To miss an opportunity? Did Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership make a really big error today? By appearing to gloat and count chickens did they actually derail themselves?
Time will tell, but The Influence Peddler seems to think this was a really bad idea. I tend to agree. I think it works more against the Democrats than for them.
Plus, the Pelosi agenda obviously includes a fatal flaw – the investigations. Undecided voters are sick and tired of the partisanship of Washington, and the inability of Republicans and Democrats to work together. When the Republican Congress impeached President Clinton in 1998, it soured enough middle-of-the-road voters that they handed the GOP an almost unprecendented (sic) loss of House seats in the 6th year of a Presidency. To promise to unleash a raft of investigations, possibly leading to impeachment, may excite the base, but it is anathema to the undecideds. This will get huge play, and expect Democratic candidates to get lots and lots of questions about whether they agree with Pelosi that impeachment of the President may be warranted. For Democrats running in swing seats – trying to mollify the base while winning moderate votes – there is no good answer to this question. This is a very, very foolish move.
I think this is a pretty good analysis. The middle really does make up the majority in this country. The far fringe elements make a lot of noise, but they actually have no real power. There's a lot of demonization going on right now that honestly does not sit well with a lot of people. I think this show of confidence on the part of Nancy Pelosi will not sit well with the middle.
I heard Pelousi say something like “if the election were held today we would take control of congress.”
Well, Nancy and company have been using biased opinion polls and flawed exit polls to delude themselves for years. And of course their lunatic fringe supporters get all lathered up about “stolen elections” when the American people actually get to have their OFFICIAL say.
After six years of unrelenting negativity we’re going to have some hard going this time around. But considering what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and friends would do, our folks better get over their peevishness about Bush.
Nothing focuses the mind like Nancy Pelosi slavering to be speaker of the house…..
Pelosi was delivering red meat to the hard Left. She was projecting sweet visions of Congressional investigations, with Dems grilling Administration officials while TV cameras roll and journalists scurry. It was a calculated performance, designed for the faithful alone.
The outraged and vocal Left has little confidence in established Dem party leadership, so Pelosi was detailed to wave the red flag, dangle the carrot, throw out a few bones and get the howling dogs back on the reservation, lined up and ready to march to the polls in November.
Dems know visions of dark and acrimonious Congressional bickering wouldn’t do them any good with swing voters, and that it might excite the GOP, but that couldn’t be helped. In off-year elections where turning out the base is the key to victory, you pander to the true believers, work them up to a hot lather, describe the dark pleasures victory holds, get those campaign contributions flowing, anything and everything to make sure your voters show up on election day.
Few swing voters participate in mid-term elections, this November it will be the party loyalists going at each other. Both sides know it.
Pingback: Blue Crab Boulevard » Blog Archive » Their Lips Are Moving Again