Seven years ago, I launched a campaign to thank Nancy Pelosi for her amazing work in shepherding the Affordable Care Act through the darkness and manage, against all odds, to get it signed into law by President Obama.
The campaign, which I dubbed “Roses not Rocks”, involved hundreds of dKos members coming together to buy and deliver over 2,600 long-stemmed red roses to then-Speaker Pelosi’s office at the Capitol on her 70th birthday.
As someone commented at the time:
Why does this make me so happy?
I've been working on political campaigns for decades, from the days when we would get together around kitchen tables for long evenings of stuffing envelops and licking stamps. This is the first time I've been able to make a gesture that's not utilitarian, that's just a pure expression of gratitude, pride, and solidarity. I know the roses were for our fearless leader, but sending them made me feel even more a part of a joint victory. It was a way to acknowledge my stake in the struggle and my part in the community of people that accomplished won it.
And now...here we are, 7 years later, fighting like hell to keep the ACA alive, also against all odds, with a racist, misogynistic xenophobic con artist moron in the White House and a completely rabid batch of sociopaths running both the House and the Senate...and some of y’all are calling for Nancy Pelosi’s head on a stick???
WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE??
When in God’s name did Nancy friggin’ Pelosi suddenly become unacceptable to progressives?
SanJoseLady actually saved me the trouble of writing most of this diary by writing a better one on the subject herself:
Somehow Pelosi’s values are out of step with America. But you know what? Those “values” are never discussed, just mentioned in a general sense. So what are Pelosi’s values? Fair wages for Americans, clean water/air, better education for all, fighting climate change, regulating banks, regulating polluting corporations, fighting for equality for ALL, ensuring people are able to vote, and the list goes on. These things are evil? These things are not what a majority of Americans want?
So, while she is imperfect (as am I), she has been a strong supporter of our Democratic values, of American values. When people attack her values, they are attacking our Democratic values, those within the party that want to see her gone are not progressive, and they could never have gotten Obamacare passed.
Does this mean Pelosi is the right person to lead the Democratic Party until the day she dies? Not necessarily. Perhaps it is time for her to pass the torch, etc etc...but if so, that has nothing to do with the bile and venom I see in diaries like these:
Remove or resign Nancy Pelosi, immediately.
...it is my belief that Nancy Pelosi — for the good of the party and indeed, the country — should step aside as minority leader, following last night’s and last November’s rather demoralizing electoral defeats. She appears, unfortunately, to have become an obstacle for Democrats trying to win in races where winning is a possibility.
In the 2016 Presidential election, the Republicans successfully drew on their decades of vilifying Hillary Clinton among other things and eeked out a win.
For the last 12 years, the Republicans have successfully tied every Democratic House candidate to Nancy Pelosi and held their majority .
Um, first of all, actually, the GOP haven’t “held their majority for the last 12 years”...there was actually a little break in that from 2007 — 2011 when the Democrats held the House. That’s kind of how they managed to pass the ACA in the first place.
Secondly...what the actual fuck?? Aside from the fact that Pelosi didn’t say or do anything to disrupt the GA-06 election other than exist, do you really think that her stepping down or resigning (RESIGNING??) is going to stop the sexist attacks on her? For Chrissakes, they’re still trying to use George Soros and Saul Alinsky as boogymen; you don’t think they’ll keep using Nancy Pelosi’s photo to scare Republicans for the next decade even if she stepped down tomorrow?
And even if they did, they’d just reset their sights on other outspoken female Democrats: Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris...it doesn’t really matter who it is.
Again, there are real discussions to be had about the future of the Democratic Party and who the right people are to lead it, but throwing Pelosi under the bus for the crime of actually being good at her job and getting on in years leaves a sour taste in my mouth.