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You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Congratulations, Speaker Pelosi!

Congratulations, Speaker Pelosi!

by Anne Laurie|  April 8, 201910:12 am| 49 Comments

This post is in: 2020 Elections, A Woman's Place Is In The House, Because of wow., NANCY SMASH!, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat

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It is a great personal and official honor to receive the Profile in Courage Award, which stands as a powerful testament to the extraordinary legacy and leadership of President Kennedy. #ProfileInCourage pic.twitter.com/npd15vRtOj

— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) April 7, 2019

Barely three months into her second turn in charge, Nancy Pelosi has already mapped out a plan to overwhelm Republicans in the 2020 elections.

"I'm going to have our races won by this November," Pelosi said. https://t.co/2PqfiuwlhS

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 6, 2019

… Yes, the House speaker predicted that she will have locked down the majority a full year ahead of schedule, leaving the political battlefield to what she considers an intense presidential race all the way up to November 2020.

It’s a remarkably bold guarantee for Pelosi, who will celebrate this new majority’s 100-day mark at a Democratic retreat next week outside Leesburg. Her caucus has had its share of growing pains in the first quarter of the year, with younger, more-liberal Democrats trying to push Pelosi’s leadership team as far to the left as possible…

In a wide-ranging interview with The Washington Post, Pelosi acknowledged that the job now is different from her first go-round, most notably because President Trump is such a different personality than Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. But, she also notes, the rise of social media has transformed politics since her last tenure, allowing newcomers to become instant stars in a way that she could not imagine when she arrived in the Capitol 32 years ago…

… Pelosi believes her endangered incumbents are shoring themselves up through a steady diet of town halls. And leadership is particularly pushing the freshmen running their first reelection to raise as much money as possible.

By Thanksgiving, if all goes according to her plan, potential GOP challengers will “think twice” about running against Democrats. And then she will deliver a stern warning to Republicans who remain in swing seats.

“We fully intend to win this election, and some of you are vulnerable. It’s going to cost you millions of dollars, to win or lose. And if you win — say you win — you’re in the minority, probably want to teach at the university,” Pelosi said, drawing out every syllable like the daughter of a Baltimore mayor who watched her father stare down rivals. “So we get the A-team, and they get the retirements. That’s my plan.”…

NEW: Speaker Pelosi issues statement on resignation of Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen: "It is deeply alarming that the Trump Administration official who put children in cages is reportedly resigning because she is not extreme enough for the White House’s liking.” https://t.co/NjQ1E9EIPZ pic.twitter.com/YEPZOwxarc

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) April 8, 2019

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Reader Interactions

49Comments

  1. 1.

    MattF

    April 8, 2019 at 10:31 am

    Pelosi leads by working harder than anyone else. And she certainly works harder than that Orange Buffoon. She has a plan, and she’s on it.

  2. 2.

    Jerzy Russian

    April 8, 2019 at 10:36 am

    Congratulations to Speaker Pelosi. I hope she wasn’t serious about having departed GOP members of Congress teach at universities. I don’t want to potentially pass these people in hallways and I don’t want our students to have to put up with them. These defeated members should spend more time with their families, since they deserve it.

  3. 3.

    Joe Falco

    April 8, 2019 at 10:36 am

    Speaking of strategy and the fight for truth, justice and the American way, Georgia Republicans’ vote on their anti-abortion “heart beat” bill helped recruit seven women to run for state seats next year as Democrats. Six of those seven seats currently in Republican control are held by men. The AJC reports:

    At a press conference Friday under the Gold Dome that veered from somber to celebratory, seven women Democrats announced challenges against seven Republican incumbents – of whom six are men.

    The announcements were organized by Georgia Win List, which backs pro-choice Democratic women. It wasn’t meant as an endorsement, said executive director Melita Easters, but “just the beginning” of a long candidate roll-out.

    Many of the women were already planning to run before the legislative session, but said the passage of House Bill 481, which outlaws most abortions as soon as a heartbeat is detected, helped cement their decision.

    So yeah, Georgia Republicans. Let your troglodyte governor lead you down all these pathetic “culture war” votes. It’s going to be a long walk off a short pier.

  4. 4.

    trollhattan

    April 8, 2019 at 10:36 am

    Why, I can remember a day when Ms Pelosi was too old and out of touch to retain her Speaker’s job. She’s come a long way since then. Congratulations, Madam Speaker, well deserved and keep giving them hell!

  5. 5.

    raven

    April 8, 2019 at 10:46 am

    @Joe Falco: We’ll see.

  6. 6.

    Joe Falco

    April 8, 2019 at 10:47 am

    @raven: You gotta hope for something. Fight the good fight and all that jazz.

