For years, Democratic activists and analysts have complained about the negative impact of Nancy Pelosi on their efforts to take back the House of Representatives and forge a new party coalition. Pelosi, 78, has consistently remained one of the two least popular Democrats in Washington. The other was Hillary Clinton. So why would the Democratic Party rig a primary for Clinton and keep Pelosi when fighting to curtail Trump? The answer is found in what these leaders offer establishment figures not what they offer the party, the public, or the country. They deliver in jobs and money for powerful allies who see no personal advantage in supporting other candidates. The dominance of self-interest is evident in yet another poll showing that forty-five percent of registered voters say they are less likely to support a candidate who backs the California Democrat for House speaker should her party win a House majority in November. It is a fascinating (and familiar) pattern as the party establishment maintains a leader who is clearly a drain on efforts to retake Congress. Those who support Trump want Pelosi to remain in her position and are running commercials across the country featuring the prospect of her returning as Speaker. Yet, faced with yet another anti-establishment electorate, Democrats are again offering the same establishment leaders.
The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Thursday shows that only 21 percent of registered voters say that Pelosi makes them more likely to vote for a Democratic candidate.
The disconnect is crushing for a party that insists that nothing short of the future of our Republic rests in the balance of these elections. Yet, personal alliances is preventing the party from removing the least favorite Democratic leader to ensure that it can retake the House. President Donald Trump could well prove unpopular enough to cancel out the unpopularity of Pelosi, but why take that chance? It was the same gamble that the party elite took with Clinton. We have previously noted that polls have shown Trump would still beat Clinton in a head-to-head election (and here). While Trump is also facing declining polls, he is at the same level or even higher than Clinton. Clinton posted the lowest polling numbers yet with only 36% popularity and an unfavorable rating of 61%. Polls are showing Trump at 38 percent. While a new poll shows that half of people feel Trump should resign, it is clear that they want Clinton even less — the very same position held by many in the campaign. Before the establishment all but anointed Clinton as their candidate in the primary, polls clearly showed that the voters did not want an establishment figure so the DNC worked to guarantee the nomination to the ultimate establishment figure. However, it clearly goes deeper than that. Even against one of the most unpopular figures in history (Trump was even worse at 63 percent unfavorable), Clinton could not even maintain a majority of women with favorability ratings.
Pelosi and the establishment would prefer to take the risk of not flipping the House than make a change in leadership. Even if Pelosi costs a couple of percentile difference, it could well make the difference for retaking the House. If the House stays in Republican hands, Trump could well be insulate from impeachment or investigation for the remainder of his term. With Trump’s popularity on the rise and Pelosi’s popularity still on the decline, the risk being taken by Democratic leadership is staggering.
The disconnect does not stop there. Women’s groups and many liberals continue to push Bill and Hillary Clinton to the forefront of speeches and fundraisers despite polls showing that they polarizing and unpopular. In this poll, almost 40 percent of voters said that they would be very uncomfortable in voting for anyone supported by Hillary Clinton. Only 9 percent view Clinton’s endorsement in a positive way but she continues to be pulled before high-profile women’s and Democratic groups.
Thirty-seven percent answered that they are very uncomfortable with backing a candidate endorsed by the former first lady and secretary of State, versus 9 percent who say they are enthusiastic. The Clinton family is expected to take only a limited role in campaigning for Democrats this year.
The situation is not much better for Trump who continues to be highly polarizing and unpopular. Only 12 percent looked favorability on anyone endorsed by Trump while 38 percent answered that they would be very uncomfortable.
So we have a repeat of the situation in 2016 with the least popular figures leading the respective election efforts. For the Democrats however the choice is more stark. Trump is President and will not resign. Pelosi has been unpopular for over a decade and led her party into a steady string of defeats, including losing the House of Representatives. Most expected Pelosi to resign after that loss by tradition, but again her interests and those of her allies prevailed. There is simply nothing in it for establishment leaders in opposing Pelosi and bringing to power someone who is likely to change the leadership across the board.
Notably, many of the upsets this election came from young Democrats who declared that they would oppose Pelosi as majority leader or Speaker. This includes the two biggest upset for Conor Lamb andAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez. However, there is a cynical calculate at play. If Pelosi remains and becomes speaker, she will shower her allies with key positions and support. If she loses, no one will blame the establishment figures who did nothing to remove the drain on Democratic voting. The answer is simple in Washington where God, and the party, help those who help themselves.
