Patterico's Pontifications

11/18/2020

Dems Elect to Stick with San Fran Nan and Her Posse

Filed under: General — JVW @ 1:28 pm



[guest post by JVW]

The House Democrat Caucus today nominated Nancy Pelosi (D – eSalon) to serve another term as Speaker of the House. She faced no opposition for the post and her top two lieutenants, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Majority Whip James Clyburn, were also returned to their leadership positions. Rep. Pelosi now must win election to the Speaker’s chair when the entire House convenes in January. Democrats are expected to hold a margin of somewhere between eleven and twenty-one seats, depending upon how final recounts come out, and thus far only one Democrat member, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, has announced that she will not vote for Rep. Pelosi.

This result comes as no surprise to me, even though four years ago I was amazed that Democrats were returning to leadership positions the exact same crew that had lost the House majority in 2010. In a way, I think this is probably the smartest move the Dems could make. If it is indeed true that Aunt Nancy has pledged that this will be her final term in party leadership, it makes a lot of sense to me to let her deal with a narrow House majority, a Senate controlled (God willing!) by the other party, and a President who — to put it mildly — might be highly susceptible to the pleadings of whomever has his ear at any given moment. Better to have an experienced hand on her last hurrah dealing with this nonsense then hand the Speaker’s gavel over to some novice, let alone run the risk of an intra-party donnybrook right now which could conceivably end up electing a Republican Speaker.

But it sure is going to be fun to watch the Dems jockeying to see who replaces her in two years. I can’t see us in 2022 greeting 83-year-old Speaker Steny Hoyer or 82-year-old Speaker Jim Clyburn should the Dems maintain their majority, so get ready for a civil war on the donkey side.

– JVW

24 Responses to “Dems Elect to Stick with San Fran Nan and Her Posse”

  1. It goes without saying that the pro-Trump vs. return to normalcy Republican civil war could easily be just as fractious.

    JVW (ee64e4)

  2. Nancy Pelosi turns 81 years old in March.
    ________

    This result comes as no surprise to me, even though four years ago I was amazed that Democrats were returning to leadership positions the exact same crew that had lost the House majority in 2010.

    The Brits do this better; shorter campaigns, quaint, polite ballot counts from picturesque shires w/polite applause for all candidates; and when your party loses, the leadership is dumped.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  3. The Brits do this better; shorter campaigns, quaint, polite ballot counts from picturesque shires w/polite applause for all candidates; and when your party loses, the leadership is dumped.

    Hell, even the GOP does it better. Usually when the part loses its majority, the old crew resigns and new leadership comes in.

    JVW (ee64e4)

  4. This is not surprising. Pelosi, love her or hate her, is good at her job. She is able to yank most of the extremists back in line when it’s time to vote and she can count votes. If she takes a vote on a bill, she knows she has the votes to pass it.

    Nic (896fdf)

  5. This is not surprising. Pelosi, love her or hate her, is good at her job.

    Well, I would push back on this a little and point out that she has only had two years’ experience as Speaker when her own party controls the White House, and when that happened her caucus subsequently suffered one of the worst House defeats in history. And she has never had to lead under a President of her own party when the other party holds the Senate, so she’ll (hopefully) have that to contend with. So I kind of have my doubts as to whether or not history will record has as being an effective Speaker.

    But I do think she was the absolute best bet for the Dems, given the circumstances.

    JVW (ee64e4)

  6. @5 It’s not really the Speaker’s job to gain or lose seats, both the Republicans and Democrats have specific committees to do that. It is the Speaker’s job to push bills and there are a lot of speakers who have trouble gathering their party together. Our most recent examples of that are Boehner and Ryan and they both struggled a lot with the Freedom Caucus, so much so that no Republicans really wanted the job after Boehner retired and they practically had to bribe Ryan.

    Nic (896fdf)

  7. My larger point is that Speaker Pelosi pursued an agenda that turned out to be disastrous for her party in elections. And coupled with this very disappointing election for her, it’s fair to ask if the decisions she made — insisting on a huge stimulus bill that McConnell wouldn’t agree to being a good example — didn’t doom her party to defeat even as their Presidential candidate was winning kind of handily.