  7. 7.

    SFAW

    April 8, 2019 at 10:48 am

    @trollhattan:

    Why, I can remember a day when Ms Pelosi was too old and out of touch to retain her Speaker’s job.

    She still is. Were she not, extreme liberal Seth Moulton would not be getting the groundswell of support needed to catapult his candidacy almost into the stratosphere. [“Almost,” because he shouldn’t be allowed to rival the idol, i.e., Bernie, of some of his biggest supporters.]

    Him and Whatsisname Ryan, both.

    Re: Speaker Pelosi’s prediction for 2020: my natural inclination is to discount things like this, because they often turn into extreme disappointment [Hillary, Rick Scott a year before winning his second term, etc.] But Speaker Pelosi (I love writing that) has a pretty good track record on her statements of that nature, so I’m trying to hold my trepidation at bay.

  8. 8.

    rikyrah

    April 8, 2019 at 10:49 am

    Nancy Smash rocks. Period

  9. 9.

    raven

    April 8, 2019 at 10:49 am

    @Joe Falco: Oh I do, I’ve also lived her for 35 years and know what these nasty motherfuckers are up to.

  10. 10.

    Gin & Tonic

    April 8, 2019 at 10:50 am

    Yeah, but Tim Ryan will have the last laugh when he’s elected President and Pelosi will have to bow to him as the most powerful Democrat in the country.

  11. 11.

    randy khan

    April 8, 2019 at 10:54 am

    Pelosi keeping her foot on the gas pedal and keeping the pressure on the Republicans. Exactly what I expected of her, and why I love love love her as Speaker.

    (A comment on the point about expectations: What I like most about what she said is that she’s telling the Republicans a lot of things they already know – it’s no fun to be in the minority, getting the House back in 2020 is an uphill battle, people in swing districts are going to have to raise insane amounts of money – and then adding that the Dems already have a plan in place to consolidate and extend their majority. It’s all intended to discourage incumbents from running for reelection, which will make those seats even more vulnerable.)

  12. 12.

    Miss Bianca

    April 8, 2019 at 11:04 am

    I like her confidence and swagger about 2020. I like that she says, “we’ve got a PLAN.” I feel like I really need that right now.

  13. 13.

    HalfAssedHomesteader

    April 8, 2019 at 11:18 am

    @Joe Falco: Hear! Hear! Not to mention the strong showing of opposition from “Hollywood South”, Coca Cola, IBM and many other corporate voices. If they can’t listen for justice maybe they’ll listen to their pocketbooks.

  14. 14.

    The Moar You Know

    April 8, 2019 at 11:25 am

    I don’t ever recall her saying something remotely like this. An angry, determined Pelosi should be the GOP’s worst nightmare. It would be mine, save I always try to stay in her good graces.

    Perhaps she could lend a hand on the completely ignored and absolutely vital – ABSOLUTELY – 2020 Senate elections? Please? It’s seriously more important than even the Presidency.

  15. 15.

    Joe Falco

    April 8, 2019 at 11:27 am

    @HalfAssedHomesteader:
    It needs condemnation from every sector of life. The ACC tennis tournament was moved to Rome, Georgia only after NC Republicans overplayed their hand with their transgender bathroom bill and the NCAA boycotted the state. Republicans don’t learn but double down given half the chance apparently.

  16. 16.

    SFAW

    April 8, 2019 at 11:30 am

    @The Moar You Know:

    Perhaps she could lend a hand on the completely ignored and absolutely vital – ABSOLUTELY – 2020 Senate elections?

    Are you trying to suggest that Chuck Schumer doesn’t have things well in hand? Stunned, I am.

  17. 17.

    Steve in the ATL

    April 8, 2019 at 11:33 am

    @HalfAssedHomesteader: historically, Georgia republicans talk the fundamentalist right wing nutjob talk, but their walk is pure business.

    David Perdue’s election to senator was a surprise, because he was the fundamentalist right wing nut job candidate, and he beat the business friendly republican in the primary despite the heavy corporate support that guy received.

    It remains to be seen where kemp will fall, but this new abortion ban is a bad harbinger.

  18. 18.

    J R in WV

    April 8, 2019 at 11:36 am

    I too want to also praise Madame Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s leadership, through which she earned the Profile in Courage award!! A hard working person indeed, and for all the right positions for AMerica!

  19. 19.

    joel hanes

    April 8, 2019 at 11:38 am

    @trollhattan:

    I can remember a day when Ms Pelosi was too old and out of touch to retain her Speaker’s job.

    I got an email from Seth Moulton the other day, fundraising for someone else. Replied with “I will contribute to a primary challenger for Seth Moulton” and unsubscribed.