Nancy Pelosi, Elizabeth Warren, Maxine Waters, etc,etc,etc. what a collection of dolts. Let’s get rid of Ice, then we can say good by to local police. What a safe world we will have.
Independent Bob – the first thing we should do is get rid of armed personal security for Congress critters. Maxine would not be talking so tough then. 😉
David Benson owes me five citations (one from the OED) and the source of a quotation, after five weeks – methinks thou doth protest too much. Tomorrow it will be six weeks.
thanks
For lord’s sake! Correct your damn headline. 55%? or 45%%. Anyone who is so damn careless in such an easy task has some nerve offering advice to a party that he so clearly wants to harm. And in favor of Trump! What idiocy.
“For lord’s sake! Correct your damn headline. 55%? or 45%%. Anyone who is so damn careless in such an easy task has some nerve…”
~+~
45%% ? Those who write with glass keyboards shouldn’t throw stones. Maybe I should resort to your manner of outrage:
Or I could just perform in a civilized manner and correct the typo in the usual and ordinary fashion.
Darren, …
Great reply and picture for such a catty critique 😄of the column.
(Actually, the criticism was about the wording in the headline, not the column).
Great pic indeed. Who needs MGM!
Mespo,…
– It was just the right touch. A gentle “ribbing” in the response and photo by Darren.
Nothing that would offend her “pride”.
Mr. Smith, I have reason to believe that your lion is yawning. Perhaps you intended the double intennuendo.
That’s funny.
This is exactly how I feel whenever anyone says that we should keep Obamacare.
Darren, The majority of HRC Liberals are consistently rude and incapable of civilized discourse unlike Progressives
FWIW – Good discussion between two Conservatives and two Progressives I saw earlier
https://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/431235-mainstream-media-violence-war/
Mae – they will not vote for the same ol same. Hell, the DNC won’t even get rid of super delegates.
Mae – the party is harming itself quite well on its own — our future is with the young who are woke and involved
Autumn, I’m delighted about the result in NY. Pelosi needs to be delighted, too. I’m also delighted to learn Millennials are ‘woke’ and involved. I’m confident they will help win the House in November.
Lmbo. 15,000 far leftist dopes voted for a socialist in a far leftist district in NY and you progs are crapping in your bloomers. You’re out of your mind if you believe America will ever KNOWINGLY adopt socialism.
How many people across America voted for Bernie Sanders 2 years ago? Including people in red states.
Congratulations Turley. I’m gratified that you are capable of correcting stupid mistakes. Now I ask that those still capable of doing some critical thinking…just who are those ‘shocking’ 45%. How many of those do you suppose are Republicans? And Republicans who today would pillory Jesus Christ himself if it became known that he was a Democrat.
Darren, that wasn’t a glass keyboard on Turley’s headline. That was pure sloppiness. A professor, writing for “millions” according to his account, is not entitled to a pass for such carelessness. Here’s some breaking news: many of Turley’s Millions do not read beyond the headline. And that headline was a killer. How do I know that scores do not read beyond the headline? Not one of the more than 200 comments that proceeded mine, pointed out the glaring error to Turley. Not one. Doesn’t say much about the critical skills of this crowd.
Bottom line… Turley is entitled to publish his opinion. He is NOT entitled to publish stats that are wildly inaccurate – especially in a headline. If the man felt the poll was important enough to write about, he sure as hell must have remembered the number was 45%, not 55% and instantly seen the error in the headline and corrected it.
Furthermore, he has often done this kind of ‘play’ with his headlines. I feel it was reasonable to point it out. Maybe, if someone makes a fuss and all of you get riled up, you will be smart enough to begin reading those headlines a little more critically.
One can hope.
Jesus Christ, it’s a TYPO. Had you ever considered that the 4 key is next to the 5 key and that is the most likely reason this happened, and not some grand scheme upon anyone’s part to deceive the population? Maybe you should wrap your keyboard in tinfoil to go with that hat you are wearing.
Darren,….
More pictures, please. I don’t read the columns or comments, I just enjoy looking at the pictures.
Also, you now have an opening to get more pointed in whatever replies you choose to write to May.
