This is good news indeed, as Nancy Pelosi has proven to be a miserable failure as a House Speaker. That was no surprise of course, but still.

Break on through to the other side for some of the article and further commentary:

The FISA "compromise" that the House voted on today was a disgrace.  We all know this.  The idea that Steny Hoyer and Nancy Pelosi put such a horrible bill in front of Congress shows just how bad our government is.  I want to show Pelosi just how upset I am.  I made the phone call but feel I need to do more.  I now have the answer.

It was one of those eye-rolling moments when I read in the SF Chronicle that Ms. Sheehan followed through with her threat to "challenge" Speaker Pelosi for the Democratic nomination. Apparently "Chicken John" Rinaldi declined to run for the seat, which cleared the way for Ms. Sheehan.
Here's the  story.
If you want to kindly ask her to reconsider her efforts (or offer your support and a $2,300 donation)please contact her here

Here's what I wrote to her...

For months now, I've been looking at the CA-08's Nancy Pelosi as having a free ride. She was totally unassailable in her sinecure as elected Rep. of the CA-08, and subsequently, Speaker of the House. Her seat is safer than safe, safer than money in the bank, especially these days. The odds of a progressive revolt in the House, deposing both Pelosi and Hoyer, are laughable to nil. The only progressive way to challenge Nancy-Dear was She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named-(here).

Then, within the last week or two, I had an Obi-Wan moment.

Yoda: Told you I did. Reckless is he. Now, matters are worse.
Obi-Wan: That boy is our last hope.
Yoda: No. There is another.

Pelosi needs NEEDS to have an opponent in the June primary.  I need YOU, DKOS CA-08 to help out, on the flop.

Nancy Pelosi, at this point in time will be re-elected in 2008 without significant opposition. She has no primary challenger, the Republican candidate in 2006 did not break 11%. She-who-must-not-be-named has name recognition (except here), but little else.

Let me say that I think Nancy Pelosi was a fine Representative for the district. I used to live there, and if I still lived there, I would vote for her again to represent the CA-08. However, as Speaker of the House, she has been a disappointment. That's my nice word, she's been an abject failure, a shanda, a betrayer of the Constitution to which she swore her oath.

There is an opening for someone to run for Representative to the US House in 2008, for the 8th congressional district of the State of California. The district covers most of the City and County of San Francisco, California.

Notice: This is a temporary position, expires on June 3, 2008, with an option to renew. Full requirements list here.  Successful candidate must have extensive fund raising skills, and be comfortable speaking in public. Candidate must speak English, with Italian, Spanish or Chinese a plus. (English requirement waived if your father is a former President and former head of the CIA.)

You must be familiar with, and willing to relocate to, the CA-08. Interested? Keep reading.

On Friday's front page, kos pointed out that

We don't have much power. In fact, we have very little.

As we've learned this year, Democrats in DC are more afraid of David Broder, Joe Klein, and Mr. 24%, than they are of their constituents. They are more concerned with Beltway opinion than they are with the national consensus. They are happier dealing with lobbyists than they are dealing with real people. They are more concerned with avoiding criticism than they are of delivering campaign promises.

(snip)  

And they know damn well we'd rather hold our nose and vote for them than risk an even viler Republican slip in their stead.

So what does that leave us? Well, we have one tool at our disposal, our only way to influence the behavior of our elected officials:

We can primary them

Good enough. But then there's Nancy Pelosi's district, the California 8th. So far, there is no Democratic primary challenger to Nancy. There are two Rs running, a potential Green (not Matt Gonzalez, thank G-d), and she-who-must-not-be-named-here, running as an Independent. All this comes together after the jump.  

This a reply to Hunter's very good, but stooping right at the edge of revelation/revolution essay yesterday, on what to do with democrats who won't lead.

I posted this same reply more or less [w/ lots more typos], but when I went to look for it under comments I could not find it. Don't know if it was purged lost or... but here is my reply to Hunter and by implication, Kos - and a mea culpa: in my first draft I accidentally left democrat party in - a real typo, I never refer to the party that way, and as mad as I get at them wont. So if that is why it was scrubbed [if it was - my fault] enough prologue...

You want to know what to do? (0 / 0)

It is bitter medicine Kos and co, but Cindy Sheehan has shown the way. You personally oppose the betrayers of Country [and far less importantly] Party.