  20. 20.

    justawriter

    April 8, 2019 at 11:40 am

    I read Profiles In Courage more than 40 years ago, pretty much for the same reason my Irish grandmother owned the Kennedy Memorial Album that was produced after the assassination. It was impressive to the 16 year old me, but I am afraid it is one of the artifacts that hasn’t aged well. A lot of it is devoted to defining “courage” as keeping slaveholders in the Union and then opposing Reconstruction. It feels like it was written to keep the Strom Thurmond Democrats from bolting if Kennedy got the presidential nomination. Then the final profile is Bob Taft questioning the legitimacy of the Nuremberg Trials, because why not.

  21. 21.

    Sister Golden Bear

    April 8, 2019 at 11:44 am

    @randy khan:

    A comment on the point about expectations: What I like most about what she said is that she’s telling the Republicans a lot of things they already know

    Nancy Smash is busy getting inside Republicans’ heads. May she live there rent-free until Election Day (and beyond).

  22. 22.

    Matt

    April 8, 2019 at 11:45 am

    @SFAW: Can’t wait for all the “we lost in 2020 because you fucking hippies didn’t do what your betters told you to” thinkpieces. They’ll be great reading as we’re all being marched into gas chambers by Trumpkins.

  23. 23.

    Chyron HR

    April 8, 2019 at 11:49 am

    @Matt:

    We were all on the internet on election night 2016, Matt. We watched in real time as the self-proclaimed left gloated about their “victory” over the Democrats. Spare us your attempt to pretend that it was the other way around.

  24. 24.

    Jim Parish

    April 8, 2019 at 11:52 am

    @justawriter: Yep. I read the Profiles way back when, but the only one I remember at all clearly is the one on Edmund G. Ross – the Senator whose vote at Andrew Johnson’s impeachment trial kept Johnson in the White House. Imagine Benjamin Wade as President…

  25. 25.

    Searcher

    April 8, 2019 at 12:22 pm

    Aaaaaand, Bernie just came out as against “open borders”.

    “If you open the borders, there’s a lot of poverty in this world, and you’re going to have people from all over the world. And I don’t think that’s something that we can do at this point. Can’t do it.”

  26. 26.

    SFAW

    April 8, 2019 at 12:22 pm

    @Matt:

    Can’t wait for all the “we lost in 2020 because you fucking hippies didn’t do what your betters told you to” thinkpieces. They’ll be great reading as we’re all being marched into gas chambers by Trumpkins.

    Not quite sure what point you’re trying to make. That the “fucking hippies” (as you call them) are the only true keepers of the Democrat(ic) flame? And that they are the only ones — or rather, their candidates — who can defeat the Rethugs in 2020? Or is it that support for politicians like Speaker Pelosi means that “fucking hippies” (as you call them) will be told to FOAD, and have no voice in policy, etc?

    Or was it just a general veiled rant at those politicians whom “fucking hippies” (as you call them) want to be more liberal, or retire, or just go away?

  27. 27.

    Kay

    April 8, 2019 at 12:23 pm

    Jake Tapper
    ‏Verified account
    @jaketapper
    18h18 hours ago
    More
    2/ Secretary Nielsen “believed the situation was becoming untenable with the President becoming increasingly unhinged about the border crisis and making unreasonable and even impossible requests,” a senior administration official tells CNN.

    They’re all such cowards. She had a decision to make and her decision was to follow orders. This after the fact sniping they all do is just the weakest thing I’ve ever seen. Trump owns them, body and soul. This is the deal they made.

  28. 28.

    SFAW

    April 8, 2019 at 12:25 pm

    @Kay:

    This is the deal they made.

    At some level, this is an extension of the “Leopards Eating Peoples’ Faces” meme.

  29. 29.

    Joe Falco

    April 8, 2019 at 12:31 pm

    @Searcher:

    Wilmer can go read the plaque at the Statue of Liberty and stfu.

    “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

  30. 30.

    Just One More Canuck

    April 8, 2019 at 12:32 pm

    @trollhattan: she was so much older then, she’s younger than that now

  31. 31.

    Kay

    April 8, 2019 at 12:33 pm

    @SFAW:

    I think “timing” probably matters as far as asserting moral superiority. You don’t get credit for refusing the order after you carry it out and then get fired and publicly humiliated. Was he holding her hostage?

  32. 32.

    Kay

    April 8, 2019 at 12:37 pm

    @Joe Falco:

    I think the Democratic candidates will be upset that Bernie Sanders is once again portraying their position the same way Donald Trump does. No one is actually for “open borders”. That’s a Fox News characterization of the anti-Trump position.

  33. 33.

