Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

“But what about the lurkers?”

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

One way or another, he’s a liar.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

You cannot shame the shameless.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Bark louder, little dog.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: The G.O.A.T.

Open Thread: The G.O.A.T.

by | 73 Comments

This post is in: ,

This was the only full program feed I could find. It includes all the speakers, including Boehner. For those of you boycotting twitter, if you find another link, post it in the comments.

For just Nancy’s speech, the youtube link is here. 

I’m sure the comments will be full of complaints. It’s been a rough day, so I won’t be checking back.

This is an open thread.

 

Reader Interactions

73Comments

  1. 1.

    Jackie

    Watching Boehner tear up made ME tear up 😂 Nancy IS THE GOAT of Speaker of The House and we are ALL lucky to have witnessed her greatness in our lifetimes.

  2. 2.

    White & Gold Purgatorian

    Thank you for highlighting this. Leaving aside her historical significance as the first female Speaker, Nancy Pelosi has been one of the most effective Speakers, ever. She has done an amazing job. And made it look easy.

  3. 3.

    Poe Larity

    Maybe Complaintements.

    I could always trigger the wingnuts when back in TX ranting about Nancy with “yeah, she’s just too conservative for my tastes”. Almost thought one old guy was going to stroke out on me once.

    Am going to have to come up with something else for Xmas as they’ll no doubt want to gloat.

  6. 6.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Poe Larity: I don’t want to be the cause of any danger you are in, Poe Larity.  But OTOH, if it caused some RWNJ good ol’ boy serious agita, gosh, I’d feel horrible about that.

    Interracial marriage was legalized in 1967; in 2003, 70% of American supported interracial marriage.  So: 36 years.

    Gay marriage was legalized across America in 2015.  And in 2022 (SEVEN YEARS LATE) 70% of Americans approve of gay marriage.

    “Cletus, do you know how *much faster* Americans approved of gay marriage, than they did of interracial marriage?  FIVE TIMES FASTER, *Cletus*”

  7. 7.

    Jeffro

    @Jackie: same

    @White & Gold Purgatorian: same

    Obama’s comments about her really spoke to all the many, many ways she not only helped save this country in its darkest hour, but fought for progress via smart legislation and coalition-building, just like a Speaker should (yet rarely do nearly so well)

    G.O.A.T.  I know it’s early, but she really does deserve it.

  9. 9.

    Jeffro

    @Chetan Murthy: I’d just like to note that for both of those later poll results, the “anti” faction was easily within the MOE of the blessed Crazification Factor.

    Humanity, we MUST do something to crush that fabled 27% down to single digits or we’re never going to assume our rightful role in the cosmos.  Or get anywhere here on Earth, really.

  10. 10.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Honus: The graph of approval of interracial marriage in America …. well, it’s pretty frightening.  That so many Americans were so bigoted about something so obviously anodyne.

    But then, I was a homophobe until my early 20s, so, y’know, I’m not so much better.

  11. 11.

    Gwangung

    @Poe Larity: Heh. And that has the virtue of being absolutely true (mostly because, I think, she was aiming to be slightly more lefty than her party as a whole)(and as leader, she was had iron discipline in counting votes).

  14. 14.

    Ruckus

    @Jeffro:

    We may take it down a couple of notches but eliminate it? I don’t think so. Some people are just contrary and always will be. And until certain religions grow the hell up and stop being contrary to humanity we will have this divide.

  15. 15.

    Sure Lurkalot

    Fuck. I love all the FPs here and if it’s a topic I’m not interested in or a thread that goes bonkers…I got agency. Thank you for your post.

  17. 17.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Honus: On the one hand, as a brown person who grew up basically around only white people, it’s scary to contemplate: all my girlfriends were white.  On  the other hand, that seven years after Obergefell, gay marriage achieved the same level of approval as interracial marriage required 36 years to attain …. well, I’m enough of a good ol’ boy that I recognize what a massive achievement that is: what that says about our country and our populace.

    It says great, wonderful, excellent things about our people.

    70% approval in 2022!  70% !!

