Q: What do the following people have in common -- John McCormack, Carl Albert, Hale Boggs, Tip O'Neill, Tom Foley and Newt Gingrich?
A: The easiest answer is that they were all Speakers of the House.
 | Another answer is that they all served as their party's House Whip on the way to becoming Speaker. Indeed the only two Speakers in the last 40 years who hadn't first been a Whip were Jim Wright and Dennis Hastert. Looking at it another way, 5 of the last 10 Democratic Whips became Speaker of the House. So being Whip is a pretty good stepping stone on the way to becoming one of the most powerful people in the country and 2nd backup in line for the Presidency. Which brings us to the current Democratic Whip, Nancy Pelosi. |
Nancy Pelosi represents my own San Francisco district. She's a nice enough lady, but as one might expect from a San Francisco representative, she represents the far-left lunatic fringe of American politics, and if she were to become Speaker of the House, she would not be speaking for most Americans.
Pelosi is one of the most paleo- of all paleo-liberals, as a member of the Congressional "Progressive" Caucus, and having earned a perfect score from the Americans for Democratic Action. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, 30% of her campaign contributions come from Labor PACs (as opposed to 15% for the Democratic party as a whole and 1% for the Republican party). Pelosi enjoys raising taxes and spending other people's money, opposes educational choice, aspires to a Cuban-style universal health-care system, and seems to believe that Saddam Hussein is a more trustworthy negotiating partner than George W Bush.
I do happen to agree with her on a few issues, by the way, including abortion rights, opposition to the War on Marijuana and support for compassionate pain-relief for dying patients. But on many of the big issues, such as implementing meaningful education reform, maintaining a free market economy, and conducting a sane foreign policy -- she's a disaster.
In a nutshell, if the Democrats win the House, Gephardt will be Speaker and Nancy Pelosi will be House Majority Leader. That alone would give her enormous influence on the Congressional agenda. She would also be next in line to be Speaker, and you know that if and when the time came, the Democrats would be under pressure to "give it to a woman", and it wouldn't matter whether the specific woman happened to be an imbecile. Nancy's re-election this November is a fait accompli. But that doesn't mean that she necessarily has to rise any higher than Minority Whip. The race for control of the House is still close. So think of it in these terms. A vote for your local Democrat also means a vote for Nancy to become Speaker some day. If that sounds like a good idea, then vote for the Democrat.
Between now and the election I'm going to devote much of my blogging energy to shedding light on Nancy Pelosi. If anybody has any news (or history) about her that's worth reporting, please e-mail me and let me know. I will be fair and truthful, but I won't pull any punches.
UPDATE (Nov. 8) Pelosi has secured the position of House Minority Leader, making her an even stronger candidate to become Speaker should the Democrats retake the House in 2004. A complete index of my blog entries devoted to Nancy Pelosi is here
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at October 14, 2002 06:58 AMNancy Pelosi represent the worst of the worst of the Democratic party. The best thing for the Republicians is that she was pick to lead the pack.
I really appreciate your sight....All we have to do is just repeat MZ. Pelosi's statements...Its better then Saturday Night Live! I do not believe a script writer could do as well.
Lets take her first interview since becoming majority whip. MZ. Polisi was asked her opnion on the ecomomy.
Ans: "The ecomony doesn't work"
As if the economy is some kind of policy of entity that is broke.
Pelosi makes a statement , then gives a dumbfounded look as if she is waiting for applause,as she gets in her NOW rallies or lilthe fairs.
Asked: WHat would you recomend if you were president?
Ans: Well first we would have to "get funding" so we can do a study to see what is wrong with the economy.
Hold it Nancy!, you Milton Freedmon of democratic economic policy.(Sarcasm here)
Nancy Pelosi has absolutely no clue as to what the economy is or what makes things move.
A basic ecomomic course on money, employment and interest rates is despretely neded here.
Any simple economic's 101 student knows that the only thing the government can do regulate monitary policy(money supply and interest rates)and fiscal policy(tax revenues and spending)
THis is the best the Democratics can do?
Yes Nancy , there is no Santa Clause!
Pelosi's statement "we need to get funding" is just a preprogrammed message in her mind. Pelosi's only purpose in life is to raise(steal) free money for her radical liberal feminist movement folks.
This line is all the feminist know! Just visit any NOW sponcered organization.
Its really sad. WHo does this women represent?
Ans: Just a small minority of radical thinkers that do not care about the whole of the country, but only her special interest.
Just keep those cards and letters coming in!
Dear sir;
I would not be overly surprised if she is in a family where there are Italian- American Organised members.
She seems the type.
Power hungary and would be generous to mobbed up unions
Mr. Shark.....
Do you think Nancey has mafia ties directly or indirectly?
I never hear that Pelosi faults Democrats for anything. The mayor of New Orleans and the govenor of
Louisiana should be procecuted. The people of
Louisiana deserve to know who sold them out. Jail
time should be sobering.