Posted on 11/08/2002 6:16:40 AM PST by xsysmgr
Conservatives hope to win another key election next week — when House Democrats meet on Thursday to pick a replacement for retiring minority leader Dick Gephardt.
That's because Nancy Pelosi of California is putting her name forward as Gephardt's successor. She's currently the Democratic whip, which is her party's second-ranking post in the House. She's also an anti-New Democrat leftist who is about as deeply out of touch with ordinary Americans as any member of her party. Best of all, it looks like she's going to win.
But first, a word about Dick Gephardt: He will not realize his dream of becoming Speaker of the House, but he was a strong party leader who understood the mechanics of running a congressional caucus. He's also no cultural liberal. The son of a milk-truck driver, he started his career in Congress a quarter-century ago as a pro-life Democrat from St. Louis, right in the heart of the country. Personal political ambitions compelled him to trample many of his early principles, but he was always more of a blue-collar guy than a man of the far Left. He eventually came to sit at the center of this party — more liberal than the moderates but to the right of the extremists. He may now run for president, and nobody who remembers his 1988 caucus victory in Iowa will want to count him out.
One thing's for sure: Nancy Pelosi could never win an Iowa caucus. She is what Jeane Kirkpatrick once called a "San Francisco Democrat" — and in her case the term applies both literally and figuratively. Her 8th congressional district in San Francisco is one of the most liberal in the land; two years ago, Al Gore carried it by 61 points. George W. Bush finished a mere seven points ahead of Ralph Nader.
Pelosi says the Democrats must now define themselves more clearly in opposition to the Bush administration and congressional Republicans. "We must draw clear distinctions between our vision of the future and the extreme policies put forward by the Republicans. We cannot allow Republicans to pretend they share our values and then legislate against those values without consequence," said Pelosi in a statement released yesterday.
One clear distinction, of course, involves Iraq. Pelosi voted against the recent war resolution. She also came out against the Gulf War a decade ago. Neither of these is an especially remarkable position for a liberal Democrat to take. Pelosi, however, made the latter one remarkable when she based her opposition to the war on the environment: "While we are gravely concerned about the loss of life from combat in the Persian Gulf War, environmental consequences of the war are as important to the people there as the air they breathe and the water they drink."
Isn't this exactly the kind of person conservatives would like to see the Democrats put forward as their leading spokesman (oops! spokeswoman) in the House?
Pelosi is the embodiment of what Kirkpatrick chastised at the 1984 Republican convention, which was held just a few weeks after the Democrats met in San Francisco. "When the San Francisco Democrats treat foreign affairs as an afterthought, as they did, they behaved less like a dove or a hawk than like an ostrich — convinced it would shut out the world by hiding its head in the sand," said the U.N. ambassador. "When the Soviet Union walked out of arms-control negotiations, and refused even to discuss the issues, the San Francisco Democrats didn't blame Soviet intransigence. They blamed the United States. But then, they always blame America first."
That speech is now 16 years old, but it's still a perfect description of Nancy Pelosi.
Minority leader Pelosi will move her party to the left. In the wake of Tuesday's defeats, the Left will demand it — but she'll want to take it there on her own accord. By making her party more liberal, however, she risks making it even more of a minority, and soon. If Pelosi rises to the House Democrats' top job, look for moderates to defect to the GOP. Potential switchers include Ken Lucas of Kentucky, Colin Peterson of Minnesota, and Charlie Stenholm of Texas.
One of Gephardt's talents was keeping his party united — arguably a tougher chore than House Speaker Denny Hastert faces with his GOP colleagues. Pelosi, however, has demonstrated a penchant for petty squabbling. Earlier this year, her PAC donated $10,000 to Rep. Lynn Rivers of Michigan, who was forced by redistricting into a tough primary against fellow Democrat John Dingell. Leadership figures traditionally don't take sides during these match-ups, but Pelosi nonetheless saw fit to boost a fellow feminist (who lost). Pelosi may have sincerely (but wrongly) felt that Rivers was more essential to House Democrats. Her electioneering, however, came with a price tag: Dingell cut back his fundraising activities for colleagues.
Pelosi appears to face only a single competitor for the minority leader post: Martin Frost of Texas, a man more in the mold of Gephardt. Yet there is already talk that Pelosi has compiled an extensive list of Democrats who support her bid. It hasn't been released, but Roll Call reported that it may contain as many as 110 names — more than enough to secure her election.
The downside for Republicans is that the Pelosi Democrats will become more difficult to work with. Gephardt, by contrast, would engage in occasional bipartisanship: There was always the chance that he would lead a fair number of his colleagues in a sensible direction, as he has done this fall on Iraq. These moments will become even more rare.
But bipartisanship will matter less if there are more Republicans in the House — something that Pelosi, in both the near term and the long run, probably guarantees.
A winning combination, in my book.
It would be like a 2 year Welstone Memorial/Rally, TRUE Liberalism on parade, day after day.
Sweeeet!!!!
Do you really think Dims are stupid enough to fall for that trick?
Yeah, me too!
Not by much. On either count.
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