PLEASE, House Dems, elect Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco as your new minority leader

Jewish World Journal ^ | November 12, 2002 | Cal Thomas

[itsinthebag]

If, as expected, House Democrats elect Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco as their new minority leader on Thursday (Nov. 14), they will have given Republicans two major victories in less than 10 days.

The first victory, on Election Day, gave Republicans control of Congress and the White House for the first time in half a century. The second will come with the election of Pelosi as minority leader. It will allow Republicans to again invoke the image of Democrats as the big-government, high-taxing, over-regulating, entitlement-establishing, unaccountable, irresponsible, gun-confiscating, totalitarian-coddling, peace-at-any-price, ACLU card-carrying, same-sex- marrying, unrestricted-aborting, anything-goes philosophy of the Dukakis-Mondale-McGovern extreme left wing of their party.

Rep. Martin Frost (D-Texas), who briefly sought to challenge Pelosi for the leadership job, said, "To be successful (Democrats) must speak to the broad center of the country .. The battleground seats . are swing, marginal, moderate and conservative areas. If we want to write off all those seats, if we want to say, 'We want to be to the left, and we want to be pure,' we will be a permanent minority party."

In what could be an epitaph for Democrats in the 2004 election and beyond should Democrats refuse to isolate their left wing, Frost added, "If it's a question of being pure all the time, just standing by certain fundamental beliefs and never compromising, we will be in a minority party for the foreseeable future, and we will have less Democrats than we do today."

Frost endorsed Pelosi when he saw that she had the votes, but his analysis is correct.

Pelosi's voting record is a classic in liberal profiling. For the past two years, the liberal Americans for Democratic Action gave her a 100 percent rating. The same 100 percent approval came from the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL). Pelosi supports abortion on demand at any time, for any reason. She has voted against a measure to outlaw the procedure known as partial birth abortion, which sucks the brains from a fully developed baby as he/she emerges from the birth canal. She voted against a bill that would outlaw transportation of minors across state lines for the purpose of obtaining an abortion unless it was to protect the girl's life.

Pelosi wants the federal government to offer marital status to any type of human relationship. Six years ago, she was quoted in the San Francisco Examiner as saying, "Should you find yourself in a situation where your child or close relatives or close friends find solace, happiness, confidence, love and support in a relationship that's appropriate for them, wouldn't you want them to have the legal recognition they deserve?"

Would the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004 and the party's congressional candidates like to put that question to the voters?

Democrats have been without new ideas for so long that for their party bankruptcy would be a step up. All they do is whine and complain about Republican "extremists" and demagogue about the elderly, race and class. Their religion is big government. The government is their shepherd, they shall not want. Yea, though the afflicted and discriminated against, the angry and ignored walk through the valley of the shadow of poverty, Democrats will be there comforting them with entitlement checks and empathy. Their lives won't improve, but to Democrats independence and self-sufficiency mean the end of their political power.

New York Times culture columnist Frank Rich last Saturday (Nov. 10) offered his remedy for the disease afflicting the Democratic Party: "A unified vision composed of actual policies and principles, as opposed to knee-jerk liberal sloganeering, cynical political strategies and anti-Bush whining, is now required."

It may be required, but Pelosi and the rest of her special interest-satisfying, Fidel Castro wing of the Democratic Party aren't about to go there. They would rather be left than president. If Republicans plan their strategy right, Democrats will surely get their wish in two years and possibly for some time to come.

The late GOP Chairman Lee Atwater could beat this San Francisco Democrat with both of his blues guitar-playing hands tied behind his back.

Cal Thomas

[itsinthebag]

Great read.

[Yankee]

Put Dennis Kucinich in the leadership as well.

These folks need as much exposure as possible.

[Dana113]

You know, I wish conservatives would just shut up about this and let them elect Pulosi! I have seen numerous conservative political consultants on TV the past few days telling the dems exactly why Pulosi will get them in trouble. Please.............can't we just hold our cards to the vest for ONCE and not tip them off!? If they think Pulosi is a good choice, then so be it!! Let them fall on their faces if they are that incredibly out of touch.

[Dana113]

errrrrr, Pelosi, rather!

[45semi]

SSShhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!
It's all part of a conspiracy to drive centrist voters to the right!
hehehehe

[AlaskaErik]

You know, I wish conservatives would just shut up about this and let them elect Pulosi! I have seen numerous conservative political consultants on TV the past few days telling the dems exactly why Pulosi will get them in trouble.

The leftists pay about as much attention to Cal Thomas as I pay to Molly Ivins. They are so arrogant and delusional that they actually believe the oppressed masses will rise and put them in power if they just get someone like Pelosi in a position of power.

[jim_trent]

I agree entirely. I was always disappointed that conservatives learned the wrong lesson from Ronald Reagans victories. I am not a Johnny-come-lately conservative, a neoconservative, or an East-coast or West-coast conservative. I have been a conservative from just about as close to the center of the US as it is possible to get at least since Barry Goldwater ran for President (one election before I could vote). Unfortunately, just before he died, Barry moved towards the left. I guess senility can get to any of us.

We (conservatives) have had some big wins and some big losses since then. Since conservative learned the wrong thing from Ronald Reagans victories, we have been trying very hard to lose to the liberal/left. It is obvious (at least to me) that each individual voter in this country casts his or her vote for the person who best matches his or her own beliefs. When you add all the votes of all the people, the candidate who wins is (or seems to be) the closest to what the largest number of people believe. By definition, that means the political center.