You are relieved of your responsibilty to not damage her “pride”.😄
I would like someone here, a right-winger (must be a few here, right?) to explain to me just what the case is against Nancy Pelosi. Anytime I have seen her in the news, she seems to be well-spoken and doesn’t rant or yell. Doesn’t have a controversial Foundation. Doesn’t brag about grabbing male body parts. Doesn’t have outsized speaker fees, as far as I know. Is it just because she is a senior Democrat?
We could ask Congress to enact legislation to discover the answer to this. But we should have to pass the bill before we find out what’s in it.
Jay, right-wing media has devoted 20 years to demonizing Nancy Pelosi. The goal was to make her name a byword for everything wrong with America. So that just the mention of Pelosi’s name would make Americans hiss with deep contempt. Even Democrats are supposed hiss with contempt. Like ‘defending’ Nancy Pelosi is the most foolhardy effort one can undertake. Because.. Because she’s ‘Nancy Pelosi’..!!
Lucky for Trump that he can count on a friendly media.😊😃😄
Peter:
I do believe that men and women are of equal worth. That means that when any elected official says, “We have to pass the bill to see what’s in it”, they have to live with the infamy, no matter the gender. They don’t get to cry War on Women, or Right Wing Conspiracy, when they get hammered for their mistakes just like anyone else.
She is a wealthy San Francisco elite, who lives in a winery, while she sneers at the $1500 bonuses the peasants have been receiving and disparages wealthy Republican politicians. She lives above a city that passes out human feces and dirty needle maps to tourists. She’s the modern day Marie Antoinette.
Have you ever heard her ramblings? She has difficulty following the plot, which is tragic if she is experiencing any medical issues. But she also is infamous for completely making up numbers, and saying absurd things like borders are racist. Please. She can talk when she tears down the security to her own home and winery, invites illegal aliens to move in, instead of just paying them to pick her grapes and vacuum. Are the locks on her door, which ensure she can say who and when visitors can come in, racist? She is insulated from the negative impacts of her political decisions.
There are a few fiscal conservative Democrats that I really like in CA. That, alone, is a miracle considering the Democratic Party couldn’t have alienated me more if they set me on fire after they pushed Obamacare through, spearheaded by Nancy Pelosi.
To me, Nancy Pelosi is one of the key players responsible for pushing through Obamacare, using lies and deceit. It’s not the Right Wing, or Fox News, or the Koch Brothers, or anyone else’s fault but hers.
If she was a fiscal Democrat who opposed the Vacation Train to San Francisco and its attendant graft, and acknowledged that Obamacare was a horrible mistake, then my opinion of her would be far more positive.
So her major sin is that she was instrumental in getting Obamacare through the House? And also that she gets income from a winery?
Maybe you could respond to what Karen actually did say instead of playing games.
TS to Dance,…
Unfortunately, directly responding to the points raised in a comment is not standard or universal.
On this blog, and on other blogs.
Sometimes keeping an exchange on track, on topic, is like trying to herd stray cats with some of the commentators.
Jay, right-wing media has devoted 20 years to demonizing Nancy Pelosi.
She wasn’t a member of the caucus leadership until 2003, Peter. And, no, the media don’t ‘demonize’ Pelosi, they laugh at her. Pelosi’s confederates tried to play the girl card on Paul Kirk in 1985 when he was heard to dismiss her as an ‘airhead’. The right-wing media aren’t the only people who’ve had occasion to find her a dingbat.
She was a schoolteacher for a brief run of years (during the Kennedy Administration, ahem). Her husband has been a fabulously successful real estate mogul. She had a demanding family life (five children), but has never run a business, never held an executive position, and never done much but politic in the caucus (something she’s mastered) and raise money. There’s not much indication from her schooling that she had some store of intelligence that’s gone untapped all these years. She earned a teaching certificate from a rank-and-file private college.
It’s doubtful she has to many thoughts not traceable to the liberal Identikit.
By all means. Please keep her as the face of the Dem party!
The Donald is not a traitor in that the country is not at war. So is he a traitor-lite?
Would that be like delivering a pallet of unmarked bills to a terrorist nation and relieving sanctions, whereupon they immediately began launching banned ICBMs marked “Death to Israel” to our ally?
Do you know what we got for that? Our inspectors STILL have not been allowed free access to inspect their military installations. They send us videos and say, see, you cannot see any nuclear activity. It’s not even a signed treaty.
Certainly not to the question.
The Janus decision demonstrates that the majority of the supremes are not conservatives for they overturned many of the court’s own precidents. So Roberts, in particular, is forsworn while the majority are but radical reactionaries. Evil men, all men, doing evil.