  18. 18.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Chetan Murthy: In 1987 she’d just been  elected to the House.  In a way, it’s symbolic that her final big act was to sign and shepherd thru the Respect for Marriage Act: a sort of capstone of gay rights activism, that we can see was a spark for the start of her career.

    It’s poetic, in a way.

  19. 19.

    Chetan Murthy

    I know somehow it’s a little petty, but still, I’ll always remember: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/11/21/18103325/nancy-pelosi-social-security-privatization-bush-plan

    As the spring of 2005 wore on, some pestered her every week, asking when they were going to release a rival plan.
    “Never. Is never good enough for you?” Pelosi defiantly said to one member.

    When Speaker Pelosi gets her statue in that Hall in the Capitol, if that were the inscription, it might be fitting.

  20. 20.

    Ohio Mom

    @Chetan Murthy: Thank you for that link. So interesting to see such a young Pelosi.

    It’s a fabulous portrait, the painter did a great job.

    And Boehner, I never know what to make of him. In many ways, he seems to have never outgrown that ratty bar he grew up in (a bar I have driven past often, only a few miles from my house, Andy’s Cafe on Vine Street).

  22. 22.

    piratedan

    Nancy pretty much is the embodiment of what the GOP has been hating for damn near a century now…

    1. she’s a woman
    2. she’s a competent woman
    3. she’s a competent woman who wields power with discretion
    4. she’s a woman who has no intention whatsoever of fucking them, unless its politically
  23. 23.

    El Muneco

    @Honus: Riffing on a wham line from the new classic Doctor Who episode “Blink” – “It’s the same rain”…

    … it’s the same 27% who opposed interracial marriage in 2003 that opposed gay marriage in 2015.

  24. 24.

    geg6

    There have been many events in my lifetime that have made me lament being stuck in this timeline.  Assassinations, wars, terrorist attacks, mass shootings, Nixon, Reagan, the Bushes and, maybe most of all, Cheetolini.  But a shining light in this timeline has been Nancy Pelosi.  Such a brilliant strategist and coalition builder.  A truth teller, even when I didn’t agree.  A sublime legislator.  A great leader who, in a time of our country’s greatest peril, took the reins and saved lives and the Constitution.  And she did with great authority and grace, dignity and class.  And under all of that, a spine of steel.  Such a bad ass.  She was truly the GOAT and we shall never see her like again.  I’m so glad that I was able to witness it all.

  26. 26.

    Brachiator

    Speaker Boehner and me at the U.S. Capitol for a ceremony to unveil my portrait as the 52nd Speaker of the House of Representatives, which will join the collection of portraits in the Speaker’s Lobby.

    Cool ceremony and well-deserved honor.

  29. 29.

    Redshift

    @Alison Rose: Yeah, two of my favorite quotes that I heard in recent days were, first, when she was asked if, as a leader, she’d rather be loved or feared, she said “I’d rather get things done.”

    Second, when asked if she cared what people thought of her, she said “why would I waste my time thinking about that?”

  30. 30.

    sdhays

    @Chetan Murthy: It’s not petty. I think it was one of those fulcrum moments in American history, certainly in the history of the Democratic Party.

    This was the first time, really, post-Reagan, that the Democrats held together as a cohesive political party, at least proudly (they mostly held together over the Clinton impeachment, but there was nothing to be particularly proud of in that sordid affair) . It was a watershed moment, because it wasn’t something they were used to doing. And it worked! Nancy led her caucus to crush the just-reelected Republican President’s legislative agenda from the minority in the House.

    Every year since, Democrats have been figuring out that they have power after decades of being convinced otherwise. That moment where Nancy was able to hold them together like a real political party, I think, transformed the Democratic Party and America politics. You can definitely trace the much more cohesive Democratic party of today back to that victory.

  31. 31.

    Chetan Murthy

    @sdhays:

    It’s not petty.

    everything you write is true.  But that’s not why I love that quote.  I love it because she was clearly saying “No, fuck you.”  And making it stick.  And …. well, I love it, b/c she wielded  real power in that moment.  Real fucking power.

    It’s like the moment in The Godfather when Woltz (the Hollywood magnate) wakes up with a horse’s head in his bed.  Real power.  Real power.

