Novak On Pelosi: Deliver The House…
Talk is increasing among House Democrats that if they fail to regain control after 12 years of a Republican majority, Rep. Nancy Pelosi should be replaced as the party’s leader in the House.
If Democrats recapture the House, Pelosi surely will be the first female speaker in the nation’s history. But Republican strategists are posing that possibility as a reason for voting Republican, and she will be widely blamed as a San Francisco liberal if there is a Democratic failure in November. Pelosi’s colleagues complain about her public performances, especially on NBC’s “Meet the Press” May 7.
The highly regarded Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, second-ranking in the House hierarchy as Democratic whip, ordinarily would be in line to succeed Pelosi. However, tension between Pelosi and Hoyer has been so great that many Democrats would prefer somebody not identified as her antagonist. Consequently, there is speculation about Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, a second-termer who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, as Pelosi’s logical replacement.
Ho-hum…this one doesn’t really fire me up one way or another – if the Republican lose the house, it’s the thought of the loathsome John Conyers heading the Judiciary Committee that is of far great concern to me.
Truth be told, of the Democratic troika of Dean, Pelosi, and Reid, I’ll take Pelosi over the other two every time…
This type of over-analyzing and counting chickens before they hatch is exactly why Mickey Kaus constantly complains that the liberal media bias (which he does believe exists) actually hurts Democrats as much as it helps them. House districts have been increasingly gerrymandered of late, so a Democratic gain of 12 seats would mean they carried 2/3 to 3/4 of the competitive seats in November. If the Republicans had accomplished that it would be seen as a major victory, precisely because the talking heads in the media would have been blindsided by it. But if the Democrats pick up 12 house seats it will now look like a defeat. Doesn’t exactly seem fair, but I guess it makes up for the disparate coverage of the economy when Clinton was President compared to the (non) coverage of our current boom.
It is my belief that the Dems will lose in the fall largely because Rahm Emanuel wants to be minority leader. He’s the one to watch.
I was reading on Yahoo News where Alcee Hastings would be Intelligence Chair. That scares me more than Speaker Pelosi or Chairman Conyers. If I remember correctly, Hastings was a federal judge who was impeached and convicted, yet now serves in the House.
Pelosi may not be the most objectionable Dem or pol out there (it is a competitive field) but short of Cynthia McKinney, she looks the wackiest on TV by a good long chalk. Does she ever blink?