Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Democrats are back in array!

The lights are all blinking red.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

You cannot shame the shameless.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

I really should read my own blog.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

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Friday Morning Open Thread: Due Tribute

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I highly recommend Molly Ball’s book, Pelosi — she obviously likes and respects her subject:

Ever since the election, Nancy Pelosi says, congressional Democrats have been begging her to remain as their leader. Of course, she knew what they were really doing: currying favor, just in case.

“Our members were just exploding my phone to stay,” she says, “which is a nice thing, because if I don’t stay, then they’ve gotten the points for saying ’stay,’ and if I do—“ she trailed off, laughing. No matter what she decided, they knew it would be in their interest to be on her good side going forward.

For two decades, it has been in every congressional Democrat’s interest to stay in Pelosi’s good graces. Since winning her first leadership position in 2001, she has ruled the House Democratic caucus with an iron fist and a velvet glove, keeping her fractious party in near-lockstep during historically tumultuous times. From the Iraq War to the financial crisis, through health-care reform and government shutdowns, through two presidential impeachments, a pandemic and an insurrection attempt, she has been a constant force and consummate operator. No national politician of her era can match her combination of legislative prowess, vote-counting savvy, negotiating skill, and fundraising ability…

Ask Pelosi about her legacy, and the first thing she’ll mention is the Affordable Care Act. However flawed and incomplete the 2010 law’s guarantee of universal access to health care may have proven, it represented the fulfillment of a century of liberal aspirations, and the pinnacle of Pelosi’s legislative craft. She moved mountains to get it through the House, at one point nearly breaking down in tears as she begged a group of liberal feminists to swallow an unsavory compromise on abortion funding. Then, after a special election robbed Democrats of their supermajority in the Senate, she urged then-President Obama not to give up on the historic legislation. “If the gate’s closed, you go over the fence,” she said at the time. “If the fence is too high, we’ll pole-vault in. If that doesn’t work, we’ll parachute in. But we’re going to get health-care reform passed for the American people.” Though most of the drama around the bill’s passage revolved around the Senate, it never could have happened without Pelosi’s determination and drive.

She did it knowing there might be a political cost, and indeed there was. Republicans gained 63 seats in the House in the 2010 midterm elections, an election in which Pelosi was a central figure. Republicans made her the subject of millions of dollars’ worth of attack ads across the country, capitalizing on their base’s visceral loathing of her and giving Peosi unusual prominence for a congressional leader.

But Pelosi believed in gaining power not for its own sake but in order to do something with it. Obamacare is part of a legacy that includes two decades of liberal policy victories, from allowing gay people to serve openly in the military to the historic climate investments of this year’s Inflation Reduction Act. “This is a very difficult job,” she told us. “You have to really know how to be a legislator.”…

Pelosi intends to spend the next two years in valedictory mode. “My life ahead is full of thank-yous,” she says, to her constituents and all the others who have supported her over the years. She does not plan to serve on any committees and she does not want to serve as a sort of shadow speaker from the sidelines. “Thanksgiving is coming,” she says. “I have no intention of being the mother-in-law in the kitchen saying, ‘My son doesn’t like the stuffing that way, this is the way we make it in our family.’ They will have their vision. They will have their plan. It’s up to the caucus to decide which way they want to go.”

She was first elected to Congress in 1987, she’s in her 18th term and is the dean of the California congressional delegation. She was elected as Whip in 2002, then a year later rose to Minority Leader — the first woman to hold those two positions.

Under her leadership, the Democrats took the majority in the House after the 2006 election. The election that brought me to Washington, DC. Until then I had only witnessed her leadership from afar. In 2007, I had a much closer seat.

During her first speakership, she delivered President Obama his legislative agenda including the ACA; Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform; Don’s Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act; ARRA; the 2010 Tax Relief Act.

She’s often praised/criticized by Republicans and Democrats for her accomplishments. But one thing that people forget about her is that she’s been a bulwark against the extremes. Indeed many in the party dislike her because she’s too liberal AND too conservative.