That does not necessarily mean the candidate who wins must be a "middle-of-the-roader", "fence-sitter", or have a yellow-line-up-their-back like roadkill. It does mean that the candidate must appear to be closer to the center than his or her opponent. The farther away from the center our opponent is, the easier it is for us.

For many years, the Demoncratic party made it easy for conservatives. They ran extreme left-wing politicians. George McGovern, Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis. Who could be further from the center than them? The Demoncrats made a mistake in 1976 and ran a candidate who was not a flaming liberal. He (Jimmy Carter) narrowly won. Jimmy lost the next election NOT because he was farther from the center. He lost because by then even the American voter could see that he was a total incompetent.

Unfortunately, a small-time Arkansas politician saw that and learned the correct lesson. Although he ruled solidly from the left, he talked "middle-of-the-road". That is all most of the voters hear or care about. It got him elected in 1992. Of course, it did not help that a large percentage of the Republican base deserted their candidate for a 3rd-party nutcake who has since self destructed. Without this desertion, we would not have had to put up with Klinton for 8 very long years. Wouldn't ANYTHING have been worth that? It is one thing to pull out all the stops in a primary election, but any "conservative" who won't close ranks behind the majority candidate in the real election is no better than a Demoncrat.

I hope that the Demoncrats elect Pelosi and commit political suicide. We have been doing that to ourselves for far too long. It will also allow us to elect a real conservative again, like Reagan.

[RAT Patrol]

Yes, but I think Cal was mad when he wrote this one. All the garb about Bush taking cues from his right-wing and the re-birth of the word "extremist" has him bugged it sounds like to me. (At least it has me bugged!)

[MontanaFreeper]

I couldn't agree more.
I have been doing a happy dance ever since I heard that she was running for that seat and that's all I hear on radio/tv about how the Dem's are going to blow it badly if elected.

I'm like, shut the hell up already and let them vote her in.
Damn, I'd voted for her over Ford on a recent CNN poll.
Please, please let her get in.
Please, please let her take the Dem's way left into the Pacific Ocean. Happy dance, happy dance in SILENCE (for now).

[Dana113]

AlaskaErik, I so hope you are right but I have this horrible feeling that the one time we don't want them to listen to us, that they do!

[fatboy]

I agree with you but the Democrat meltdown of 02 is the gift that keeps on giving... more fun than a berrel of monkeys.

You know, I wish conservatives would just shut up about this and let them elect Pulosi! I have seen numerous conservative political consultants on TV the past few days telling the dems exactly why Pulosi will get them in trouble. Please.............can't we just hold our cards to the vest for ONCE and not tip them off!? If they think Pulosi is a good choice, then so be it!! Let them fall on their faces if they are that incredibly out of touch.

[Blood of Tyrants]

We couldn't as for a better left wing leader for the Rats than PETA Pelosi.

[Malcolm]

I'm not sure why the Dems would want an ultraleftist as their leader. Esp one who's eyes look like they're going to pop out of their sockets every time her facial expression changes. But, from whence they came, (Gepthardt, with his non-existant eyebrows), I guess this is not a day-and-night difference. The thing that astounds me, is that the Dems think that the reason they lost the midterms is that they are NOT LEFT ENOUGH! If I were a Dem, I would move to the right, like Clinton did, and capture the center, but the present day Dems seem lost, ignoring advice from Al From, and the rest of the DLC.

No problem here, as I am a Republican, and as much as Rove is hated, he at least knows how to win elections. You'll never hear my intolerant, ultraconservative brethern say this, but any Republican beats any Democrat, and I'll take Rove's winnings over the failure of all the GOP stratagists who came before him. If Rove stays with the White House for 6 more years, perhaps the GOP WILL be the majority party for the next generation. That I can live with.....

[FlyVet]

The second will come with the election of Pelosi as minority leader. It will allow Republicans to again invoke the image of Democrats as the big-government, high-taxing, over-regulating, entitlement-establishing, unaccountable, irresponsible, gun-confiscating, totalitarian-coddling, peace-at-any-price, ACLU card-carrying, same-sex- marrying, unrestricted-aborting, anything-goes philosophy of the Dukakis-Mondale-McGovern extreme left wing of their party.

We'll see about that, I don't think it's over yet, I'm not buying it that the Dems are on the decline because of this one election. Show me several elections in a row where they are trounced, then I'll believe it. It will be interesting to me if Pelosi maintains her ultra-left image. I will not be surprised if she and her handlers manufacture a phony shift to the right, to woo the moderates to vote their way. They can't really be so stupid that they think they lost because they weren't Socialist enough...can they?

[Libloather]

It will allow Republicans to again invoke the image of Democrats as the big-government, high-taxing, over-regulating, entitlement-establishing, unaccountable, irresponsible, gun-confiscating, totalitarian-coddling, peace-at-any-price, ACLU card-carrying, same-sex- marrying, unrestricted-aborting, anything-goes philosophy of the Dukakis-Mondale-McGovern extreme left wing of their party.

Kewl...

[Mudboy Slim]

Yep...kewl!! It's gonna be RATS On Parade fer all America to see fer themselves...MUD