The truth is, like it or not; Cindy Sheehan is the ONLY ONE with a plan for dealing with Pelosi!

more below the fold ::

ps - this is not a sheehan diary! It was just such an obvious example that to overlook it would have been stupid.

I've had it with Madame "Off the Table." For a while I thought I was a lone voice in the wilderness, but it turns out I am not alone.

By God, it's time to do something. Let's draft Debra Bowens to run against Ms. Nancy.

It's laughable that the Nation's Katha Pollitt wants to waste blog space whining about negative comments in response to her tirade against Cindy Sheehan for making the decision to launch a primary campaign against Nancy Pelosi for standing in the way of impeachment.  Laughable, because she is admonishing Sheehan for perceived whining in her letter to Nation editor Katrina Vanden Heuvel.

Cindy Sheehan announced her intention to run against Speaker Pelosi.  As an Independent.

I'm pissed.

Cindy Sheehan:

"The Democrats will not hold this administration accountable, so we have to hold the Democrats accountable," Sheehan said outside Conyers' office after the meeting. "And I for one am going to step up to the plate and run against Nancy Pelosi."

Profoundly bad idea. Here's why.

This is a premature, possibly morbid diary, but should we start thing about a future without Nancy Pelosi? Sooner or later, we Democrats will have a bad election. That is just a fact of American history. We also know that speakers who lose their gavels due to scandal or election losses do not last much longer in Congress, the risk of holding such a lofty post. When that day comes (hopefully no time soon), San Francisco will have a Congressional vacancy for the first time since 1987. The City's Central Democratic Committee has a very strong "wait your turn" attitude and the Burton Machine still lives, BUT no one is going to want to wait another 20+ for the seat to be open again, so the question is: Who will run when Madame Speaker retires? Here is my short list of possibilities.

I can't post here anymore because my potential run for Congress
is not on the Democratic ticket.

I have been deeply grateful for all of your support over the years.
Your love and kindness helped me through lots of sleepless nights
at Camp Casey '05.

If Speaker Pelosi does her constitutionally mandated duty and I don't run,
then I can come back and post.

I know a lot of you are hostile towards my candidacy. Please
understand that I am doing it for your children and grandchildren
(and my surviving ones.)

Love always,
Cindy

For those of you who might dismiss the news that Cindy Sheehan may run against Nancy Pelosi in CA-08 as pipe-dreaming or whatever, please allow me to persuade you to change your mind about that.

Sheehan would be a formidable threat to Madam Speaker in this District.

Make the leap (cognitively as well as with your mouse) to consider the evidence.

The other day, my mother called me, quite excited, to tell me that she had gotten an invitation in the mail to attend a meeting about the new Medicare bill with our representative, Debbie Wasserman-Schultzand Nancy Pelosi. Well, you know how it is--you can't say no to your mom! Truth be told, I love seeing politicians in person, so I agreed to go.
I will take you to today's meeting, but first, meet my mom. Tell you what--you can call her what my son calls her. dKos community, let me introduce you to Fast Helen. Fast Helen turned 82 last month, but if you ask her age, she will tell you that she will be 83 next August. She still drives (horribly, but she drove horribly when she was 50 too), lives independently, and is the first one in the supermarket every morning. Fast Helen was a lifelong Republican (though she often voted for non-Rethugs) until the whole Clinton impeachment thing totally pissed her off, and she switched and became Fast Helen (D-FL).

Here we are at Labor Day weekend. Two months to go before Election Day and we just MIGHT be poised to take the U.S. House of Representatives. So, at this point in the election cycle, I would like to ponder this question:

What would it mean for San Francisco, and the people of the Eight Congressional District if Nancy Pelosi becomes Speaker?

Other than the symbolic prestige, would it mean more money to upgrades the streets? Perhaps the city can upgrade and improve our transit system? Could BART get enough funding to expand further into the South Bay and consider providing service to the North Bay?

Who would benefit the most politically? Gavin Newson? Fiona Ma? Mark Leno? The local unions?

When I lived in Michigan, John Dingell was my Congressman, and Christmas came year-round while he was Oversight Chairman. Hopefully now, California, especially the Bay Area, can get its fair share.