She opposed the Iraq war AND blocked impeachment proceedings against George Bush. She pushed for a public option AND got her caucus to universally support the ACA. She was slow to call for the impeachment of Trump but was forceful when it was clear that was the only option.

Through it all, she kept her caucus happy and unified when, let’s face it, a party that included Carol Shea-Porter, Jack Murtha, Heath Shuler, and Dennis Kucinich seems like four different parties completely. Boehner had it easy.

She faced challenges from within her party. Shuler lost to Pelosi 143-50 in 2010. Tim Ryan ran against her. He lost 134-63. A collection of the caucus gathered to discuss firing Pelosi. They couldn’t agree. And Pelosi, rightly, claimed that she would leave when she was ready.

People may not like her style, but there’s no question she knew exactly how to lead her caucus and how to make a majority.

Even in the face of opposition within her party – legislatively or otherwise.

Why is the ACA on my wall? Despite every effort from Sen. Max Baucus to gut ACA, despite Obama’s retreat at the first sign of resistance to HIS climate bill, despite the constant shouts from her party that she’s too liberal, she passed every Democrat priority she was asked to.

The ACA represents her work. Her work with liberals, moderates, and conservatives. Her ability to bring in outside groups to tell her caucus “what they need to hear.” Her ability to give her members political cover, legislative wins, and resources for re-election.

She is the most successful legislator we’ve ever seen. And her leadership should be celebrated today. Especially her decision to step aside, as she said she would, for the next Congress.

I can’t wait to see what Leader Jeffries does. But for now, let’s give three cheers for Speaker Pelosi.

Reader Interactions

92Comments

  4. 4.

    Cacti

    Pelosi was a very effective Parliamentarian and an unflinching advocate for liberal democratic policy priorities.

    She deserves a medal for her courage in holding the line when the fascists were literally at the door baying for her blood on January 6, 2021.

    She was a great leader, in the right place, at the right time, and we were fortunate to have her.

  6. 6.

    Amir Khalid

    If Nancy Pelosi, the GOAT House Speaker, doesn’t feel the need to babysit the new generation of Democratic House leaders, I guess that’s a good sign: she’s confident that they can do the job to a more than decent standard.

  10. 10.

    Elizabelle

    Gonna watch/listen to Nancy Smash’s speech yesterday while I am working in the kitchen.

    I wish Nancy and Paul health, and, for her, a stunningly productive final term in [Congressional] office. Could happen.

  11. 11.

    lowtechcyclist

    Still remember when reporters were badgering her for the Democratic “plan for Social Security,” and one of them asked when they would roll one out and she said, “Never. Is never good enough for you?”

    If Pelosi had accomplished absolutely nothing else, she’d forever deserve our gratitude for this.  Social Security is still intact on account of her.

    But of course that’s just one of a long list of her accomplishments, albeit a particularly important one.  Keeping the ACA alive after Scott Brown’s win in January 2010. Keeping her caucus, with its razor-thin majority, together to pass a shitload of important legislation in this Congress alone. (Chuck Schumer deserves big props too, given his nonexistent margin on the Senate side.)

    She’s amazing.

  13. 13.

    zhena gogolia

    I watched her speech last night. Very moving. What a great patriot, in the true sense of the word.

  14. 14.

    BlueGuitarist

    Thanks AL!

    If anyone else wondered re that last tweet,

    In 2006 Dana Houle managed Paul Hodes (NH-02) win against incumbent R Charlie Bass.

    and speaking of great campaigns and patriots

    today is a good day to click the BJ ActBlue links to support Raphael Warnock via Worker Power, Four Directions or direct to the campaign

    and to get ready for tomorrow nights postcard writing thread with cards and addresses from MazeDancer at Postcardpatriots .com

  16. 16.

    Jeffro

    @Cacti: She deserves a medal for her courage in holding the line when the fascists were literally at the door baying for her blood on January 6, 2021.

    exactly this (and so many other times she held the line, too)

    this country owes her so very, very much!

