Justin's Political Corner
An outspoken Republican congressman castigated House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi’s looks during a radio interview Friday.
Speaking with guest host Larry O’Connor on The Dennis Miller Show, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) argued that House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) was functionally equivalent to Pelosi because both held one-on-one backroom negotiations with the president. Gohmert then went on to deride Pelosi’s appearance: “Well, let’s give him credit. There’s no facelift with John Boehner.”
O’CONNOR: So basically John Boehner became Nancy Pelosi without the charm?
GOHMERT: For the last two years. Well, let’s give him credit. There’s no facelift with John Boehner. He is who he is.
O’CONNOR: Oh!
New York Republicans and Democrats are publicly furious with Speaker John Boehner for abruptly cancelling an expected vote late Tuesday night on a relief package for victims of superstorm Sandy.
The Senate recently passed an aid package for Sandy victims worth $60 billion, a price tag that made many House Republicans nervous. So they decided to divide it up into two parts: $27 billion and $33 billion. The first part was vetted by appropriators for wasteful spending but the second wasn’t. And most of the latter chunk would not have been spent in the first year, anyway. So one school of thought was to vote separately on both and let the chips fall where they may.
The likely upshot was that the House would immediately authorize $27 billion for victims and give themselves time to determine, in the next Congress, how much of the rest was necessary. A two-track vote was expected after the bill to avert the fiscal cliff. But it never happened. Why was it pulled?
Wednesday morning on the House floor, New York Republican Reps. Peter King and Michael Grimm blamed Boehner for what they described as a betrayal.
“It was entirely the speaker’s decision,” said a GOP leadership aide, who doesn’t work in Boehner’s office. “As to why we’re not voting on it now? That’s a question I can’t answer.”
At a press conference in New York, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told reporters Wednesday that he’s “distraught” and “angry” over the House’s failure to hold a vote, blaming it on a House GOP “leadership squabble.” He said Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) has been “truly helpful” in piecing together the package and blamed Boehner.
“Cantor has been very much for us, but Speaker Boehner … pulled the rug out from under us,” Schumer said. “It’s a Boehner betrayal.”
A Cantor aide affirmed that the majority leader has been pushing for the package.
h/t: TPM
According to a new poll by Rasmussen Reports, House Speaker John Boehner now has the dubious honor of being the nation’s least popular member of congressional leadership. With 51 percent of voters disapproving of his performance, Boehner replaces Nancy Pelosi as the least liked member of congressional leadership, a post she held for several years.
With a net favorability rating of negative 20, Boehner’s approval numbers are at the lowest point since he accepted the position of House Speaker. Even among his own party the results aren’t much better: only 55 percent of Republicans approve of his performance.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) didn’t fare much better, with an unfavorable rating of 36 percent.
Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rounded out the Democratic leadership, with unfavorable reviews of 50 percent and 42 percent, respectively.
The only Congressional politician to get overall positive remarks was Vice President Joe Biden, with a 49 percent favorability rating versus 45 percent unfavorable.
The Rasmussen poll surveyed 900 likely voters by phone between Dec. 18 and Dec. 19, and reporter a 3 percent margin of error.
h/t HuffPo
So some chick is all “Oh maybe Cathy McMorris-Rodgers will be the new Speaker or something because everything I say is not completely laughable fiction.” And then Laura Ingraham is all “I am doing my best not to smirk at your uninformed drivel, fellow television pundit, but everyone knows that some random male source says that the next Speaker of the House will be Paul Ryan, because stud.” But be careful, GOPpies! You come at King Boehner, you’d best … haha, sorry, we are just kidding. That dude is Dead Drunk Walking. So the winner of yesterday’s brain tickler quiz is everybody who answered “a pile of human shit.” Congratulations, everyone in the world!
Paul Ryan, if he is indeed the next Speaker of the House, will be the worst one this country’s ever had. He is worse than the last three GOP Speakers (Gingrich, Hastert, Boehner) we had combined. I’d rather have Pelosi back as Speaker anyday.
H/T: Wonkette.com
This is a gif waiting to happen. (via @ezraklein)
Boehner = Worst Speaker Ever!
(via truth-has-a-liberal-bias)
Remember this: Fire John Boehner as Speaker Of The House and replace him with Nancy Pelosi! #speakerPelosi
Via someecards
We want Pelosi back as Speaker!!!!!
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Normally outspoken Nancy Pelosi is mum about her future.
She won’t say if she will step aside as Democratic leader of the U.S. House of Representatives if her party fails, as expected, to win back the chamber from Republicans in Tuesday’s elections.