    And she wielded it *brutally*.  That’s what I love about it.  No flowery words, veiled schemes, etc. None of that.  Brutal and direct.  Brutal and direct.

  32. 32.

    sdhays

    @Chetan Murthy: Totally agree. It was awesome! Because she is awesome.

    ETA: It was one of those things that really signaled to those of us way out far away from Washington that there really was a new sheriff in town.

  36. 36.

    TriassicSands

    Nancy Pelosi, the worst Speaker of the House since…. Oh, who am I kidding. She’s been amazing. It is time for her to retire, but we’d all be better off if she were 62 instead of 82 and could continue to serve as either Minority Leader or Speaker for the next 15-20 years. Future Speakers will be measured against her record and effectiveness. I’m glad she’s staying in the House, at least for the next two years.

    I hope Jeffries has the confidence and strength of character to consult with her in difficult times. That would show wisdom, not weakness.

    I’m not a believer is G.O.A.T.s*, but she is certainly the finest Speaker in my lifetime, which isn’t that much shorter than hers. What is absolutely clear is that there haven’t been any Republican Speakers who have been even 5% as effective as she has been. The list, which includes Gingrich, Hastert, Ryan, and Boehner is one of shame rather than accomplishment. McCarthy, if he’s elected, will likely set an even lower standard than the others.

    *Times are simply too different. Majorities and issues change and advantages come and go.

  37. 37.

    Jackie

    @TriassicSands: “I hope Jeffries has the confidence and strength of character to consult with her in difficult times. That would show wisdom, not weakness.”

    Pelosi has been training/grooming him (in a GOOD WAY!) for quite awhile. I have absolutely no doubt she’s available as needed, but she passed the baton knowing Jeffries is more than capable of carrying it into the future.

  38. 38.

    mvr

    Thanks for this! The world isn’t all right, so it is good to be reminded that some people in it are pretty darn admirable and that every now and then someone notices.

  39. 39.

    RaflW

    70% public approval of same-sex marriage in 2022.

    Yet, only 60% of the House voted for the Respect for Marriage Act. And only 18% of the GOP House caucus voted yes. The latter are completely, utterly out of sync with the populace, not that most press would really point that out.

    *100% of the House Dems voted yes, of course!!

  41. 41.

    Aussie Sheila

    A truly great parliamentarian and leader of her caucus. You know apart from Boehner I couldn’t name one republican Speaker. She is known in lots of places by people who will never set foot in the US and is widely admired.

    A big job, very well done. Vale.

    Also I want to apologise to someone who was offended at something I wrote about Hakim Jeffries the other day. I said I thought he was a ‘machine’ politician. I meant no disrespect. On the contrary, it was meant as a compliment. An effective and  efficient political machine is vital to a functioning party, and functioning parties need good ‘machine’ politicians. They help keep the show on the road, rolling towards the collective objective. 😎

  43. 43.

    sab

    @Jackie: Bad managers blow things up. Mediocre managers get things to work while they are there and things blow up when they leave. Good managers train up their successors and others under them so that everything rolls along without them.

    My guess is Nancy Pelosi was a manager who encouraged and mentored her successors.

    My uncle was a management accountant. He always said that the best controllers looked like they were not doing anything. Systems worked smoothly. Higher management thought they weren’t doing anything. But they were, which is why systems worked smoothly.

    If the management above you is aware of your struggles then you are doing it wrong, mostly except in the worst circumstances.

    That was an aspect of Pelosis genius. Herding cats looked effortless.

  44. 44.

    piratedan

    @RaflW: and now I can see the FTFNYT headlines, Dems out of step with nation as 100% vote for marriage equality, when only 70% support it nationwide….

  45. 45.

    frosty

    @Aussie Sheila: No worries. “Machine” here in the States gives off the whiff of Tammany Hall and corruption. I understand what you meant but I can’t think of a word to describe it. “Party” politician doesn’t do it either, probably because George Washington didn’t like parties. Maybe some Jackal can help me out here?