  18. 18.

    caphilldcne

    Nancy Pelosi came to Congress championing responding to the HIV epidemic. She helped pass the critical Ryan White Program in the House, global AIDS funding, and has consistently led efforts to continue responding even as public attention has fallen. She helped overturn the ban on syringe services (altho we still have a ban on using federal funds on actual syringes – the Rs just won’t get out of the way). I’ve worked with many people in her staff and they’re all incredibly knowledgeable and somewhat driven people who are there because of their desire to be effective public servants. She’s truly a powerhouse and will be missed.

  20. 20.

    Amir Khalid

    Tomorrow is Election Day here in Malaysia. Three big firsts: the first election where 18-year-olds can vote; the first election held in the midst of a pandemic; and the first one with three coalitions each vying  for control of Parliament, and no clear favourite among them. There’s Barisan Nasional, led by incumbent PM Ismail Sabri Yaakob; Pakatan Harapan, led by Anwar Ibrahim; and Pakatan Nasional, led by former PM Muhyiddin Yasin, the first PM to lose the job between general elections*.

    Wish us luck.

    *Not counting Najib’s dad Abdul Razak Hussain, who died in office.

  22. 22.

    tobie

    I can’t imagine American politics without Nancy Pelosi. She held an otherwise fractious House caucus together. Who else commands that kind of respect?

  27. 27.

    JPL

    OT This story is why I’ll miss twitter. 

    Dr. Ijeoma Opara on Twitter: “Twitter fam, thank you for helping me to find the family of the 9 year old girl from NJ who had the police called on her by her neighbor for collecting lantern flies. I connected with them & invited them to @yale for a Black girl led Science Tour! Yesterday—HISTORY was MADE (1/)

    For some reason the link button didn’t open for me.   Sorry.

  28. 28.

    mali muso

    @Amir Khalid: ​
     Good luck! I “met” (ok just shook hands with) Anwar Ibrahim a few years ago at an small reception here in the States. Quite an interesting journey his life has been…

  31. 31.

    Geminid

    @Amir Khalid: I wish you and your fellow Malaysians luck!

    I hope you keep us posted on the election and it’s aftermath. I want to learn more about other democracies, and I’m not the only one here, I think.

  32. 32.

    BlueGuitarist

    @Amir Khalid:

    wishing you the best of luck!

    wondering when/how the voting age got lowered; hoping for good youth vote

    Just noticed Japan lowered voting age to 18 in 2016 and Taiwan legislative elections this month will be first for 18 yo.

  34. 34.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Heath Shuler! Good lord, there’s a blast from the past. A reminder of how much the party has changed.

    IIRC Jack Murtha was a close Pelosi ally, it sent shock waves through the Beltway when a Silent Generation ex-Marine came out against Bush’s war

  35. 35.

    Geminid

    @tobie: The respect that Speaker Pelosi held among the House Democrats certainly was crucial to her success in maintaining a cohesive Caucus. Just as importantly, she instilled a mutual respect among members with various political outlooks, and I’m hoping that attitude continues in the next Congress.

  37. 37.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    Ugh. WaPost has an op-ed by the odious Josh Hawley, embarrassment from MO.

  40. 40.

    Amir Khalid

    @db11:

    Dunno. Ismail Sabri and Muhyiddin are not seen as strong leaders. Ismail Sabry is a VP in Najib’s party UMNO, which is still whining that Najib wuz framed! — not a good look. Muhyiddin’s coalition includes the fundie Islamist party PAS, an untrustworthy alliance partner with nothing to offer the nation but a narrow-minded religiosity.

    Anwar seems the least-bad potential PM. He  talks a good fight as an opposition leader, but I’ve seen him outmanoeuvred a couple of times and I’m not entirely confident in him.

  41. 41.

