friends of Angelo, Chris Dodd, Steny Hoyer, Health Care, Arrogance, Democrats, TEA Parties, Activists, Conservatives, Election 2010

Cross-posted at California Conservative