Am I I hearing this right? House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says that the question about a House takeover and whether she’ll run as speaker again is “unimportant.” Fox News’ Chris Wallace interviewed Pelosi on Sunday, where he asked what are the chances that the Democrats retake the House.
“That is so unimportant. What’s important is that we have a lively debate on a better deal, better pay, better jobs, and a better future,” replied Pelosi.
Is she downplaying her party’s chances? I mean, it’s her job to say that in every election cycle the Democrats could retake Congress, no matter how absurd it sounds. In 2012, 2014, and 2016, Pelosi has said that the Democrats would make a comeback. They haven’t. Under her tenure as House leader for the Democrats, her party has only lost more seats.
She wants a debate about the future. That’s fine. The problem is most voters don’t feel the Democratic Party stands for anything; they’re just against Trump. Yes, being against the party in power is a plus for the midterms, yet Republicans are nowhere near as exposed as Democrats were heading into their 2010 drumming. Moreover, Democrats will have to flip Trump voters in order to have a shot at retaking Congress. Salena Zito had more on this and the Blue Dog Democrats, who were responsible for expanding their party’s reach into rural America:
Rep. Kurt Schrader says he’s a member of an “endangered” species — the Blue Dogs.
[…]
Although it seems obvious that Democrats should move to the middle to win back Trump voters, Schrader knows he has his work cut out for him, beginning with his own party. Unsurprisingly, progressive activists — the loudest, most energized members of the Democrat party — don’t like the Blue Dogs.
[…]
In future elections, Schrader hopes voters will start picking representatives based on individual policies instead of their party’s platform. “I think what’ll happen is that voters, for the first time .?.?. are going to look at the people who are running for their particular seat and ask, ‘What is this person going to do for me? Is that person representative of my values?’ ” Schrader said.
[…]
If Democrats take back the House next year, it will likely be because of a Blue Dog comeback, but only if the progressive arm of the party gives them a shot in the primaries.
“This is on Democrats,” said Schrader. “It’s not so much that people made the wrong choice in Trump, but that we didn’t give them any other choice.”
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That might be the case, but there’s no way progressives, who see single-payer in their sights, are going to allow conservative-leaning Democrats to ruin their agenda. Still, the fact that Pelosi thinks that a 2018 midterm wave for the Democrats is “unimportant” is just funny. Maybe it’s also due to the fact that Pelosi is just toxic to her party. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) seemed confident that her party could pick up 25 seats in 2018. That’s because her party is doing well in right-leaning special election races, though Democrats keep losing. There’s no value to “it was close.” You’re still a loser. It’s a move to divert attention away from her, so as to now give the GOP a person to villanize for the 2018 midterms? That’s not going to work, folks. And if it’s not Pelosi, there’s a decent chance that Obama or Clinton will make their presence known next year campaigning for Democrats, who also animate the conservative base.
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