Sturgeone – Trail Mix

By Sturgeone, a Trail Mix Contributor

Katherine Graham Cracker says:
August 8, 2018 at 5:24 pm
The goops have made and are trying to continue to get rid of Nancy P by making her the enemy. People need to stand up against these bullshit attacks orchestrated by the Republicans

Sturgeone says

Sarah Reese Jones@PoliticusSarah8h Breaking news: Nearly half of elected politicians are power hungry and mistakenly think they can do better than @NancyPelosi. Spoiler: They can’t. Political talent and skill are not as easy as she makes them look. See: Paul Ryan and John Boehner

Sturgeone says:
The GOP’s success in demonizing Nancy Pelosi is remarkable and depressing. By any standard I can think of she’s been the most effective legislative leader in decades, instrumental in defending Social Security and expanding health care

—Paul Krugman.

[The depressing part would be the number of democrats who are assisting the GOP in their quest to knock out effective democratic leaders. If you are a democrat, stop doing that. “Now” would be a good time.]

—Sturgeone

August 10, 2018 at 7:57 am
Paul Krugman @paulkrugman

Yet Pelosi is ” controversial”. Why? Two obvious things: she’s a Democrat, and she’s a woman. Oh, and for whatever reason the media have never liked

Newt Gingrich was a blowhard who shut down the government in a fit of pique; Dennis Hastert molested teenage boys; Paul Ryan is a poseur whose only achievement is a budget-busting tax cut that isn’t even popular

There’s been no breath of personal scandal, which is amazing given the GOP machine’s ability to manufacture such things out of thin air. And compare her with recent Republican leaders! 2/

Patd says

from last month’s rollingstone
Nancy Pelosi: ‘They Come After Me Because I’m Effective’

The House Minority Leader on the midterms, impeachment, her own party, sexism and the sexist-in-chief
[….]
Republicans have made you a central campaign issue. What do you make of that?They come after me because I’m effective. I’ve made some very powerful, rich enemies. Whether anti-government people in terms of the Affordable Care Act, whether it’s Wall Street reform, going after them on climate, in terms of the fossil fuel industry. I’m pro-labor; they want to destroy labor. So they put up the money and go into these districts. I don’t think we should allow the Koch Brothers to choose the leaders of the Democratic Party. But that’s what they’re trying to do.

You don’t see any value in spending money to bring your own poll numbers up?I never have. People that I raise money from – other people – say, “Let me create a fund; you should be spending money on yourself.” And I say, “I’d rather spend the money on the candidates who win rather than getting into a tickle contest with a skunk over some of this stuff.” I just want to win the election.

Your critics say you’re too liberal–I’m [pro-] LGBTQ, I support those issues. I’m proud to. But they use that – they go into these districts and they say, “Too liberal.”

San Francisco values–Which are the values of Saint Francis – “Make me a channel for thy peace.” You have a problem with that? I’m proud of all of that. I don’t think the [Democratic candidates] who say, “I’m not going to vote for Nancy” are disassociating themselves from the progressive agenda, or LGBTQ equality. They’re just responding to an ad in their district.
And that’s OK with you?I just want them to win the election. But I do think that there are some districts where this isn’t as important as it was in Conor Lamb’s – that was a 20, 21 point Trump district.

[…]
Have you ever been tempted to step away?If Hillary had won and the Affordable Care Act was protected – I feel very proprietary about the Affordable Care Act. She’d be a woman in charge, the Affordable Care Act [would be] protected. I could have happily gone home. Nobody in California gets Potomac Fever, believe me. So it’s not about wanting to be there. It’s just a question of, “Who can fight this man who’s in the White House? Who really knows the territory?” None of us is indispensable, but some of us have more experience and confidence in how to get the job done.

And I can’t even think that they [her prospective male challengers] think it’s a good idea to say, “We have the first woman speaker, and now we’re going to say, ‘We’re not going to do that’” I mean, no. No.

Is there a margin you need to secure that gavel? You talked about wanting to win 35 seats.

No ,no. You only have to win [the leadership vote] in your caucus – and then you go to the floor [for the speakership vote]. People vote for the Democrat or they vote for the Republican. So I feel very comfortable about that. But I don’t feel like talking about it. My time is money, and mobilization and the rest. Part of it is messaging – and talking about me and what happens to me is the least important part of all of it.
I think some of it is a little bit on the sexist side – although I wouldn’t normally say that. Except it’s like, really? Has anyone asked whatshisname, the one who’s the head of Senate?

[Aide Jorge Aguilar who is sitting beside Pelosi] McConnell.

McConnell. I mean he’s got the lowest numbers of anybody in the world. Have you ever gone up to him and said, “How much longer do you think you’ll stay in this job?” Nobody ever went up to Harry Reid and said that. Nobody ever says that to anybody except a woman. But it’s a thing.

And you know what? You get the upside and the downside of it. The one thing I want women to know is that you don’t walk away from a fight. You don’t let them make your decisions for you. I don’t mean to sound arrogant. But I am confident. I am confident.

[Yes, if you’re a democrat, stop assisting republicans. Now.

Al Franken saved our asses, and he got the green weenie for it.]