    JVW (ee64e4)

  8. @ Yes, I definitely agree with the adgenda not being necessarily in-step with the electorate. Although I suspect it could have been more of the riots that had the voters voting more R than D downticket. I really think this was a stability election. Voters saw Biden as more likely to provide stability at the top and the Rs. downticket more likely to provide stability.

    Nic (896fdf)

  9. @/ Well, not really; the ‘my turn syndrome’ is rooted w/t GOP.

    Witness Bob-“‘stop-lying-about-my record’-tumble-off-the-stage”-Dole.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  10. Chuck Grassley [R] Iowa, is 87 years old.

    He has also tested positive for Covid.

    These old, 20th century farts cannot lead, will not follow nor get out of the way.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  11. It’s likely that her majority will be only 9 votes (222-213), assuming that there aren’t any late lead changes. GOP pickup of 11.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  12. Katie Porter would be a fine addition to the Biden team.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  13. The Brits do this better; shorter campaigns, quaint, polite ballot counts from picturesque shires w/polite applause for all candidates; and when your party loses, the leadership is dumped.

    Of course, even after Thatcher, their parties are Center, Center-Left and Left.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  14. 4.This is not surprising. Pelosi, love her or hate her, is good at her job.

    She lost House seats, even w/t party winning the Out House is not demonstrating doing a ‘good job.’

    She is too damn old.

    Dump her.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  15. @6. Well, she certainly would claim credit for any gains. W/your overseas experience, Nic, you surely are aware that one of the more admirable- and often grudgingly- acknowledged aspects of the U.S. at one time by overseas observers was America’s young, active, progressive [in the general sense of the term] innovative and forward-looking can-do attitude. The failure of these elderly party leaders to yield to younger generations w/fresher ideas and a vision for their future is a failing which infected many entrenched European governments in decay. It’s rather sad to see the ‘American Empire’ tracking along a similar path w/t decline o/t British Empire 120 year ago.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  16. Hey, Republicans have been running against San Fran Nan a lot of election cycles.

    The lovely Mrs Pelosi is about as good a Speaker as any for whom Republicans could wish, because she always provides ammunition to use against the Democrats. She was so eaten up with Trump Derangement Syndrome that she accomplished very little, as the Democrats wasted half of their time in the majority pursuing an impeachment that any sophomore — and by that I mean high school sophomore — knew would fail in the long run.

    The Dana in Kentucky (facd7c)

  17. @17. Pour a bucket of water on her and she’ll melt like a $13/pint of her Jeni’s brand ice cream in a California forest fire.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  18. Ha, ha, ha! Who will be there, who will be gone? Trump vs. Pelosi in politics was like Trump vs. Serena Williams on the tennis court.

    The Matriarchy having control of two and half of the three branches of government (according to coach Tuberdrivel), to wit, Nancy as Speaker, Kamala as President of the Senate, and Kamala again as Vice-President, could be scary to those who don’t know that it’s merely appearance finally reflecting reality, though.

    nk (1d9030)

  19. @16 Also, they (at least used to) think we are very friendly. Do I think it’s time for a number of our more elderly statespersons to enjoy their retirement? Yep. But it’s not surprising that they get to continue their powerful positions (unless they are terrible at it) either.

    Nic (896fdf)

  20. @20. Yes- dollars do that. But it’s the parties that perpetuate them– and an increasing indifference to the way they’ve structured the system from the local level up.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  21. The full house vote in january is by secret ballot. 10 of the democrats who voted against nancy pelosi in 2018 were re-elected and it was dino squishes who were defeated not radical lefties. At last count if the undecided races split 50/50 it will be 221 democrats and 214 republicans. If nancy has only 217 or less secret ballot votes bye bye. If republican were smart oxymoron they would vote with the squad to make AOC or Ilhan Omar speaker it would drive the democrat establishment and donor class crazy!

    asset (3e4c2d)

  22. and the never trumpers continue to back baby killers – never though so called conservatives would bail on babies in the womb. ah, progress.
    https://www.lifenews.com/2020/11/18/planned-parenthood-endorses-raphael-warnock-who-says-the-bible-oks-killing-babies-in-abortions/

    mg (8cbc69)

  23. and another never trumper who never suited up wants your family to die, as his family is protected, what a rube.
    https://thefederalist.com/2020/11/18/mitt-romney-who-avoided-military-service-during-vietnam-says-20-years-in-afghanistan-isnt-long-enough/

    mg (8cbc69)


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