Good argument from Greg Sargent at the Washington Post, “Minority leader Nancy Pelosi would play rough with GOP“:
… [O]ne of the most important roles of the new minority leader will be: to draw a very sharp line against GOP efforts to roll back Obama’s accomplishments…
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The key thing to understand is that we’re about to enter a period of bruising procedural wars — precisely the type of thing that Pelosi has already excelled at. Republicans are already discussing ways to starve the new health-care law by, say, limiting funding to agencies that would implement portions of it or using spending bills to block federal insurance regulations they don’t like. The next minority leader will have to be ruthless in her willingness to use procedural tactics to combat this kind of stuff.
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I just checked in with Norm Ornstein, a congressional expert and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and he confirmed the above reading of her role to me… he dismissed the idea that Dem losses last week are relevant, insisting that the new minority leader’s chief role will be to “hold the line against repeal and keep the troops together and use the limited weapons available to the minority to put the Republicans on the defensive.”
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“She’s in a stronger position to do that than others,” Ornstein continued. “She showed in the last two years how strong she is as a strategist, and she may very well be able to use that strategic capacity to exacerbate some of the schisms that Republicans already have. She understands at least as well as anyone else how to use the process.”
However you feel about trusting an AEI shill like Ornstein, the Republicans have succeeded largely by refining their “strategic capacity” at this kind of legislative infighting. The GOP anathemizes Pelosi precisely because she’s been so effective at beating them with their own choice of weapons.
Sargent further points out that the NYTimes editorialized against Pelosi back in 2002, on the grounds that she wasn’t “a powerhouse on television.” The NYTimes is less interested in the Democrats keeping the Republicans from destroying what’s left of our suffering nation than they are in keeping the “political games” mediagenic. After all, the NYTimes editorial staff and its paid subscribers (see: plutonomy) are well-insulated from the real-world consequences of their favorite politics-is-just-another-sporting-event metaphors.
mistermix
Despite the fact that he’s in the AEI, Ornstein is a non-partisan straight shooter, and he’s also right in this case.
TooManyJens
Do you mean Minority Leader, not Minority Whip, or is there some snark here that escapes me?
Sue
Does the purging of all those blue dogs make any difference in moving along any kind of a cohesive agenda?
edit: hmmm, let me rephrase that. Does the purging make it easier to work together to protect what was passed back when they couldn’t move a cohesive agenda along because of all the blue dogs?
Zifnab
Listen, I love Pelosi and I hope she gets back that Speaker’s gavel as soon as electorally possible. But she’s not going to be able to do dick in the minority.
Unlike the Senate, where the number 60 is given some kind of religious significance and every last Senator must be fellated by a veritable army of lobbyists and fellow politicians, the House minority members don’t get to do dick.
If keeping her position as Minority Leader gives Pelosi another shot at Speaker in ’12 or ’14, then I hope she keeps her spot. But if you expect her to work miracles from the back bench… I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Woodrow "asim" Jarvis Hill
Obama and Pelosi actually make an awesome tag-team; they seem to do a good job of covering for the other’s weak points. Someone more “moderate” would be a mistake, on many levels. One: despite the Village/Tea Party POV, Pelosi needs to be on TV more, not less; she does a great job of not only making her position viable, but also showing the strength of the Democratic Party’s diversity.
And Another Thing...
Norm Ornstein used to be a regular on Al Franken’s radio show. He was also on some election analysis on C SPAN in the last week. IMHO he’s not a shill and one of the more well informed and insightful observers of Congress.
Go Nancy!!!
And I think you mean Minority Leader, although Nancy with a whip is an interesting notion.
Citizen_X
And Ornstein also reveals why the GOP demonizes her so relentlessly. NANCY SMASH!
Zifnab
@Sue: Congress is run by seniority. The ability to hold a Congressional seat for an extended period of time is the path to power, particularly in the Democratic Party. When Blue Dogs lose their seats, they don’t just lose the capacity to influence legislation today, but far off into the future when prospective future Blue Dogs would seek key committee assignments and leadership positions.
Bulworth
No, no, no. The Democrat Party would never be able to win a majority as long as that San Francisco gay librul Nancy Pelosi was in charge of it. American people hate shrill liberals from San Francisco like Nancy Pelosi
Martin
Some good news. Issa is starting to back off a little on his subpoena threats. Perhaps the fact that California overwhelmingly voted Dems into statewide office, plus the fact that his district isn’t nearly as assuredly red as he’d like it to be has been noted. In the GOP tidal wave of 2010, the GOP picked up one seat out of 34 Dem incumbent in CA.
