Crossposted at Brendan Calling
I think most of us can agree that Nancy Pelosi has been an execrable disappointment as the first female Speaker of the House. We were all hoping for someone tough, who would stand up to Bush, and who would drive the progressive agenda forward: instead we got a collaborator, an excuse-maker, a weakling who buckles to the slightest pressure.
Here she is allowing Blue Dogs to hold the Democratic Caucus hostage on FISA:
Pelosi says that she “absolutely” opposes retroactive immunity for the telecoms, but that she “didn’t want the fight to be so focused there that we neglect exclusivity.” Pelosi added that the House leadership was “at the mercy of the 17 or 18 Democrats in the Senate who are voting with the Republicans on this” and said that “we are trying to work with the Dems in the Senate to come to an agreement” on exclusivity, immunity, and other issues.
“At the mercy if the 17 or 18 Democrats”? Memo to Speaker Pelosi: it’s called “arm-twisting”. Or as the always-eloquent Karl Rove once said of a political operative who refused to play ball, “We will fuck him. Do you hear me? We will fuck him. We will ruin him. Like no one has ever fucked him!”
So if you want your Democrats to vote your way, Ms. Pelosi, go get Congressman Clyburn and let your Democrats and Blue Dogs know that if they don’t vote down telecom immunity, that they will find themselves so utterly fucked they’ll taste their own scrotums whenever they belch.
It’s not that difficult a concept, especially with freshmen like Chris Carney, Jerry McNerny, and Jason Altmire who are going to need help to win re-election. Threaten to withhold funds when they face their primaries. Threaten to block their legislation. Threaten to defund their projects. There’s a lot you can do.
Of course, this whole tactic would call on you to show integrity and spine, which is something you simply don’t have much of, Ms. Pelosi. Instead, Americans see the unsightly spectacle of the Speaker of the House whining like a little baby, showing that she’s too weak to control her own caucus.
Is that the example you want to set?