  46. 46.

    sab

    @Aussie Sheila: No comment whatever on your comment. I really love comments from folks in parliamentary systems because theirs are so different from ours. Theirs they VOTE!. Ours we just watch glaciers melt, or not melt.

    ETA We vote, but mostly it doesn’t matter. Electoral college and all that.

  47. 47.

    Ruckus

    @sab:

    You just described my experience, both in the Navy and in my working life. In the Navy, the enlisted, the vast majority anyway, knew their jobs and the middle management, upper level enlisted, got things done, the vast majority of the time, quietly and correctly. Most of upper management – officers – fortunately stayed out of the way. The upper management that didn’t know how to stay out of the way screwed up most everything they touched.

  51. 51.

    sab

    @sab: My uncle blew out his back late in his career as a controller. His boses thought: no problem. He’s replacecable. Then they brought in a succession of auditors (who know the accounting but aren’t actually managers). His bosses were thrilled when physical therapy cleared him to come back. They hadn’t known he did anything because his department ran so smoothly.

  52. 52.

    sab

    @rikyrah: She knew how to count votes, but she also knew how to get votes. Timid Democrats in touchy districts. She wasn’t just a San Francisco Democrat. She understands this country.

    ETA : America is San Francisco, but it is also Baltimore. And Cleveland and Akron and Columbus.

  53. 53.

    JWR

    Sometime in the late 1980’s, I read an article in, I think, Time magazine about Pelosi. She’d just begun her rise to fame, (or infamy, depending on your politics), and it described her as something of an insiders outsider while predicting great things in her future. As far as I’m concerned, she redefined greatness right there in front of us all, right up to and including the fact that on January 06, 2021, she was running the whole damn government from a congressional office armed only with a cell phone, and I’m very happy to have witnessed her in action.

  54. 54.

    sab

    When she took over as Speaker none of her predecessors had even bothereed to have her visit the Speakers’s office. Women were that inconsequential. She was rising that far and they did not notice.

    ETA She came into the Speakers office ( the title) without ever having seen the Speaker’s office ( the physical turf.) They had so little regard for this amazing woman that they shut her out.

    Nothing is as clueless as a clueless political man.

  55. 55.

    opiejeanne

    @JWR: That bit of video of her and the information about what she was doing on January 6, showed us how great she truly is. She made call after call, not getting the answers she needed and moving on to another possible source of help. Her call to the VA governor, that really got me when we finally saw the footage.  I’m very glad her daughter was following her around with a camera that day.

    Schumer was making calls too, and deserves credit for his attempt to find someone in charge willing to help them.

  56. 56.

    JWR

    @opiejeanne: That was the video I was thinking of. The woman is bad. ass. And ditto to your praise of Schumer, though he’s been less noticed, but Pelosi seems to be the rising tide that lifts all the Dems boats, and I am so there for it

    ETA I forgot to say, all thanks and kudos to you, Madam Speaker!

  57. 57.

    JWR

    Speaking of Pelosi, I just watched Christine Amanpour interview Alexandra Pelosi, and the interview features some great clips from HBO’s “Pelosi In The House”. Having Alexandra giving us a sort of running commentary makes it all the better.

    Oh, and a PS to all. I think I saw this linked here in comments earlier this week, but ICYMI, Teri Kanefield’s put up another excellent post.

    Disillusioned With Democracy
    December 10, 2022

    Last week Trump expressed solidarity with the insurrectionists and had dinner with two fans of Adolph Hitler. On Sunday, December 4, he announced that the constitution should be “terminated” so that he can be reinstated as president. On Tuesday, the Trump Organization was convicted on all counts of tax fraud.

    The Republican leadership remained largely silent.

    I think her writing has improved, such that even I can follow along. ;)

  58. 58.

    hervevillechaizelounge

    Random question; can anyone explain how Nancy P. came to be such a republican bugaboo?  Is it just because she’s a powerful woman?

    More importantly, is there a profile of a theoretical female Democratic politician who could deflect rightwing misogyny?

    Like, what if Nancy was from a Southern state, or walked with a limp or had a brace of grandchildren with craniofacial deformities?  What if she was a championship skeet shooter and a compulsive snuff sniffer?  Would these variables or any variables change the tenor of their hate for her?

