At least, that’s what the Big Tent Democrat is arguing at Talk Left.
In the first 100 Days of the Democrat-led Congress, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Tom Lantos set out for Syria on a “bold end run around President Bush,” with Lantos declaring that the Democrats have have “an alternative Democratic foreign policy.” Pelosi said in a televised news conference from the Syrian capital that she was “determined that the road to Damascus would be the path to peace.” Upon their return, Pelosi and Lantos announced their inclination to go visit the Mullocracy in Iran.
Coincidentally, Pelosi’s net approval rating has dropped 14 points since her inauguration; she is now as polarizing a figure as Newt Gingrich was in his time. In the most recent Gallup poll, the Congressional approval rating was 33% and the disapproval rating was 60%, slightly lower than President Bush’s rating of 38% positive, 58% negative. Support for Congress is lower among self-described political independents; only 32% approval of the job Congress is doing, and only 36% favor the way Democrats are handling Iraq. And those numbers for President Bush, while low, are his strongest standing this year.
So the “politics of contrast” does seem to be working; it just doesn’t seem to be working for Democrats.
Just wait until the veto comes forth on the “timeline” on Iraq. Oooer.
It took years of demonization by the MSM to make Newt’s unpopular. Otherwise most people wouldn’t even recognize his name much less think ill of him. Let Pelosi be Pelosi. There are no adults left in the Democratic Party who can rein her in.
Not. Your. Fucking. Job.
And they’ve gotten exactly what passed in their first 100 days?
Your Democratic controlled Congress: shirking the work they’re supposed to be doing for pretending they’re the President.
tw: fiscal54
Even the bot gets it.
Karl
SanFranNan’s points may be dropping, but not if the LATimes has anything to say about it (Patterico takes the front page puffpiece on Nan as a wonderful “Centrist”, puts it in the blender and turns the dial to 11)
Dude, they won an election! That means it’s their turn to be president!
I think the Dems have an exciting new strategy – behave so mind-bogglingly stupidly that the opposition is left speechless!
Could be a constitutional crisis in the works if the meddling in foreign policy continues. They could already be one if the White House so chose – the grist for the mill is there.
It’s brinksmanship politics in action domestically, and if Pelosi miscalculates – goes to Iran – every Dem running for the White House in 2008 is going to have to publicly come down on once side or the other of a separation of powers issue – a no win situation for the Dem presidential wannabees.
Could be an interesting few weeks ahead of us.
Certainly, I thought that Pelosi’s complete gaffe of her comment on her “message” from Israel to Syria demonstrated that it is not in fact the Bush administration that is incompetent at diplomacy.
Poking about the comments on a few blogs, I find a lot of bozos reacting to any mention of the legality much less the propriety of Pelosi setting up shadow foreign policy with the tired old crap about Bush being stupid etc, so why shouldn’t Pelosi, the adult etc, take charge etc etc.
No one on that side seems to either understand and/or least face up to the damage she’s doing and it’s effects down the road.
here’s my favorite bit:
and Robin, it seems she can’t keep her own message straight. They have an alternative that’s just like the President’s current policy.
I’m pretty certain that half the country has gone stark raving mad.
If the constitution and democracy are out, fascism assassination are in, right?
I heard some political wog on the TV this morning bringing up the old “average Americans aren’t sacrificing enough for this war” shtick.
Obviously, everything must be changed…
First paragraph of the SFGate link:
These are the people worried about Bush trampling the Constitution? These are the people who get pissy about questioning their patriotism? I don’t know if it is as much as half, lee, but a large portion are indeed stark raving mad.
Stark raving mad, and apparently alphie-level stupid:
Aw c’mon B Moe, actually read something that is relevant to a DoW (in all but name)? Ha! I bet you actually read warnings on dangerous chemicals, or listen to safety briefings when using high powered, dangerous machinery too.
Remember, it is Darth Chimpy who is dumb, uninformed and unknowing…
Certainly its obvious that the ol’ Clinton fondness for lying through one’s teeth and daring to be called upon it isn’t gone.
Well I don’t much care for polls of any kind, particularly public approval polls, but I do know that congress polls consistently lower than the president in almost all situations. Basically everyone identifies with the President but only their congressmen, so the rest of them are bozos and corrupt politicians. That’s 98 out of 100 bozos in the senate and over 400 bozos in the house. Not exactly fodder for high polling.
However, I think that this effect definitely is not going to help the Democrats. Think of it this way: if most people dislike other peoples’ congressmen, and most people think San Francisco is extreme and wierd… how will most people respond to the San Francisco congressperthing running about the country and insulting the president?
Not well, I expect. And the truth is I doubt Speaker Pelosi knows or cares what the bulk of the country thinks about her antics. She’s the “can’t help herself” kind of politician.
It’s true that Congress generally does not poll well, but the comparison numbers with the 1995 GOP Congress were not good even before Nancy & Tom’s Not-so-excellent Adventure.
Christopher Taylor—Nancy’s a ‘don’t give a damn’ kind of politician. As long as she can bring in the gay vote in her district, she will never be voted out of office. Short of prosecution, she is safe of any kind of accountability.
It seems Nancy is feeling very confident these days.
Great Mencken’s Ghost!,
California’s Democratic legislature has so gerrymandered our congressional districts that NO Democrat officeholder in this state has any worries about “accountability”.
In all fairness, this doesn’t apply only to the Dems. My Congressguy (who has an R next to his nameâ€â€I live near Orange County, in the sane part of the stateâ€â€and does a decent job in DC) ran unopposed last November. The Dems didn’t bother to run anybody against him. I don’t remember if there were even any Greens or Libertarians who ran against him, either.
I’m also pretty sure that no statewide incumbents lost their seats in the 2004 election.
The ones that worry most about Pelosiantics are the Blue Dogs. They are NOT in safe seats, and contrary that what the clowns on the Left say, these guys and gals live and breathe on meeting in the middle. That’s their only chance for survival and they know it.
A recent anecdote: I sent my local Congressman (A NC Blue Dog), a recent nastygram after he voted FOR the Iraq Funding Bill. A few days later, around 1030 at night, I get a phone call. It’s him calling from his car driving back from DC. He spent about an hour (Finally, I told him I had to go, it was past my bedtime!), explaining how he and his fellow Bluedogs were unhappy with the leadership and were trying to do a balancing act of not pissing off their constituents, while at the same time not pissing off Madame Diplomat and her henchmen so that his district didn’t get screwed through sheer vindictiveness. I don’t envy these guys, but they are the ones that those of us that are moderates or on the Right need to be pressuring. They need to see it in their best political interest not to side of the Lunatics on the Left.
Slightly along topica:
Did anyone else hear Bill Kristol say that it is in print somewhere (buried) that Harry Reid felt the war was going to be a great aid in the Dems picking up Senate seats? This was supposedly part of his reply to the McCain scorching. I can’t find it anywhere. Reid mentioned that Schumer had shown him some very positive numbers.
Nancy Pelosi strikes me as the kind of person who ought never, ever be given any sort of power. The kind of person who just reeks of irresponsibility and self-importance, like Cartman from South Park. Congress is bad enough, but Speaker has turned her from crank to genuine looney.
She seems to be the kind – along with Howard Dean – that will drag the party down screaming and kicking into the meat grinder with a fixed grin and a confidence of absolute righteousness.
I think I found part of it alp. here
via Mudville Gazette
Thanks Maggie,
Blatant and disgusting.
[…] Pelosi was staking out “an alternative Democratic foreign policy†with respect to Syria and Iran was already known. These continuing revelations about the […]