Add to the fact that we just passed a proposition that would hand over districting power to an independent panel, and CA is supposed to pick up one more rep (54, bitches!) means that there’s going to be new lines drawn next year, and he might not want to polarize things. His surrounding districts are all held by Republicans but SD has seen a lot of growth in the last decade and he might find himself competing against another incumbent next cycle since I don’t think the new district panel is going to give a fuck where incumbents live when drawing lines.
Anne Laurie
@TooManyJens: Fixed, thanks!
joe from Lowell
Exhibit One in Anne Laurie’s case:
How about never? Does never work for you?
Exhibit Two: As Minority Whip in the toxic political environment of 2002, when Democrats were breaking ranks and running, she delivered a big House Democratic vote against the Iraq AUMF that was sponsored by her party’s own Minority Leader, Dick Gephardt.
In a world of too many Dems willing 7/8 of the way, this woman stands her ground and doesn’t let herself be pushed around.
Brass Balls Nancy for Minority Leader.
Ash Can
@Martin: Interesting. I’m sure Issa will have his share of buffoonish moments, but if there’s at least a little bit of a damper put on his assholery, it’s only good.
joe from Lowell
@Zifnab:
Defense matters.
Tom Q
Another vote of support for Ornstein, who’s much more from the bygone Chafee/Doug Bailey mode of Republican. He’s above all a “good government” guy, and he’s been fairly unbridled in his contempt for the GOP as it now exists.
To me, keeping Pelosi is a no-brainer. She annoys all the right people in our establishment, which tells me how successful she is.
Nellcote
I’m always surprise that Ornstein works for the AEI. He seems to be one of the few with institutional memory regarding how congress actually works.
Sly
Despite where he works, Norm Ornstein is good people.
MattR
@mistermix:
This. If Ornstein is a shill I have never seen any evidence. In fact I would venture that anytime has ever read anything reasonable that was put out by the AEI there is about a 95% chance that it was written by Ornstein.
Just Some Fuckhead
One of my Facebook friends wrote something disparaging about Pelosi so she must go now.
Nellcote
@Martin:
Can I interest you in the purchase of a lovely bridge?
He might not start of with impeachment but he means to bog down the administration with as many hearings as possible. Keep in mind that nearly every department has people waiting for senate confirmations so are understaffed to begin with. Now they get to track down all sorts of bullshit to comply with supoenas.
Nellcote
@Nellcote:
since I don’t have permission to edit (?):
Hopefully it will blow up in his face like the governor’s recall did. Let’s make Issa cry!
jl
I don’t think Ornstein is a shill, though I also don’t understand why he stays at AEI, unless it is just a post office box for him.
If he were a shill, we would have heard about his expert opinion ‘concerns’ about what role Pelosi could possibly play that would not be good news for Republicans.
Anyone have an example of shilling by Ornstein, let me know. I haven’t followed him that closely lately. Given what AEI has become, I wonder why he stays.
Corner Stone
@Just Some Fuckhead: Quote it in full here, or it didn’t happen.
Martin
@Nellcote: Issa isn’t getting elected by the yahoos in Alabama. He’s in a coastal California district that includes Camp Pendleton and Oceanside, but runs up to Perris and out to Julian. It’s R+10, but his surrounding districts are R+3 and several went for Obama over McCain. He’s got to be at least a little cautious here.
General Stuck
All of this hyperattention that is laughably inappropriate for getting rid of Pelosi, actually causes me to beam with pride for her. The plutocrats and their minion wingnuts in congress hate her because she pinned their ears back and passed the HCR, among other items their arrogant selves were confident they could stop, once again, like they had many many times the past 100 years. And think of it. A woman and a black man turned that worm and for the first time brought some accountability to the insurance industry that has been playing god for decades now, deciding who lives and who dies, and when.
Then there are members of the professional left, and the NYT central command jumping onto the dump Pelosi bandwagon. And the only reason why, I can come up with, is reactionary stoopidity and something somewhat akin to when they did the same over Iraq.
But I am just a humble Obombie, not schooled in the deep learned ways of such matters.
Delia
Golly gracious. So Nancy is a mean girl. I guess that’s why Eric Cantor is all in a tizzy and saying the Dems are making a big, big mistake by keeping her on. Everybody in Washington knows that the Dems should listen to Eric.
