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Pelosi's role diminishes under Obama
LAT ^ | March 24, 2009 | Richard Simon and Mark Z. Barabak

Posted on 03/24/2009 12:26:21 AM PDT by ComputerGuy

After decades scaling the Democratic Party ranks, Nancy Pelosi reached a pinnacle in January 2007, becoming the first woman speaker of the House.

For two years, alongside Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, she fashioned the party's agenda on Capitol Hill, fought a rear-guard action against the Bush administration and, more broadly, helped define what it means to be a Democrat.

Now, however, it's gotten crowded at the top.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: house; obama; pelosi; speaker
Guess which priviledged group is in charge now ?
1 posted on 03/24/2009 12:26:21 AM PDT by ComputerGuy
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To: ComputerGuy


"Melting!!! I'm melting!!!!"
2 posted on 03/24/2009 12:32:49 AM PDT by PetroniusMaximus
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To: ComputerGuy

Oh, I disagree. Nazi Nancy is still *writing* Obama’s laws. She’s just not getting the adoration because Obama is sucking it all out of the room.

She’s just as powerful (and dangerous) as ever because nobody on Team Novice bothers to read the fine print on these bills she passes.

Her ego has probably diminshed somewhat but not her power. It has only become stronger because now, under Obama, her extremism becomes law whereas, under Bush, much of it was vetoed or watered down in order to get Bush’s signature.


3 posted on 03/24/2009 12:41:16 AM PDT by OrangeHoof (YES WE CAN have a Depression.)
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To: OrangeHoof
"Yes, we wrote this bill," she told reporters amid the GOP griping. "We won this election."

That sort of blunt talk may reflect the reality in the House, where Pelosi has the power -- and the inclination, when she sees fit -- to run roughshod over the minority.

This sort of blunt talk may reflect the reality in the whole country. One can debate how stupid Nancy Pelosi is but there is no mistaking the hubris in her remark. She is saying that I am so confident in our majority and its survivability in the next election fact I need not fear the reaction of the electorate. Moreover, I need not fear that this remark itself will offend people and cause Democrats to lose some of their overwhelming majority in the House. Finally, I am indifferent to the natural human reaction to remarks which betray gross arrogance. I am, therefore, confident in my ability to hold my position as Speaker of the House against threats within my party and disaffection within the electorate.

Pelosi makes this statement in the teeth of recent polls which show that the Democrat party has now lost its advantage over Republicans in terms of popularity in the House of Representatives. As Michael Barone points out, this historic shift has not been the result of increased Republican popularity but it is the result of diminished Democrat popularity.

I think she is wrong. I think there is a groundswell movement washing across the country the primary characteristic of which is anger born of fear. I think that Republicans actually have a chance to reverse their fortunes 2010. I cannot think of a Democrat who is more likely to advance the Republican cause more than Nancy Pelosi, unless it is Harry Reid or Barak Obama.

I am not unmindful that Nancy Pelosi led the House of Representatives 2006 election of 2008 in which, despite gaffes and arrogance galore, she managed to increase her majority in the House of Representatives. I believe this was largely due The Obama Pathology which swept Democrats into office in the wake of the financial crisis. Factors which will not obtain in 2010, in fact, they will work against the Democrats in the coming cycle. I do not believe the media will be quite so complaisant this time around.

I think the real reason for the Republican chance in the coming cycle is that millions of Americans have been bitch slapped out of their somnolence and are now seriously considering their own survival and when they look at Nancy Pelosi they do not like what they see.


4 posted on 03/24/2009 12:50:27 AM PDT by nathanbedford ("Attack, repeat attack!" Bull Halsey)
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I hope Nancy reads this.

hehehehe...


5 posted on 03/24/2009 1:12:21 AM PDT by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
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To: ComputerGuy
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
6 posted on 03/24/2009 2:07:47 AM PDT by MrMarbles
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To: nathanbedford

You make a lot of great points — none that I disagree with, however, I would also add that a lot folks (the un-educated kind) had been told for eight years ad nauseam how bad the Patriot act was for them and how it was taking away their powers and freedoms and they believed the media hype and dimocrats on the left.

So, they voted for change — then they got the change and realized that they were no better off than they were before they got the change and now after hearing this administrations polices to talk to terroists, release terrorists, give bonuses to “rich guy’s,” and cut defense - these same folks that may not be all that savvy are asking themselves — “how bad was it under Bush, at least I was safe, and I had a job.”

That’s my two cents — added to your two cents.


7 posted on 03/24/2009 2:14:12 AM PDT by areukiddingme1 (areukiddingme1 is a synonym for a Retired U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer and tired of liberal BS.))
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To: D-fendr

Inasmuch as psychopaths care what others think.....
She lives in her own world as does BO.
And she just adores “the one’s” presence. But BO has no
such respect. She’s just a tool for him to use if pliable or to dump if resistant. She’s in for a rude awakening - soon to come as the “one” taps out her state under cap&trade proposals. Same with Reid but he’s in a walking coma already.


