Nancy Pelosi: A State of the Union Democrat and the Case for the Republican House Speaker Mike McCarthy’s 2016 Congressional Leadership Elections

Pelosi was asked by CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” whether she would make a decision on running for leadership before the party’s leadership elections at the end of the month.

“Of course. Well, you know I don’t ask anybody, people are campaigning, that’s a beautiful thing,” California Democrat told Bash. I am not asking anyone for anything. My members are asking if I should do that. Let’s just get through the election.

A lot is at stake because of the presidential election. So my decision will again be rooted in the wishes of my family and the wishes of my caucus. Nothing of it will be considered until we know what the outcome is. And there are all kinds of ways to exert influence.”

When asked if she believes House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy has what it takes to be House speaker if Republicans win the chamber, Pelosi said she wants to see the results of the election first.

We can just get through the election. They haven’t even been able to win yet. They have been measuring the drapes and putting together an agenda. They haven’t won it yet. It is up to the individual party of the person who won the election to decide how we go forward, according to Pelosi.

“Why would I make a judgment about something that may or may not ever happen? No, I don’t think he has it,” she said. That is up to his people, to decide how they want to be led.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/13/politics/nancy-pelosi-speaker-mccarthy-election-cnntv/index.html

The Victim of Paul Pelosi’s Brain Fracture: What Have We Learned in the Last Congressional Midterm Elections?

The battle for control of the House is now the biggest unanswered question of this year’s midterm elections after Democrats kept their narrow Senate majority. According to projections from CNN, the Republicans have won more seats than the Democrats and they will need a majority to push through their agenda.

Pelosi said that she was proud of both the incumbents seeking reelection and the challengers, who were red-to-blue, and that she hadn’t thought that the red wave would turn into a tiny trickle.

The speaker was asked if the politically motivated attack on her husband had an impact on the election. Paul Pelosi had to have his skull fractured in a late last month attack at the couple’s home in San Francisco.

It wasn’t just the attack. Nancy Pelosi said that the Republican reaction to it was “disgraceful”. I mean, imagine what I feel as the one who was the target and my husband paying the price and the traumatic effect on our family.”

The Republicans have a ridiculous disrespectful attitude and nobody is trying to disassociate themselves from the horrible response that they gave to it.

Day by day, we are closer to recovery. She said that he was doing well, and that they were comforted by the good wishes and the prayers of many people. We thank them all for that. And again, so many who said, ‘I’m going to be sure to vote because this has gone too far.’”

The story of Nancy Pelosi in the House: The horror behind-the-scenes of a Capitol rioter’s attack

Pelosi in the House is a documentary film about Pelosi’s mother and it will be broadcasted on Tuesday. Nancy Pelosi announced last month that she would step down from her leadership post after leading House Democrats for two decades. The decision came just weeks after the man attacked the husband with a hammer in their San Francisco home.

She said that her father came out of all the trouble and told her not to say that. If you came to me in this toxic environment, you wouldn’t give me permission. But you can’t say the last 35 years of your life, I’m going to erase that because of this one incident.’ So that’s what we’re wrestling with.”

The documentary shows how Nancy Pelosi secured her own votes to become the speaker of the House twice while she was leader of the Democratic caucus. It focuses in part on the horror behind-the-scenes as Nancy Pelosi and her staff hid on January 6, 2021, from the US Capitol rioters, many of whom broke into the California Democrat’s office searching for her and trashed it.

The toxic rhetoric from the GOP contributed to the attack on Nancy Pelosi, and ultimately her mother not seeking a leadership post in the next Congress, according to her daughter.

“What I do know is that how the Republicans responded to this attack was so unforgivable. The jokes. You saw the jokes. The governor of Virginia and congressmen were making light of the situation in which an old man is being attacked in his home. I don’t understand how that’s forgivable,” she said, referencing remarks made by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.

“If I watched Fox News, I would hate Nancy Pelosi too, I get it,” Alexandra Pelosi said. “You don’t have to support her politics. She has been doing this for 35 years. Her husband, it looks like a monster over here. She is done. She has finished.

Alexandra Pelosi said that 35 years ago, her mother asked her if she could run for office and that she gave her blessing. She looks at it differently after the attack on her father.

She said she wouldn’t run for Congress unless she had her mother’s permission. And I said, ‘Mother get a life.’ All right? The teenage girl doesn’t want their mom in the house. Go, right? So, there we are on the ICU I would never have given you my permission to run in the first place if I had known what would happen 35 years later.

“Was this all worth it? For my family? What did we go through? Is it worth it? she told Lemon. My father would say yes, he has been through a lot, my parents would say yes. And my mother, of course, she would say, ‘I’m proud of my wounds.’ Because she’s proud of the life that she’s lived. But for the family, the families are the ones that pay the highest price for this kind of life.”

The Timing of House Democratic Leaders: Steny Hoyer, John Lewis and Nancy Pelosi, and a Conversation with Jeffries

The top three House Democrats who are stepping back from their leadership spots did not coordinate on their decisions to do so, outgoing Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Sunday, adding that “the timing was right.”

Hoyer’s departure from his leadership post, as well as the decisions by Nancy Pelosi and Jim Clyburn, both 82, to step down as House speaker and majority whip, respectively, represent a generational change for the Democratic Party in the chamber.

We all have been around for a long time, and we have a feel for the timing of decisions. According to Bash, all three of them felt this was the right time.

I have spoken to Mr. Jeffries. The Maryland democrat told Bash that he wants him to keep giving advice, but not as majority leader.

Reflecting on his career in leadership, Hoyer praised two people who he said will be remembered by history as giants: the late civil rights icon and longtime congressman John Lewis and Pelosi.

“I think we have a very respectful relationship,” Hoyer said of Pelosi, with whom he has worked for years. “I think we have a business-like relationship I like Nancy. I admire Nancy very much. She is an extraordinary human being. She is indefatigable. She has extraordinary energy.”

Reminiscing on interning with the Baltimore-born Pelosi in the office of Maryland Rep. Daniel Brewster in the 1960s, Hoyer told Bash: “I think that story doesn’t get enough play.”

We were both working in the same building, Nancy in the front office and I in the back as receptionist, doing things that interns or part-time employees do. He said that they became the majority leader some 40 years later.

Hoyer remarked that he was “obviously disappointed” when Pelosi endorsed Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha over him to become majority whip in 2006, though Hoyer won that race “pretty handily,” he recalled.

“But very frankly, as I remarked to one reporter, I said I’m not sure I could have done a better job than Nancy and maybe not as good a job as Nancy,” he told Bash.