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Newsweek's Howard Fineman charts Nancy Pelosi's first pratfall.
The GOP cannot count on the new Speaker to be a disaster, but Democrats have to worry that the skills set necessary to manage an ideologically diverse majority are not going to come naturally to a San Francisco hyper-liberal. California Democrats generally, and San Francisco Democrats specifically are a hard left bunch, and the deeply ingrained habits of the Dems on the left coast almost always involve going further left, not to the center. It may be that Pelosi's instincts didn't fail her when she publicly backed her antiwar pal Murtha.
She may not have any political instincts, only a very rigid, very uncompromising ideology. Radaractive has more on San Francisco values and whether they will travel well. Yesterday's embarassing loss may alert Pelosi that the Speaker's gavel isn't a taser, but it is very possible that Pelosi will not have it in her to compromise her own beliefs, and those beliefs are so outside the mainstream that the Democratic Caucus could become one long shout-fest. We don't know, but if Jane Harmon does indeed get booted from the Intelligence Committee, we will have another indication of the Pelosi Way. Carol Platt Liebau, who guest hosts for me today, has more on this next choice the new Speaker will make.
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