    Geminid

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: The party changed with the country. Shuler was part of a former cohort of Blue Dogs that could hang on for a while in districts like his in western North Carolina. Colin Petersen (MN), who hung onto his rural Minnesota district until 2020, might have  been the last of the breed.

    Now, newer Blue Dogs like Lou Correa (CA), Mikey Sherrill (NJ), and Abigail Spanberger (VA) succeed in majority-suburban districts that they wrested from Republican control. And Blue Dog Ed Case represents half of Hawaii’s citizens.

  43. 43.

    Ken

    I highly recommend Molly Ball’s book, Pelosi

    Oooh. What highly juicy stories about times when Pelosi broke the law and/or endangered the country are revealed?  And how long did Ball sit on those stories before the book was published?

    Those are the questions you ask when any political biography comes out, aren’t they?

  44. 44.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: If I can ask, what idiotic thing is he talking about this time? I like to tell him what I think of him and his ideas from time to time. The reply is always a “Thank you for sharing your opinion.” with a silent “Now, fuck off.”

    eta I reviled Blunt almost as much, but credit where credit is due: I always got a reply from a staffer that actually engaged with what I had written.

  45. 45.

    Ken

    @Geminid: Blue Dog Ed Case represents half of Hawaii’s citizens.

    I was a little surprised they had two, and checked. I hadn’t realized Hawaii is larger (by land area) than seven other states, including Massachusetts and New Jersey.

    But I’m still left with wondering what the hell’s wrong with Wyoming and the Dakotas, that they can only scrape together enough people for one representative?  Alaska I’ll give a bye because it’s cold, and Vermont because it’s cold and small.

  47. 47.

    Kent

    @Ken:

    Oooh. What highly juicy stories about times when Pelosi broke the law and/or endangered the country are revealed?  And how long did Ball sit on those stories before the book was published?

    Those are the questions you ask when any political biography comes out, aren’t they?

    Yep.  I don’t think there has been one scandal, not even one FAKE scandal about Pelosi’s 36 years in the House.  That is probably why the vitriol has been so vicious.  They got nothing else.

  48. 48.

    Baud

    @Kent: There’s a fake insider trading scandal with her husband that I’ve seen on the Internet.  I don’t think even the GOP has run with it though.

  49. 49.

    Dan B

    @Ken: Wyoming, I hear, is colder than Alaska – could be wrong but the panhandle is definitely warmer.  Much of Wyoming is 8,000 feet elevation or higher.  Jackson Hole is one of the lower locations.

  52. 52.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Ken: Rhode Island is big enough for two reps! The threshold is just over a million people; Delaware barely fails to make the cut.

  53. 53.

    Cacti

    @Dan B:  On average, that may be true.  The coldest city/town in the U.S. is Fairbanks, AK.  However, Alaska is huge, and not all of it is brutally cold in the winter.

    SE Alaska is temperate rainforest like the rest of the Pacific Northwest.

  54. 54.

    db11

    @Amir Khalid: Well then, here’s hoping that Anwar pulls it off (as the apparently least bad option of the three), and that he somehow becomes an effective leader!

  57. 57.

    Geminid

    @Matt McIrvin: I remember seeing speculation that Rhode Island might finish below the reapportionment cut and lose a seat. That did not happen, but Montana finished above the cut and gained a second one.

    West Virginia lost a seat and is now down to a couple. The Mountain State went into the 1960 election with 6 Congressional seats!

  58. 58.

    Layer8Problem

    @Geminid:

    West Virginia lost a seat and is now down to a couple. The Mountain State went into the 1960 election with 6 Congressional seats!

    Hm, I wonder where everybody went?

  61. 61.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @WaterGirl: Thank you for posting this follow up, I hated seeing this little girls love for science and desire to help the environment crushed by a horrible neighbor.

  62. 62.

    Geminid

    @Layer8Problem: Maybe the Midwest. Western Pennsylvania probably got West Virginia migrants too. I haven’t met that many in central Virginia, although I expect the DC area got a fair amount starting in 1950.