    With the fauxnews ability to marshal hate I don’t think someone like Barbara Jordan could have a political career today, sadly.

  59. 59.

    David ⛄ 🎅The Establishment🎄 🦌 🕎 Koch

    A documentary on her career just debuted on HBO – “Pelosi in the House”

    Its really compelling.

  61. 61.

    hervevillechaizelounge

    Fuck, almost forgot.

    A few days ago someone was looking for a free link to a NYT or Wapo article.  Behold, my holiday gift to Balloon Juice:

    STEAL THIS LINK

    Simply cut and paste any address, plug it into the search bar and this saucy minx will strip the paywall.

    Never forget: any money you steal from major media (adblocking included) comes out of Maggie Haberman’s designer purse.

    (Dirtysexyfantasy: after the MSM collapse I want to see Megan McArdle wielding a squeegee in rush hour traffic in Alphabet City; I want to see David Brooks bagging groceries at Market Basket.  “You put the eggs on the bottom, idiot!” mean old ladies will scream.)

    Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night:)

  63. 63.

    Geminid

    There was a good article in the Washington Post last month, the day after Speaker Pelosi announced she was stepping back from leadership. It reviewed Ms. Pelosi’s career and had an interesting anecdote from 1987.

    Pelosi had just joined Congress after winning a special election to fill the late Sala Burton’s seat. California Congressman George Miller hosted a dinner with some of her new colleagues such as Rep. Charles Schumer of New York, Rep. Richard Durbin of Illinois, and Southern California Representative Barbara Boxer. I want to introduce, Miller told them, the future first woman Speaker of the House.

  64. 64.

    Geminid

    @hervevillechaizelounge: I think one reason Speaker Pelosi was so vilified was that she represented San Francisco. By 1980 that city was both famous and infamous for it’s large and socially empowered gay community. I remember hearing the pejoritive phrase “San Francisco Democrats” before Ms. Pelosi entered Congress. It was natural to associate Pelosi, herself a norm breaker, with the image of a radical, culturally disruptive Democratic party that conservatives have never stopped trying to foist upon the gullible.

  65. 65.

    Geminid

    I took a trip north with my friend Debbie Tuesday; we got back yesterday. On our way to New York we passed through Scranton, and one of the highway signs there was for the “President Joe Biden Expressway.” That was nice to see.

  67. 67.

    Soprano2

    @sab: What do you call a manager who watches while things blow up and acts like they can’t do much about it? Because that describes my boss’s boss, who is retiring in January. A lot of us think he was “incentivized” to retire because he was unwilling to do what needs to be done to fix the things that are wrong. He’s the kind who just hopes things will get better or that the problem people will quit. 🙄🙄🙄 I’m hoping we get someone who can figuratively knock some heads together, because IMHO that’s what needs to be done. We have one supervisor who has been getting away with shit for way too long, among other things.

  69. 69.

    J R in WV

    My only complaint is that Ms Pelosi won’t be speaker in the upcoming session. Otherwise, you go Nancy !!!

    You too TaMara ! Thanks for all you do for us jackals and Cole here at B J ~!!~

    My mom’s name was Nancy… so it tugs at my heart strings when the name is used, even for Madame Speaker. Mom was raised in a Republican family, but as she neared death from Pall Malls she told me she had been zeroing out dad’s R votes for years, ever since the Republicans went crazy on Abortion rights, which she supported all her life. “Don’t tell your dad!” and I never did.

  70. 70.

    J R in WV

    @Aussie Sheila: ​
     

    You know apart from Boehner I couldn’t name one republican Speaker

    Denny Hastert — now serving time for having sex with underage minor boys. And for paying them off to keep them from going public. What a gem of a politician. Former Speaker of the House and major perv in a very sick way ! Harming young boys…..

  71. 71.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Ruckus: I’m constantly reminded by circumstances, like 30% of Americans still disapproving of interracial or same-sex marriage, that I am truly blessed that my parents brought me up in the Church of Mind Your Own Fucking Business, whose mantra is: Let People Be Happy in Their Own Way.

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