/gooper
joe from Lowell
@Delia: Well, there are two things you should always keep in mind about Eric Cantor.
He’s really smart, and he always has the Democrats’ best interests at heart.
JGabriel
Anne Laurie:
I’ll echo what others have said above. Ornstein may be the “token liberal” at AEI, but I still trust him for the most part; he’s certainly not a center-right “moderate” masquerading as enabling liberal for cover.
.
JGabriel
@And Another Thing…:
Nancy doesn’t need a whip; she has a ruler, and she’ll whack your knuckles with it if you get out of line.
.
sonal
FEAR THE BEARD!
WereBear
Well, white guys had plenty of chances.
Very good point.
Comrade Sock Puppet of the Great Satan
Ornstein’s a good guy who’s smart and insightful.
I know AEI is famous for talentless hacks like Amity Schales (who makes McMegan look like Paul Krugman), but Ornstein is an honest and insightful analyst.
Which makes me wonder why AEI haven’t fired him.
Amy
Ornstein is a good friend of Al Franken. They grew up in the same area of Minnesota. He says he’s at AEI rather than Brookings because they have nicer facilities including better food at the receptions. He has a PhD from the University of Minnesota and is no shill.
MattR
I just noticed this, but really Anne Laurie? The paid subscribers of the NY Times are the plutonomy? If this was the Wall Street Journal, maybe. But the NY Times is read by plenty of people in the middle class.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Corner Stone: I’m just playing devil’s advocate here, Corn. Some people are saying these things.
Tom Hilton
@JGabriel: I don’t think Norm Ornstein is a liberal as such, but he is a smart and acute observer who doesn’t let whatever policy preferences he might have get in the way of an honest assessment.
MattR
BTW, the 8th link when you do a google search for Norm Ornstein is this DougJ post from January
@Tom Hilton: He is proof that not everyone who grows up in Winnipeg ends up as a hockey player or a whore.
debbie
@Zinfab:
No, but she’ll be at the microphone and will drive the Republicans nuts every time she opens her mouth. And the more she does so, the more the GOP becomes the desperate animal caught in a trap, looking to chew its own leg off.
More power to her!
Nellcote
@Tom Hilton:
Facts have a liberal bias?
ceph
just to add one more voice to the chorus of support for Ornstein: he’s a respected congressional scholar, co-author of Broken Branch. definitely no shill.
also too, dunno how I feel about the Senatification of the House, but I suppose politics ain’t beanbag.
joe from Lowell
Niki Tsongas is supporting Hoyer over Clyburn!
This is freaking disgrace for Lowell.
And after I specifically told her not to.
joe from Lowell
Don’t blame me. I voted for Donoghue.
RalfW
I just hope to geebus that Steny Hoyer is as far from a place of power as possible.
Batocchio
As mentioned upthread, Ornstein was a regular on Franken’s show and was quite sensible there, and has done some good posts on the abuse of the filibuster. I haven’t caught all of his work, but to date he’s seemed to me like the only decent person at AEI (and I do wonder why the hell he’s there, considering the heavy scumbag contigent).
Ravi
I think Pelosi is going to be able to do plenty in the minority.
Over the past 4 years, she’s seen every silly thing the minority can do to frustrate the majority. For example,
crazy motions to recommit (see: some government staffers are watching p0rn delaying an appropriations bill).
pushing the majority (with amendments, etc.) to put bills up under a 2/3 suspension of the rules (see: bill to give 9/11 victims health care delayed or defeated by the 2/3 vote).
I think Pelosi knows the entire toolbox she has and I’m sure she’s planning to use all of it.
Honestly, Pelosi as Minority Leader is one of the few good things to come out after the election.
Triassic Sands
I don’t have strong feelings about Pelosi staying or going. I do think political leaders tend to hang around too long and if there were a smart, dynamic alternative to Pelosi, I wouldn’t object.
On the other hand, it’s hard for me to imagine the Democrats coming up with someone who is a strong liberal/progressive voice.
The Senate is where I do have strong feelings about a change of leadership, but, short of death or alien abduction, Reid is there to stay.
Moses2317
Call your Democratic member of Congress (if you have one) and urge them to support Pelosi for House Democratic leader –
http://www.winningprogressive.org/call-on-your-democratic-member-of-congress-to-support-pelosi