Democratic Leadership Elections

[Former Dean Phillips Supporters for Haley (I guess???!?) 👁️]

Why doesn’t Pelosi just pull a Tom DeLay? Put Karen BassBarbara Lee in as first Black woman Speaker and then drop down to Majority Leader until she’s ready to retire?

Nancy will still be in charge but not one vulnerable member will have to take a tough vote. Hen in two years she can retire after Trump is defeated and let Speaker Bass take the caucus in her own direction...

Speaker is really a behind the scenes grunt work job. Barbara Lee would be a crowd pleaser for the Dem base, but is there any reason to think she would be effective in getting stuff done that Dems would want to get done? I dunno, maybe there is, but I am not sure what the evidence is (if there is any, please do share).

It is very easy to have an ineffective Speaker if you have someone who is not focused and experienced in that behind the scenes grunt work. The Republicans provide a recent example with Paul Ryan. What exactly did he accomplish as Speaker? Not a whole lot, I don't think.

On the other hand, Bass has actual experience leading the Dem majority in the CA House.

So Bass would probably be more effective at doing the actual stuff that Speakers need to do to be effective.

If getting things done behind the scenes is what is important, then Pelosi should remain Speaker.

I am not one of the ones saying she should go. If she does go, then whoever replaces her will just end up being demonized by the right in exactly the same way and end up with the same approval rating (just like Mitch McConnell), and Rs will run ads against that Speaker instead of Pelosi. They can just re-use the same ads and replace Pelosi with the name of the new Speaker.

So there is no real benefit of getting rid of Pelosi. There is no such thing as a popular Speaker.

[OneJ]

Plus, being Speaker of the House is a job that is historically unpopular, especially recently. The polarization doesn’t help one bit. I don’t think Lee would want to tarnish her image (although very few Americans know her).

[free my dawg]

She will get there.

I don't know what Ryan and Moulton think they will accomplish with this. They block Pelosi, then they are done in Democratic politics.

Good riddance to them both. Ryan is pro-tax reform and I would never vote for Moulton after the s*** he pulled in my district.

If they pick a conservative for Speaker, I leave the party. If I wanted to vote for Republican policies, I'd vote for a Republican.

[ON Progressive]

While we are on the topic, I have to ask: why do so many people hate the Speaker of the House, no matter who it is?

It seems strange that they will always be wildly unpopular, and even within their own party they can be below water.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

While we are on the topic, I have to ask: why do so many people hate the Speaker of the House, no matter who it is?

It seems strange that they will always be wildly unpopular, and even within their own party they can be below water.

Specifically why they're unpopular in their own parties:

The Speaker has all of the responsibility of enacting a legislation under a system that can seem at times arcane and opaque. It's not really the Speaker's job to do campaigning, but backroom dealmaking. Furthermore Speakers aren't popularly elected like POTUS (yes I know, Electoral College) but are chosen by their peers, meaning they don't really have the same sort of popular mandate as a President (or even an elected representative in a non-leadership position).

Great example is that people will credit a President for signing a bill into law but will often blame a Congressional Leadership when legislation fails to pass. It's because people want to take ownership of victories and can do so with a President but can't really do so with a Speaker; the opposite happens with not taking ownership of a defeat.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Here are those signed to the anti-Pelosi letter:



Does not include others who have been equality definitive against here: Conor Lamb, Abigail Spanberger, Jason Crow, Andy Kim, etc.

https://twitter.com/MEPFuller/status/1062834279900741632

Gross

[lfromnj]

Here are those signed to the anti-Pelosi letter:



Does not include others who have been equality definitive against here: Conor Lamb, Abigail Spanberger, Jason Crow, Andy Kim, etc.

https://twitter.com/MEPFuller/status/1062834279900741632

Gross

expecting Cunningham Rose Van Drew to vote for Pelosi is stupid.

[Former Dean Phillips Supporters for Haley (I guess???!?) 👁️]

While we are on the topic, I have to ask: why do so many people hate the Speaker of the House, no matter who it is?

It seems strange that they will always be wildly unpopular, and even within their own party they can be below water.

Specifically why they're unpopular in their own parties:

The Speaker has all of the responsibility of enacting a legislation under a system that can seem at times arcane and opaque. It's not really the Speaker's job to do campaigning, but backroom dealmaking. Furthermore Speakers aren't popularly elected like POTUS (yes I know, Electoral College) but are chosen by their peers, meaning they don't really have the same sort of popular mandate as a President (or even an elected representative in a non-leadership position).

Great example is that people will credit a President for signing a bill into law but will often blame a Congressional Leadership when legislation fails to pass. It's because people want to take ownership of victories and can do so with a President but can't really do so with a Speaker; the opposite happens with not taking ownership of a defeat.

Exactly this. Plus, unlike the President, the Speaker does not have a cool airplane to fly around in all around the world and look good visiting places in. The Speaker does not get to give nationally televised speeches talking about how great America is but devoid of any actual substance or tying themselves to anything concrete that might go wrong. And the Speaker does not get to look cool ordering generals to launch missiles at a hut in the middle of a desert somewhere across the other side of the world full of brown people. The Speaker is not glorified in movies as the hero protecting America from the alien invaders, the epidemic disease outbreak, or the zombie apocalypse.

[Yank2133]

She will get there.

I don't know what Ryan and Moulton think they will accomplish with this. They block Pelosi, then they are done in Democratic politics.

Good riddance to them both. Ryan is pro-tax reform and I would never vote for Moulton after the s*** he pulled in my district.

If they pick a conservative for Speaker, I leave the party. If I wanted to vote for Republican policies, I'd vote for a Republican.