  63. 63.

    Ken

    @Layer8Problem: West Virginia’s population has been roughly static since the 1950s.  But almost everywhere else is increasing, and if you’re standing still you fall behind.

  65. 65.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Geminid: An interesting detail wrt Puerto Rico statehood is that Puerto Rico would not be one of the smallest states; it’s about on par with Connecticut in both land area and population and would probably have 4 or 5 Representatives.

    Expanding the House to deal with this silly granularity at the low end probably is a good idea, though it wouldn’t help Democratic representation in the Electoral College nearly as much as a lot of Democrats imagine (the main structural benefit to Republicans is not the small-state bonus–our side has small states too, they’re just physically small rather than unpopulated).

  66. 66.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: Actually, I bet the DC area started attracting West Virginians during the Second World War. And a few probably drifted over during the Great Depression.

  67. 67.

    Anyway

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Democrats imagine (the main structural benefit to Republicans is not the small-state bonus–our side has small states too, they’re just physically small rather than unpopulated).

    Having more senators than Representatives for a state should be illegal.

  68. 68.

    Geminid

    @Matt McIrvin: The prospect of expanding the House presents all kinds of interesting potentials, so I can see why it interests Democrats. But like other structural reforms, there seems like such a low probability of it ever being accomplished that I don’t give much thought to it. I go by the assumption that at least in the short and medium term, we are going to have to “run the machine as we find it.”

    It’s possible we’ll achieve substantial gerrymander reform by the next reapportionment, though and that would help Democrats out a lot.

  69. 69.

    J R in WV

    A quote from the 911 call to the police:

    “There’s a little Black woman, walking, spraying stuff on the sidewalks and trees on Elizabeth and Florence. I don’t know what the hell she’s doing, scares me though,” the neighbor told police… The caller added that she’s a “real small woman.”

    What kind of nasty, sick person does this kind of thing? Full of hatred making them afraid of everyone not in their family?  Unbelievable to me that anyone would do something like this to a little girl.

    A “real small woman.”

    I must suppose the neighbor was hoping and planning that the police would shoot the small woman down without asking any questions at all. How evil.

    No cure for stupid AND evil !!

  70. 70.

    Cacti

    After all of the handwaving away of Qatar’s human rights record in the run up to the World Cup, the potentates of that country have finally crossed the bridge too far:

    All beer sales are banned at World Cup venues.

    FIFA is going to get the everloving fuck sued out of them by ABinBev.  LOL

  73. 73.

    Cacti

    @Geminid: It was probably the plan from the start and it’s too late to cancel the World Cup now.

    So congrats to Qatar on being the first and last Islamic theocracy to ever host the World Cup.  LoL

  74. 74.

    mrmoshpotato

    Speaker Pelosi did a remarkable job as speaker, holding a relatively small caucus together to pass vital legislation. She also reminded us that smart, tough women didn’t let bullies and tyrants have their way just because they yelled the loudest.

    Especially if it’s the Kremlin’s orange fascist shitstain.  Nancy SMASH!

  75. 75.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Cacti:

    All beer sales are banned at World Cup venues.

    FIFA is going to get the everloving fuck sued out of them by ABinBev. LOL

    Good on the fuckers!

  79. 79.

    Matt McIrvin

    @kalakal: I think NASA needs to revisit the lunar-landing scheme for Artemis–I’m real skeptical that the very Musk-y approach they picked is going to work, for increasingly obvious reasons.

  85. 85.

    Dan B

    @Geminid: Apparently the Royal Family insisted.  They’re, at the moment, allowing Budweiser sales at great distances from the venues.  Lotta good that’ll do for ABinBev

    And how much “tea” can the Royals sip in their luxury suites?

  92. 92.

    artem1s

    @Soprano2: : I cannot believe they gave the World Cup to a country where alcohol is basically illegal.

    I can’t believe they gave it to a country where women aren’t allowed to play or attend games.  But obviously no alcohol is just a bridge too far.

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