8 posted on 03/24/2009 2:17:07 AM PDT by bossmechanic (If all else fails, hit it with a hammer)
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To: OrangeHoof
She’s just not getting the adoration because Obama is sucking it all out of the room.

I agree. She's still a radical left-wing ideologist who has gotten more radical over her years in Congress. But there's one thing - in fact, it's the only thing - that Bambi loves, and that's being the center of attention. He does no work and the people behind him, like Pelosi, are actually the ones who are not only implementing but even building his leftist dictatorship. But to him the only truly important thing is his personal power and image. Everyone around him is fading into the background and I'm sure that they're practically under orders to do so.

9 posted on 03/24/2009 2:23:55 AM PDT by livius
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To: areukiddingme1
Pro hoc propter hoc is still one of the best indicators of voters sentiment.

This time, perhaps, it will work to our advantage. Certainly, whether pro hoc propter hoc moves the electorate or whether they make a more sophisticated analysis and decide that Obama has actually taken charge of the economy and taken charge of homeland defense because he has put his programs through, the administration will be hard pressed to avoid responsibility.

It would be nice if the electorate engaged in more sophisticated analysis. For example, if the electorate, or at least much of it, had thought through the analysis which led Bush to commence the Iraq war instead of just reacting to the mantra, "Bush lied and people died" when no WMDs were found. But, alas, democracies simply do not work that way. Democracies do not operate on foresight either. They are reactive. So the politician knows that those with fingerprints on an issue get the credit or the blame and very often having fingerprints on an issue is nothing more than holding office when a calamity broke. Nevertheless, that knowledge causes politicians at least to strive to avoid calamities-that might occur while they are in office. Unfortunately, it encourages politicians to court calamities which will occur after their departure.

The system is not nearly good enough but it is light years ahead of undemocratic systems in which despots never have to lose sleep over whether, or when, a calamity might occur. Those systems, like the Soviet Union, persist uncorrected in their errors until the last calamity brings them down.


10 posted on 03/24/2009 2:43:56 AM PDT by nathanbedford ("Attack, repeat attack!" Bull Halsey)
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To: ComputerGuy
Actually she is more dangerous than ever. Attention is focused elsewhere and what she does is no longer in the limelight. She is not working any less hard at getting the agenda pushed through. She in fact is able to more easily get things done.

Recall those party-line votes a few weeks back and how we all chuckled when Nancy wanted it to be ‘bipartisan.’ I think two things happened after the vote. Before the vote she was kinda scared of the power she could control, she felt a need to appear bipartisan. She felt that because she still was putting herself out there in the limelight. Then the vote came and went. And she learned a new trick, she has much more power and control now behind the scenes. Have you noticed she is fading into the background? This makes her dangerous. We're not watching as closely as we should.

11 posted on 03/24/2009 2:59:03 AM PDT by EBH (The world is a balance between good & evil, your next choice will tip the scale.)
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To: ComputerGuy

So far it seems like zer0bama has abdicated his legislative guidance role TO pelosi and reid, giving them more influence rather than less.

The price they pay is to let The 0ne appear to be the only powerful person on the scene...zer0 gets all the press. Pelosi and reid get less press time but more actual power at the expense of a weaker president, which the libs like.


12 posted on 03/24/2009 3:17:25 AM PDT by paulycy (BEWARE the LIBERAL/MEDIA Complex)
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To: nathanbedford

I think the real reason for the Republican chance in the coming cycle is that millions of Americans have been bitch slapped out of their somnolence and are now seriously considering their own survival and when they look at Nancy Pelosi they do not like what they see.

I hope you are right. But I keep seeing folks contort themselves into pretzels trying to argue their support for Zero and his band of clowns featuring the Nancy.


13 posted on 03/24/2009 3:47:33 AM PDT by Adder (Proudly ignoring Zero's political stylings since 1-20-09!)
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To: ComputerGuy

Complete nonsense.


14 posted on 03/24/2009 3:53:35 AM PDT by Beckwith (A "natural born citizen" -- two American citizen parents and born in the USA.)
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To: ComputerGuy

Do not count out Pelosi or Reid. Just when you think they mean nothing, they will appear with yet another means of sticking it to the people of the United States.


15 posted on 03/24/2009 4:18:56 AM PDT by BuffaloJack (To stand up for Capitalism is to hope Obama fails.)
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To: ComputerGuy

These guys must have not gotten the memo from their Washington based brethren. The Washington Post’s Richard Cohen, one of the deans in DC, has a completely different take in his column today. His claim is that its Pelosi’s star that is rising while Comrade Zero’s is waning.


16 posted on 03/24/2009 4:33:58 AM PDT by mort56 (He who would sacrifice freedom for security deserves neither. - Ben Franklin)
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