Pelosi "Freaked" By Small Stirrings of Minor Revolt; "Nervous" About Grip On Power

Pelosi has the power to dole out plum postings to her buddies.

Her non-buddies don't like that. But her, ahem, leadership caused most of her non-buddies to be un-elected, so her non-buddies don't rate.

Short of the votes to knock Pelosi out of leadership, Blue Dog Democrats have targeted the California Democrat's authority to appoint allies to influential positions, including the chairmanship of the party's campaign apparatus and the leadership of the internal panel that assigns lawmakers to legislative committees.

Pelosi and Reps. George Miller (Calif.) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), who co-chair the committee-assigning Steering and Policy panel, plotted behind closed doors to kill a proposal that would make their appointive posts elective. Some rank-and-file lawmakers are unhappy with the extent to which Pelosi can unilaterally reward and punish lawmakers by giving or withholding choice committee assignments and the conferred power that makes Miller and DeLauro her chosen enforcers.

Miller called the dissenters "irrelevant," according to a source in the room, and Pelosi referred to them dismissively as "irritants."

Sources said that if Pelosi is willing to give some ground to agitators, it won't come in the form of blood spilled from her best friends.

Her best friends are all still in office. Except for Oberstar. So her best friends have had comparatively little blood spilled. But she's determined to retain her power to punish her rivals and reward her toadies.

Democratic aides described Pelosi's camp as "freaked" by the challenges to her authority.

Eric Cartman too.

Democrats gave Pelosi an earful behind closed doors; Pelosi continues to insist she did nothing wrong.

Pelosi told Democrats she was targeted in races around the country because she is an effective leader for them.

...

"I know some of you suffered because of ads targeted to me," Pelosi said to lawmakers at a closed-door Democratic Caucus meeting Tuesday. "They had to take down the person who brings the resources."

Right, we fear you, that's why most of us are rooting for you to succeed.

Tell a lie, okay, we want you to lose because it would just be too emotionally satisfying. But rational brains talking, we want you to win.

...

Pelosi, who is deeply unpopular with independents, became an issue in races across the country, as she appeared in campaign ads against Democrats.

Pelosi, described as "nervous" by one source in the room Tuesday, is now trying to tamp down an incipient rebellion from lawmakers who believe she should not win election to the post of minority leader on Wednesday.

A couple of Nancy's "best friends" don't seem like such good friends:

Two liberal lawmakers, Reps. Marcy Kaptur (Ohio) and Peter DeFazio (Ore.), asked their colleagues to postpone Wednesday's planned leadership election until December — a move that would further threaten Pelosi's standing as Democratic leader.

Pelosi, her top elected lieutenants and her aides have been scrambling to defuse discontent following the election.

Question: Did Nancy Pelosi do so much wrong that she should lose her top-dog position? Consider: She did what the head of the party (King Hussein) asked; she did what the liberal base of the party insisted on.

It's not like she went rogue or anything. She acted as part of a team, all pursuing the same agenda.

So-- is she really to blame? Or is it just Obama and/or the entire liberal wing of the Democratic Party?

Since I think it's the latter -- Two more years for Nancy! Yayyy!

posted by Ace at 05:30 PM

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