David Brooks was unusually good in today’s TNYT op-ed.
“Anthony Kennedy and the Privatization of Meaning”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/28/opinion/anthony-kennedy-individualism.html
This one, DBB?
Yes. Points to Justice Kennedy’s flaws, in a thoughtful manner.
How can I attach any validity to what you say when you don’t get simple facfs straight. Your headline says “Poll Shows 55 Percent Of Registered Voters Are Unlikely To Support Anyone Who Supports Nancy Pelosi.”
Your post says, “The dominance of self-interest is evident in yet another poll showing that forty-five percent of registered voters say they are less likely to support a candidate who backs the California Democrat for House speaker should her party win a House majority in November.”
You apparently rely on the NBC/WSJ poll that you link to which cites the 45% figure.
Did you flunk math and reading comprehension?
Oh stop whining Mr (or Mrs) Hollywood Perfect. No one wants to hear you’re SJW rants.
Facts don’t matter to Ron that’s why he watches Faux News.
Guess I was right, since Turley finally fixed his erroneous headline. I’m a social justice warrior? Woohoo!
What is scary is, that if the Democrats win back the House, Nancy Pelosi could become President if something happened to Trump and Pence. Just think of it. This dotty old moonbat could become President.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Better than the dingbat we have now.
Insanity is better than insanity? LOL, are you … too?
Well, she’d have to be confirmed to know what we would get…
Would she issue maps on how to avoid human feces and needles in the US instead of just her city?
Maybe she would declare the existence of the Secret Service and the fence around the White House racist. After all, shouldn’t she tear down that wall and build a bridge instead?
Jonathan Turley, anybody who supports the Clintons is not a liberal. Please use the dictionary definition.
Spot on DBB!
David, I’m a shill for the DNC. Or so everybody thinks. I didn’t get that directive about liberals shunning the Clintons. Who sent out that notice? Because it sounds like it’s coming from a Bernie Bro! The very same bros who elected Donald Trump.
“He who pays the piper calls the tune.”
No, PH, the HRC folks elected Trump. Shoulda run a better candidate.
Of course you’re a damn shill! Not just that, but a shrill shill. Hmmm. !!! A new tongue twister
Peter Hill shrilly shilled swill til his trill killed the thrill.
Now, say that 5 times fast!
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
“Please use the dictionary definition.” LOL, which one?
I prefer the Cambridge Dictionary in this instance.
Ron – nice one. 🙂 He doesn’t have a dictionary, you know, he uses the internet and expects you to use it too. However, he will not tell you which of the several definitions in the internet dictionary is the correct definition or which of the internet dictionaries he is using. If he tells you OED, he is lying. He does not have a subscription.
Making Stuff Up again.
David Benson owes me five citations (one from the OED) and the source of a quotation, after five weeks – you have admitted Making Stuff Up, take responsibility, that is what a man does.
But we will miss vote getting Nancy. She did more for us than we had the right to expect but she did it anyway. Three cheers from the Phantom Army. We’re going for 50% this next time instead of 40%. While you sit on your couch potato ass
Senility can come at any age in one form or another but only one so afflicted would support Pelosi or Schumer and the progrssively regressive left under any definition – unless they were doing it for ulterior motives and reasons as I am at this moment. The longer we keep Pelosi the faster we will be rid of them
Understanding that Congress has merely the power to tax for “…general Welfare…” and that Americans enjoy the unfettered right to private property, Pelosi is not only nutchacha, Pelosi is irrefutably anti-American and unconstitutional in her antithetical and subversive support for control of the means of production (i.e. unconstitutional regulation of industry), central planning, redistribution of wealth and social engineering. Pelosi is guilty of no less than nullification of the U.S. Constitution as treason.
Constitution:
Severely Limited Government, Freedom, Free Enterprise, Private Property, Self-Reliance
VS.
The Pelosi Factor:
The 10 Points of Marx’s Communist Manifesto
“1. Abolition of property and land and application of all rents of land to public purposes
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax
3. Abolition of all right to inheritance
4. Confiscation of all property of all emigrants and rebels
5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an
exclusive monopoly.
6. Centraliztion of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State, the bringing of cultivation of
waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal liability of label. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and
country, by a more equitable distribution of the population over the country,
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labor in its present form.
Combination with education and industrial production.”