    Brachiator

    April 8, 2019 at 12:39 pm

    @Searcher:

    Aaaaaand, Bernie just came out as against “open borders”.

    Qualifies for a Profile in Cowardice award.

  34. 34.

    Peale

    April 8, 2019 at 12:51 pm

    @Kay: He’s such a phony socialist. I think we should pepper him with other policy questions about changes to the immigration system. Honestly. Ask him if he agrees that poor immigrants should have no legal protection. As him if he’d appoint more judges so that immigrants wouldn’t be indefinitely detained. Ask him if he’s o.k. with 4 year olds being in court and forced to represent themselves. Ask him if something should be done so that the wait list for family sponsorship for Mexicans and Indians isn’t 12 years. Ask him why being poor should disqualify a refugee or assylee seeker. He’s the kind of socialist who favors rich immigrants over the poor. What kind of socialism favors the rich over the poor?

  35. 35.

    Joe Falco

    April 8, 2019 at 12:55 pm

    @Peale:

    What kind of socialism favors the rich over the poor?

    Corporate socialism.

  36. 36.

    Smiling Mortician

    April 8, 2019 at 12:57 pm

    Anyone who bitches about Nancy Pelosi just doesn’t get it. End of story.

    Sorry I’m so late to this (probably dead) thread. It’s taken me months to come back and join the conversation, even though I’ve been lurking for the past year or so since dealing with the cancer thing and moving to a new continent as threatened.

  37. 37.

    joel hanes

    April 8, 2019 at 1:05 pm

    @Smiling Mortician:

    I remember you.
    Welcome back !

  38. 38.

    VeniceRiley

    April 8, 2019 at 1:06 pm

    @Smiling Mortician: Welcome back! The thread may be dead, but you’re wonderfully alive.

  39. 39.

    Smiling Mortician

    April 8, 2019 at 1:06 pm

    @VeniceRiley: Thank you, VeniceRiley!

  40. 40.

    Smiling Mortician

    April 8, 2019 at 1:07 pm

    @joel hanes: As I do you, joel hanes!

  41. 41.

    joel hanes

    April 8, 2019 at 1:09 pm

    @SFAW:

    It certainly sounds like the defensive bleating of someone who was too concerned with personal brand purity to vote for HRC in the general, and is not willing to admit that was a mistake.

  42. 42.

    J R in WV

    April 8, 2019 at 1:31 pm

    @Smiling Mortician:

    …since dealing with the cancer thing and moving to a new continent as threatened.

    Holy Cow, congrats on both! Didn’t know about your cancer thing, cancer sucks!!

    Which continent did you move to to escape..?. Can’t blame you at all.

  43. 43.

    SFAW

    April 8, 2019 at 1:34 pm

    @joel hanes:

    to vote for HRC in the general,

    You mean war-monger Hitlary? Who’s no different from the Traitor-in-Chief — maybe even worse?

  44. 44.

    SFAW

    April 8, 2019 at 1:35 pm

    @Smiling Mortician:

    dealing with the cancer thing.

    I’m hoping this means you’re OK, in remission, cancer-free.

  45. 45.

    Smiling Mortician

    April 8, 2019 at 1:58 pm

    @J R in WV: @SFAW: I’m still in treatment (diagnosed July 2017, working on it since). My husband and I retired early and moved to Spain. We’re absolutely loving it here as I continue to work with excellent docs in a different country and feel good every day. Thanks for asking!

  46. 46.

    Searcher

    April 8, 2019 at 2:05 pm

    @Kay: I mean, I am for “open borders”, by just about any definition you want to use, for similar reasons as glossed today on SMBC, the webcomic by the brilliant & sexy Zach Wienersmith, selling his new book.

    But I understand this isn’t a mainstream Democratic position.

    And I’m shocked-not-shocked that the patron saint of the leftier-than-thous isn’t for it.

  47. 47.

    WaterGirl

    April 8, 2019 at 2:47 pm

    @Smiling Mortician: I remember the day you got the out-of-the-blue diagnosis and you were feeling pretty hopeless, trying to work out whether it was worth it to try to fight it. (please correct me if I am remembering that totally wrong!)

    It sounds like you worked through that and are happy with your decision.

    Spain! I don’t recall anything about Spain before, was that a “what the hell, we may as well do what we want” decision? (not meaning to pry, so ignore me if you like)

  48. 48.

    joel hanes

    April 8, 2019 at 3:09 pm

    @Smiling Mortician:

    Spain
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_OEJ0wqt2g

  49. 49.

    SFAW

    April 8, 2019 at 3:32 pm

    @Smiling Mortician:

    OK. Hoping the treatments work out stunningly well.

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