Nancy Pelosi on the GOP: "They Had to Put a Stop to Me"

A few hours before announcing her plan to run for House Minority Leader, Speaker Nancy Pelosi had a chat with Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. Her take on the Republicans’ relentless attacks against her? “Because I’m effective.”

In addition to pointing out her hardcore fund-raising skillz, Pelosi reminds people (via Dionne) of all the shit that’s gotten done under her leadership:

“[W]e were effective in passing health-care reform, which the health insurance industry wanted to stop; Wall Street reform, which Wall Street wanted to stop; [reforms of] students loans for taking the money out of the banks and giving it back to the taxpayer and to families.”

The GOP didn’t appreciate all the productivity, and campaigned to “fire Pelosi.” Because when somebody’s really good at their job, that’s what you do: you fire them. It makes sense to us! Um.

Now that Pelosi’s been unseated from her majority leader position, the Republican National Committee is all, “hire Pelosi.” They like her, they really like her! Oh, OK, not really: they actually hope to turn her into a symbol of bipartisan rancor and gridlock and failure. RNC Chair Michael Steele—who organized a “Fire Pelosi” bus tour, because buses mean business—is so excited about Pelosi’s announcement that he’s breathless. (Wonder how being out of breath affects his mooing.)

As for Dionne, he thinks Pelosi should be able to keep her spot as the top Dem in the House—not so she can become a symbol of something, but because she’s responsible for getting the Dems as far as they’ve gotten success-wise over these past four years. “There’s an argument rooted in justice that the person who built their majority should have a shot at winning it back,” he writes. “And aren’t Democrats tired of reflexively capitulating to the other side’s narrative? That is what Pelosi is counting on.”

Agreeing with Dionne are Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chairs Rep. Raul Grijalva and Rep. Lynn Woolsey, who totally back Pelosi’s bid for the Minority Leader spot. But others reps—including Blue Dog Democrat Jim Matheson of Utah—say they wants someone else. Matheson doesn’t know who he’d rather see lead the party yet—he just doesn’t want it to be Pelosi. Or him! Hooray for solutions.

Why Pelosi is running for House minority leader [Washington Post]
Grijalva ‘wholeheartedly’ backing Pelosi for Dem leadership spot [Tucson Sentinel]