– College Confidential
How many do you think have been adopted American politicians?
How successful have those 10 points been?
They are part and parcel of the socialist regressives with too many adopted by the Democrat In Name Only crowd.
None especially we citizens went into open counter revolution mode.
It they were successful they would know who we are but so far they don’t know who they are.
Mrs Clinton had 6 million more votes than trump. Only the vagaries of the non-democratic Electoral College installed The Donald in the oval office.
The “vagaries” are called the Constitution. Which obviously Democrats are ready to dump whenever it suits them.
I guess the only reason women can murder their unborn babies are vagaries also. Right?
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Squeaky uses the name of a Charles Manson followers then rails against the “murder of unborn babies”.
No, 2.9 million (not subtracting what ACORN types could stuff into the boxes). And she won a plurality, not a majority.
Hey Spastic: Show us a mainstream media story about ACORN stuffing ballot boxes. I’d be interested in seeing that.
For someone who pretends to be a stickler on facts, you play pretty lose with them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUDTcxIqqM0
Here is a video.
Illegal aliens do vote, for many reasons. Some have stolen identities to work here, and they always check the “citizen” box because of those documents. There is a lot of pressure to register to vote, so they may do so. Some check the voter registration box without even realizing they are not supposed to vote.
I’ve seen reporters asking illegal immigrants if they voted. They said they did, and didn’t even know they weren’t supposed to.
An illegal alien living under the radar will check whatever “citizen” box on forms they find, because they don’t want to broadcast that they are illegal.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/grandmother-deported-voter-fraud-leaves-u-s-tears-n789766
Here is an example of how one woman, who got deported, explained how voter fraud happened by mistake:
Please note that the only reason she was caught was that she admitted to an immigration official officer that she had voted. She said that was when she learned it was fraud. If she hadn’t said a word, no one would have found out.
Do you know why no one would have found out? Because each and every time there is any effort to purge the rolls of illegal aliens and other fraudulent entries, Democrats cry racism. That is also why it is so difficult to get hard data on exactly how many illegal aliens vote, or at least register. There are concerted efforts to deny the gathering of this information.
I actually do believe that many of the people who vote illegally are either not aware that it is a crime, or they think it is just another law that doesn’t really matter, like immigration law.
TS to Dance,…
– I ‘m waiting to see a claim surface that Hillary got 12 million more votes than Trump.
Try to catch it if the number doubles again to 12 million.
A lot of people seem to assume that the popular vote totals would be exactly the same had the winning candidate been determined by the popular vote.
Those numbers would almost certainly be different if the candidates focused on the nationwide popular vote, rather that trying to win states’ Electoral College votes.
Also, in a close, contested election, it would not be like recounting the ballots in Florida.
Each and every state would have to have a recount under the popular vote system, assuming a narrow victory for a candidate on the initial count.
By the time we got down bickering over the recounts, it’d be time for the next election.
There’d be “50 Floridas”.
got DONE,not “down”
Vagary: an unexpected and inexplicable change in a situation…
While Clinton’s loss was perhaps unexpected and inexplicable, it can in no way be attributed to the Electoral College as it has been the constitutional situation since our founding.
Do try again.
Clinton’s loss in the electoral college despite significant plurality in the popular vote is either the result of canny Republican political strategy, or dumb luck. I am still not sure which.
I couldn’t agree with you more. After they stole the election from Samuel Tilden and installed The Rutherford in the oval office, I’ve been in a constant state of outrage ever since.
As I said they don’t who or what they are? Clinton claimed three million not six million. Non-Democratic? So what? We aren’t a Democracy dimwit we are a representative Republic and you people are also not Democratic even with the name. No where near democratic. Too far far far to the left for anything like that. So we made up new names for you. Stupid and Losers although not really polite ended up heading the list. From their it went down hill further to the left.
PS How do you like having the real Socialist movement take over? How long do you think your bank account will be safe?
California and New York have suffered the most from the communist invasion of illegal, incongruous and non-familial foreigners. Americans will have to take that issue up soon.
Japan’s population is 98.5% Japanese and China’s is 99.9% Chinese, to provide you with a modicum of perspective.
Just imagine. How illogical and evil.
Crazy George, in your opinion what would be an acceptable percentage of non white American citizens?
1%, 5% or 0%?
I don’t mean to imply you’re a racist or anything….
But you are effin’ nuts.
Another millennial who gets it