Pelosi recently fanned speculation about her future by scheduling House Democratic leadership elections later than many anticipated, after the November 22 Thanksgiving Day holiday, rather than at the outset of the lame-duck session of the House that begins a week after the November 6 election.
Several of her colleagues say Pelosi would retain her leadership job if she does choose to run.
Pelosi said in an interview with Reuters that she decided to have leadership elections later to give newly elected members more time to get acquainted before deciding on leaders and to let members focus on the election without distraction.
“There’s feeling she wants to give herself more time to think about what she will do,” one party aide said.
Pelosi said she is too busy to “waste a moment or an ounce of energy” on the hypothetical question.
“Right now, our focus is on one thing - winning,” Pelosi said in a telephone interview between campaign events.
Besides she said, “Do you ask (Republican presidential nominee) Mitt Romney what he will do if he loses? … There is no way on Earth that he’s going to win.”
Pelosi was speaker of the House - the first and only woman to hold the post - from 2007 until January 2011, when Republican John A. Boehner took over after a Republican sweep in the 2010 congressional elections.
“Organize, don’t agonize. That’s my motto,” said Pelosi, 72, who was first elected to Congress from San Francisco 25 years ago.
Pelosi dismisses predictions by most analysts that Democrats will fall far short of picking up the needed 25 seats to take the 435-member House.
“I’ve never been to one to go along with the experts,” she said. “There are a lot of close races that can go either way.”
Interviews with a dozen House Democrats found all saying it’s unclear what Pelosi will do about the leadership job.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t know. I doubt she’s given it much thought,” said Democratic Representative Gerald Connolly. “She’s thinking about the here and now.”
But all agreed that if Pelosi decides to run again for House Democratic leader, she would get the job.
“We get our inspiration from her aspiration to accomplish great things,” said Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings.
Democratic Representative George Miller said: “I don’t know what she’ll do. It’s her decision. But I think it’s unlikely she leaves. She is a warhorse.”
“She gives all the signs that she intends to run again for leader,” said one Democratic aide who asked not to be named. “She’s working hard for members. She’s out there raising money. She’s totally engaged.”
Critics say Pelosi should have followed the example of former Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert, who left leadership after his party lost the chamber in 2006.
I want to see a return to having a good House Speaker, and her name is Nancy Pelosi (D). #speakerPelosi
Via someecards
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) said Sunday that Democrats have a “very excellent chance” to retake the House majority in November, and characterized the day Republican Mitt Romney selected Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.) as his vice presidential running mate as a “pivotal” one in the campaign.
Democrats need to net 25 seats to win back the majority. Pelosi, whose served as House speaker during the last Congress in which Democrats were in the majority declined to say Sunday whether she would run for House Democratic leader if her party falls short of taking back the majority.
House Speaker John Boehner released the following statement on the July jobs report:
“Two years after the Obama administration declared, ‘welcome to the recovery,’ this much is clear: with 42 consecutive months of unemployment above eight percent, the private sector still isn’t ‘doing fine’ and President Obama’s economic plan did not work. While the president is telling small businesses ‘you didn’t build that,’ his policies are making surethey can’t.
“Any new job creation is welcome news – but with unemployment still above eight percent and rising, and millions of Americans looking for work, it is insane to raise taxes on small businesses, as the president and his allies in the Democratic-controlled Senate propose. Ernst & Young says their tax hike will destroy more than 700,000 jobs. And yet, top Democrats say they’re willing to let taxes rise on middle class families, tank our economy, and impose devastating cuts to our national security if they don’t get their way. It’s reckless, it’s wrong, and House Republicans aren’t standing for it.
h/t: TPM LiveWire
Nancy Pelosi didn’t take the loss of the House in 2010 as an excuse to stop fighting. In fact, she’s been as energized as ever, working tirelessly to reclaim a Democratic majority in the House in 2012.
Since relinquishing the speaker’s gavel 18 months ago, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi hasn’t spent any time wallowing in the loss. Many thought she’d stoically step aside — as had her predecessors — after her party suffered historic loses. Instead, she has ricocheted across the country raising nearly $60 million in a frenetic effort to get that gavel back.It’s less frenetic than it is calculated. Don’t think for a minute that Pelosi is not aware of each and every race in which Democrats have a chance at being competitive, at the seats redistricting has left potentially friendly for Democrats.
Pelosi isn’t content to just get the 25 seats to regain the majority—she’s pushing for 35, with “onesy-twosies” around the country.
