Replacing Pelosi

Republicans have campaigned against Nancy Pelosi for years. If a Republican was running against a Democrat for dog catcher in bupkisville, Iowa, he’d compare his opponent to Pelosi and claim the Dem will inflict Beagles with a gay agenda.

So it was no surprise that during the campaign in the special election for the Georgia House seat that Republicans used Pelosi against the Democrat, Jon Ossoff. It’s not that surprising that conservative Georgians don’t like a San Francisco liberal. The people in Georgia who are afraid that electing a moderate Democrat would mean that Nancy Pelosi would mandate they enter into a gay marriage probably also believe that Trump is going to make America great again.

Now a lot of liberals are demanding that Pelosi is replaced as the Democrats’ leader in Congress. They point out how they lost four straight special elections. They remind us that she’s 77-years-old and the party needs younger leadership. They don’t believe she’s a great campaigner for her party and she’s not a very good speaker.

She’s not a great campaigner but she was the Minority Leader when Democrats took the House during the W. Bush administration. Yes, Democrats lost four straight special elections….in very conservative red districts. Are you blaming the chairman, a man, of the DNC for those losses? Do you even know his name? Sure, she’s not a great speaker, but have you heard Donald Trump speak? The man is barely literate and he only knows four adjectives yet he won the presidency.

I’m all for replacing Pelosi…if you can name someone who can do the job better. You can’t. The leader of each party in Congress must round up their members for votes…or against votes. Nancy Pelosi has proven to be a very good manager. She got Obamacare through the House and that wasn’t easy. Compare her leadership skills and accomplishments to those of John Boehner or Paul Ryan. Boehner may be the worst Speaker of the House there has ever been…until Paul Ryan. They’ve had at least seven years between the two of them and you can’t name one major piece of legislation they’ve passed. Not one.

Just as the Democrats used Newt Gingrich against the Republicans in the 1990s, Republicans will use the Democrats’ leader as a boogeyman. They’ve also used President Obama and Hillary Clinton. Yes, they’re running out of targets to whip people into frenzies over, but as soon as Pelosi is replaced the Republicans will also have a replacement.

As for age, I don’t really take your concerns seriously after you supported either Bernie Sanders (75) or Hillary Clinton (69) in the last election. You’re still talking about Bernie Sanders and now you’re throwing Joe Biden (74) and Elizabeth Warren (68) into the mix. Maybe Al Franken can be that new young leadership you’re looking for to run against Trump since he’s only 66. I just seriously depressed you, didn’t I?

Republicans do get mileage running against Pelosi, but replacing her would be the greatest gift Democrats could give them. They would love to see a new Minority leader as inept as Paul Ryan.

The solution to winning elections isn’t replacing Pelosi. It’s running better campaigns with better messaging. If Republicans’ and Independents’ main reason to vote against the Democrats is Nancy Pelosi, then Democrats have gotta figure out how to appeal to stupid voters.

It would be better figuring out how to communicate with stupidity than becoming part of it.

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