Yeah, both have to go in 2020. This is not the time for petty internal party politics.

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Yup. Also the Speaker as well as the Senate majority leader are seen as the faces of congress. And congress as institution is usually fairly unpopular.

[Nyvin]

The media is playing this out like it's a progressive revolt against Pelosi but it's actually all the moderates opposing her.    Typical.

[Orser67]

It’s one thing to oppose Pelosi in a caucus vote, another to vote against her on the House floor.

Yeah, I think this is the key point. Pelosi's opponents probably don't have the votes to prevent her from winning the caucus's vote for Speaker, but if they really want to cause havoc they could prevent her from winning the floor vote for Speaker. I doubt they do the latter but I guess we'll see.

[J. J.]

These is the only ways Pelosi is in real trouble.


First, there would have be more than 20 Democrats that abstain.  There would have to be multiple ballots, but this has happened several times before.

In that case, on a point of order and appeal, the House could rule that a plurality that is not a majority is enough to elect.  That is possible, but unlikely, because you would need a majority to win the appeal.

Second, there would have be about 8-12 Democrats that vote for another candidate on the House floor.  In this case, there could be enough Republicans willing to abstain to lower the majority required.

[Co-Chair Bagel23]

It's time to resist again, no Speaker Pelosi. Stick strong men and women who made this promise. If all of you stick together, there should be a good chance of stopping her, go force another dem up!

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Here are those signed to the anti-Pelosi letter:



Does not include others who have been equality definitive against here: Conor Lamb, Abigail Spanberger, Jason Crow, Andy Kim, etc.

https://twitter.com/MEPFuller/status/1062834279900741632

Gross

expecting Cunningham Rose Van Drew to vote for Pelosi is stupid.

Not as dumb as letting the likes of Ed Perlmutter and Seth Moulton pick the Speaker.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

The Congressional Black Caucus is at war with DNC and Perez over superdelegates. That's why Martha Fudge, a Congressional Black woman has emerged as the challenger to Pelosi.

Pelosi gave Dubya the store when Tarp passed in 2008, which progressives like Feingold, CBC were against. Which disrupted the passage of Comprehensive immigration reform.

Dems don't need to compromise withe GOP. They must oppose Trump

[Gass3268]

Fudge gets pretty close to calling Pelosi racist. Suggests that many in the CBC are also against Pelosi:

https://twitter.com/MEPFuller/status/1063104048587513862

[Yank2133]

The Congressional Black Caucus is at war with DNC and Perez over superdelegates. That's why Martha Fudge, a Congressional Black woman has emerged as the challenger to Pelosi.

Pelosi gave Dubya the store when Tarp passed in 2008, which progressives like Feingold, CBC were against. Which disrupted the passage of Comprehensive immigration reform.

Dems don't need to compromise withe GOP. They must oppose Trump

Are people really this dumb? Go look who is leading the charge to replace her. These aren’t anti Trump Democrats. They are tone deaf moderates who continue to misread the political climate.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Fudge gets pretty close to calling Pelosi racist. Suggests that many in the CBC are also against Pelosi:

https://twitter.com/MEPFuller/status/1063104048587513862

This comes a couple of days after Pelosi said that the first bill Democrats will bring to the floor is a voting rights bill.
Are the anti-Pelosi Democrats really that dumb?

[Former Kentuckian]

The media is playing this out like it's a progressive revolt against Pelosi but it's actually all the moderates opposing her.    Typical.

It is strange that the media is playing it out this way. None of the people publicly against her are progressive (it's not Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ro Khanna, or Pramila Jayapal leading the charge) and the Progressive Caucus seems in her corner. Kathleen Rice, Seth Moulton, and Tim Ryan are far from progressive.

[OneJ]

The only progressive outside of the list that I can think of saying they wouldn't support Pelosi is Tlaib during the campaign season. But I haven't seen her railing against Pelosi after her victory. Maybe she's gonna vote for her now.

[new_patomic]

Fudge is apparently just one of two House Democrats who refuses to cosponsor the Equality Act.

The other, of course, being Dan Lipinski.

So if this is who the anti-Pelosi faction is unifying around, I'm not surprised.

[henster]

Fudge is apparently just one of two House Democrats who refuses to cosponsor the Equality Act.

The other, of course, being Dan Lipinski.

So if this is who the anti-Pelosi faction is unifying around, I'm not surprised.

Yes, Fudge is totally anti-LGBT because she didn't co sponsor a bill...

[new_patomic]

Fudge is apparently just one of two House Democrats who refuses to cosponsor the Equality Act.

The other, of course, being Dan Lipinski.

So if this is who the anti-Pelosi faction is unifying around, I'm not surprised.

Yes, Fudge is totally anti-LGBT because she didn't co sponsor a bill...

Yes, in fact cosponsoring and supporting things in terms of votes is more important to the efforts for equality than wearing some face paint and making some public statements.

[Wisconsin SC Race 2019]

Dang, Marcia Fudge really killing it by speaking what many wish they could about Empress Nancy.

[henster]

Fudge is apparently just one of two House Democrats who refuses to cosponsor the Equality Act.

The other, of course, being Dan Lipinski.

So if this is who the anti-Pelosi faction is unifying around, I'm not surprised.

Yes, Fudge is totally anti-LGBT because she didn't co sponsor a bill...

Yes, in fact cosponsoring and supporting things in terms of votes is more important to the efforts for equality than wearing some face paint and making some public statements.

Nothing in her record suggests she's anti-LGBT in anyway, this is like saying if a member doesn't vote for a omnibus they don't want to fund cancer research or whatever else is stuffed in a budget.

http://www.ontheissues.org/OH/Marcia_Fudge_Civil_Rights.htm