Former House Speaker and current House minority leader Nancy Pelosi may have believed him back in 2013 when then-President Obama assured the nation that Pelosi will again be speaker. The 2014 midterms came and went, and then the 2016 presidential election, and still Pelosi does not hold the Speaker’s gavel.
And it looks like she may not hold it again, even if the Democrats manage to take back the House this November. While Obama is among the few Democrat voices supporting Pelosi for Speaker these days, she has to be a bit worried that so many Democrat candidates are moving on and have been doing so for some time.
Fox News reported in July:
The list of Democrats expressing frustration with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has been growing longer in recent weeks, but don’t expect to see former President Barack Obama’s name on it.
At a party fundraising event Friday afternoon in Northern California, Obama spoke highly of Pelosi – and even predicted that she will return to the job of House speaker after November’s midterm elections.
“I think everybody knows how much I love Nancy Pelosi,” Obama told the gathering at a home in affluent Atherton, Politico reported.”Nancy, I believe, is one of the greatest speakers we ever had, and will once again be one of the greatest speakers we ever have after we get through this cycle,” he continued. “And there’s not much I could have gotten done without having Nancy there alongside of me every step of the way.”
Meanwhile, Democrat candidates for the House are fleeing from her in droves.
Democratic congressional candidates are revolting against Nancy Pelosi in even bigger numbers, amid fears that her grip on power could hurt the party’s chances in the midterms and hold back its next generation of leaders.
The list of candidates refusing to support the California Democrat for speaker — or refusing to state their position — has steadily grown, though estimates vary.
The Washington Post counts at least 27 Democratic House candidates who won’t commit support.Another count published by NBC News says over 50 Democratic candidates and incumbents would not support Pelosi for speaker —should the party take back the 23-seat majority from Republicans.
The disparity between the NBC numbers and those of other outlets has apparently caught Pelosi’s eye. In addition to this instance, NBC News does have quite a few hit pieces on Pelosi that stand out from the approach other outlets are taking. So much so, that she’s now claiming that NBC is out to get her.
The Washington Free Beacon reports:
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said on Sunday that one of the priorities of NBC is to undermine her prospects to be speaker of the House again.Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart, who filled in for anchor Joy Reid on NBC’s sister network MSNBC, asked Pelosi whether she would consider allowing another Democrat to take over as the leader in the House. She responded by going straight at NBC’s journalistic practices.”First of all, I know NBC has been on a jag, this is one of their priorities to undermine my prospects as speaker,” Pelosi said.
In no way do I think it appropriate to pause here for a moment of schadenfreude. After all, I would never find it amusing, or fitting, that Pelosi is finally feeling the bite of the beast she’s fed for so long.
There are, of course, plenty of reasons for Democrats to want new leadership in the House, so it’s unlikely that it’s simply NBC being “on a jag” that is undermining her prospects as speaker.
Mark Steyn did a great segment about this on Friday’s Tucker Carlson show.
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