Don’t count chickens, but here’s some good news
If Democrats lose control of the House of Representatives next week, as most political observers expect, there is a good chance that the House Speaker will opt to spend time with her eight grandchildren rather than toil in the relative obscurity of the minority.
A consummation devoutly to be wished, a side effect of Republican victory that would be especially sweet. I, for one, would welcome not having Nancy Pelosi to kick around anymore.
Many others are also speculated to be contemplating retirement if Democrats become the minority (see the article for the whole list). Louise Slaughter, she of the infamous Slaughter solution, is one.
She can do a lot more good for her grandchildren than she can do good for her country.
That may be the most effective GOTV message in history.
Nancy Pelosi reminds me of the “Other Mother” from the movie “Coraline.” The sing-song, honey-cadenced voice… the avid button eyes…the grasping hands…yeah. Creepy. I won’t miss her if she goes.
http://www.darkinthedark.com/other-mother/
What mischief might a retiring Pelosi and defeated Reid try in a six week long lame duck session? Immigration reform? Cap and Tax?
Our saving grace might be that there will be twenty-two sitting dem Senators who will be facing the electorate in 2012. They might be a little reluctant to support a Pelosi-Reid-Obama agenda at this time.
Actually, I kind of feel sorry for the little buggers. Still I’m willing to throw the switch if it means saving the nation.
For more on this sort of moral reasoning, see:
http://www.robert-h-frank.com/PDFs/MoralSentiments.pdf
or:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_problem
It was said of FDR that he was a first class politician with a second class intellect. You have to concede that Pelosi is also a first class politician but never rises above a third class mind. Who would believe that so much damage could be done by a doofus?
Steve G: I disagree about Pelosi as a first-class politician. She never had to worry about running for office; just winning the primary in her district, and she got that initially by being a savvy climber and hard worker within the Democratic Party itself. She was initially appointed (see this). After that, it was smooth sailing.
What she is very very good at is organizing the Democratic troops. That’s what she did in Congress, too—how she rose as Speaker, and how she twisted arms to get the votes she needed. A politician, to be first class, has to be more than that. She is very much responsible for the current sorry state of the Democratic Party with voters. First-class politicians don’t antagonize most of the electorate in their two years in power. FDR knew how to win over the electorate—over and over again, long-term.
Neo, you are so right. My take on Nancy Pelosi, after years of working as a lobbyist in DC, is that she is a sore loser and perhaps the most opportunist person on the planet. She simply doesn’t relish the routine work and is only interested when she can be the diva. She plotted and worked and waited for that – now that’s over, and she’ll be taking her marbles and going home.
No intelligent person will miss her.
Neo:
First-class politicians don’t antagonize most of the electorate in their two years in power. FDR knew how to win over the electorate–over and over again, long-term.
But even first-class politicians will have those who oppose them. One of my cousins learned that he could get his other grandmother off on a rant just by mentioning “that man Roosevelt.” I don’t think his grandmother ever realized her grandson was setting himself up to be entertained.
Yes. But this is only round three of twelve. It’s not enough. We have to not merely hold our own, but pick off another 8 Senate seats, and probably 30 House seats in 2012.
Because not all Republicans are reliable votes.
She can do a lot more good for her grandchildren than she can do good for her country.
Why do you hate her grandchildren so much?
Pelosi, unlike FDR, had only two constituencies to worry about. The first was her SF district, which has been a lock for her. The second was the Democrat majority in the House. she could care less, and apparently did not give a damn, about how her politics played in any other venue. Although the Blue Dogs were never as liberal as she, they nevertheless got into line and got pushed (not led) by her over the cliff in voting for health care, the stimulus, and the financial debacle. All the while she cost taxpayers more than $2,000,000 in ferrying her by jet to and from DC to SF. The fact is that she ran the the House as if it was the City of Baltimore.
Gringo: of course there were people who detested Roosevelt. But not the majority of people, who supported him for an unprecedented four terms.
It was downright FUN to early vote today here in Winter Park, Florida. Buuu-Byeeeeee, Alan Grayson, you loathsome Pig. Welcome aboard, Dan Webster, US Congressman. Buuuu-Byeeeeeeee, Bottomless Appetite Charlie Crist. Yowzzaaaa, Senator Marco Rubio.
NeoConScum: wow, you’re in Grayson’s district? My sympathies for what you’ve endured the last two years.
Neo:
Gringo: of course there were people who detested Roosevelt. But not the majority of people, who supported him for an unprecedented four terms.
We are in agreement. You don’t win four times without majority support over a long time. I just thought how it was funny that my cousin- a child- could play his grandmother- 60 years older- like a fiddle.
So, unlike most politicians, there was no point at which she needed to persuade anyone she did not already have under some duress. She started out with the power; she started out with her heel on the regular Joe’s neck.
Don’t crow too much, people. If she goes, her replacement is likely to be Upchuck Schumer, a real slime mold. Smarter and slipperier than Mrs. P.
He has ever reminded me of Uriah Heep: stoop-shouldered, wringing his hands with false solicitude. And a serious mean streak.
Roosevelt made people feel that he cared about them. Pelosi doesn’t. She cares about being the first to break the glass ceiling. She cares about transforming America’s health care system with that huge wooden hammer. She never defended the specifics of HCR in a way that respected the intelligence and real concerns of the people. Au contraire: the people were too dumb to appreciate the marvelous details of the legislation they were denied a chance to read. She is simply a very dumb bully, and the people are sick of her.
Schumer is a senator. And may God have mercy on the souls of everybody who has ever voted to inflict him on the rest of the nation.
I do not like Nancy Pelosi one bit. Good riddance and a pox on her house, I say.
But you have to admit that after being Speaker of the House going back to being a just plain Congressman would be something of a comedown. Specially a despised one at that. So I can understand.
While they may already be beyond redemption I do feel sorry for her grandchildren.