Speaker Nancy Pelosi will stay until at least after the midterm elections, extending her nearly 20-year run as the House's top Democrat after she turns 82 and, perhaps, beyond.
Full disclosure: I haven't followed the day to day politics super closely because I 100% have taken Matt's grill pill and believe my obsession with politics was essentially its own form of impotent self flagellation entertainment....but:
The last go around when a lot of the left started to raise a fuss about pelosi being speaker I distinctly remember there was a moment where they asked "ok.....who?" And all anyone could offer was crickets.
I don't know if it's just that nobody really wants the job or believes in themselves enough to do it and to be honest I don't think it really matters (see paragraph one), but:
I'll ask again: if not Pelosi, who? Who should the left throw it's weight behind who can point to absolute disaster on the horizon to seize leadership that we can rally behind?
Frankly, until there's at least a left-ish person who could be speaker, let Pelosi have it. The alternative is getting a Pelosi clone who's younger and has less baggage, and will be around until they're the same age as Pelosi.
My answer to literally everyone who posed that question was “How about you? It’d be better than Pelosi.” Why are all of them afraid to do it themselves?
My answer to literally everyone who posed that question was “How about you? It’d be better than Pelosi.”
Shoot at the Queen, you best not miss.
It's easy to say "Pelosi is the worst!" but much harder to float alternatives given the poor base of support most of these alts have. And there are costs associated with rivaling the sitting Speaker. If you lose, you're immediately giving up the chits associated with patronage. Also risk getting Ralph Nader'd in the press and suffering a backlash in your own district.
And if you don't have the votes... simply putting Hakeem Jeffery's name on a piece of paper and saying "This guy is better!" doesn't mean anything unless you can count to 218.
That's my point though: nobody seems to be able or willing to step up...which is a bit revealing to me. We can laugh at the Gerontocracy and how obviously not competent Pelosi is but even if they're critical of her I'm not sure how much anybody whose in a position to replace her actually really wants to do so. She's a bit of a convenient excuse to point to when we can't have nice things.
Full disclosure: I haven't followed the day to day politics super closely because I 100% have taken Matt's grill pill and believe my obsession with politics was essentially its own form of impotent self flagellation entertainment....but:
The last go around when a lot of the left started to raise a fuss about pelosi being speaker I distinctly remember there was a moment where they asked "ok.....who?" And all anyone could offer was crickets.
I don't know if it's just that nobody really wants the job or believes in themselves enough to do it and to be honest I don't think it really matters (see paragraph one), but:
I'll ask again: if not Pelosi, who? Who should the left throw it's weight behind who can point to absolute disaster on the horizon to seize leadership that we can rally behind?
deleted by creator
You get my vote.
Frankly, until there's at least a left-ish person who could be speaker, let Pelosi have it. The alternative is getting a Pelosi clone who's younger and has less baggage, and will be around until they're the same age as Pelosi.
Is that copypasta?
My answer to literally everyone who posed that question was “How about you? It’d be better than Pelosi.” Why are all of them afraid to do it themselves?
Shoot at the Queen, you best not miss.
It's easy to say "Pelosi is the worst!" but much harder to float alternatives given the poor base of support most of these alts have. And there are costs associated with rivaling the sitting Speaker. If you lose, you're immediately giving up the chits associated with patronage. Also risk getting Ralph Nader'd in the press and suffering a backlash in your own district.
And if you don't have the votes... simply putting Hakeem Jeffery's name on a piece of paper and saying "This guy is better!" doesn't mean anything unless you can count to 218.
That's my point though: nobody seems to be able or willing to step up...which is a bit revealing to me. We can laugh at the Gerontocracy and how obviously not competent Pelosi is but even if they're critical of her I'm not sure how much anybody whose in a position to replace her actually really wants to do so. She's a bit of a convenient excuse to point to when we can't have nice things.