You're referring to post-2015 Rubin. Prior to 2015, when the orange ogre came on the scene, Rubin was pretty right wing, although by today's standards she was an extremely reasonable conservative. I couldn't stand Rubin back in the day but she has been one of my favorite opinion writers over the past decade.
Here's some of Jen's pre-2015 views on Nancy Pelosi:
"Well, unfortunately for them, Pelosi didn’t take seriously her promises on transparency or corruption. Instead, we’ve seen broken promises in regard to posting key bills ahead of the votes, the perpetuation of earmarks, the refusal until the health-care summit to let the cameras into health-care deliberations, and of course the refusal to dump ethically impaired members. It’s a pattern of hubris and indifference that contributed to Republican losses in 2006. Cantor and his troops hope the same is true in 2010."
"Pelosi may have peaked on the day she assumed office, as an identity-politics champion. In four years she’s helped drive her party into the ground and our country deeper and deeper into debt. Rather than draining the swamp, she’s coddled corrupt pols."
Yep, I remember. Benghazi! But she knows now that there are far worse things than failing to post key bills ahead of the voting and she can only dream about how minor our country's debt load then was compared to what it has become under Trump. She was able to face reality and do the right thing -- which is more than we can say for the Republicans now in Congress.
Nona, the "right thing" for Nancy would have been to confront Biden's family and aides early on when it was clear Biden's cognitive health was declining. I'll admit to not being the sharpest knife in the drawer, but even I saw that Biden was struggling in the 2020 campaign. As his term went on, it became more apparent. So how is it that such a "savvy" politician as Pelosi didn't notice until 2024? Or, for that matter, the entire Democratic Party and most of the media (including Jen Rubin)? Jen can try to gloss over this all she wants, but as my high school chemistry teacher once opined, "No matter how you paint it, an outhouse is still an outhouse."
Are you going to relitigate the past five or six years for the rest of your life, or -- maybe a better path -- recognize that people can get it wrong, their views can change, they make mistakes, and we don't have to rehash the crap for the rest of our lives. How about you focus on November 2026 and beyond instead of 2020? For gawd's sake.
Hal, I was talking about *Jen Rubin* doing the right thing -- which is why she left WaPo and cofounded The Contrarian. But as to your unrelated subject, well, I could give you my opinion of what happened with Joe Biden, but it's water under the bridge. If you go around looking for people to blame, you waste energy better trained on defeating the real enemy of this country, which is Donald Trump. Without him, none of the rest would have mattered.
Tim, I understand how Jen would want to distance herself from Trump and those Republicans who have aligned with him on certain issues and decisions. It does not necessarily follow that she would altogether abandon her previous center-right positions and go "all in" for the Democrats' worldview.
"Those who love American ideals as much as Speaker Emerita Pelosi and continue to harbor faith in the ability of government to improve ordinary people’s lives can draw inspiration from her lifelong example of undaunted, undimmed, unafraid, and uncompromising patriotism. America is indebted to her for her decades of service." If Jenn puts this much trust in Speaker Pelosi, can she move one step further to recommend Pelosi as DEM's midterm advisor? Under her leadership, DEMs may come together, bringing in primary losers with winners.
Little Mikie "Bible Thumper" Johnson is a spineless, sycophant who has no idea what he is doing as Speaker. All he would have to do if his head wasn't up the ass of the sociopathic, grifting, lying lunatic who got him appointed is to do what came naturally to the brilliant Nancy Pelosi: count the votes. Since he obviously cannot do the math in his head, maybe he should invest in a calculator.
The reason that MAGAts loathed and despised her when she was Speaker is that she helped facilitate Biden's numerous legislative accomplishments during the first 2 years of his term in spite of insurmountable odds.
Before that during T1.0, it was clear that she was always the smartest person in the room. She had no problem pointing her finger in the face of the balding, demented orange menace and calling him out like a stern school teacher lecturing a recalcitrant, clueless student.
Thank you, Nancy Pelosi for being there when our nation needed you most.
Steve, let's just hope that if/when the Dems win the House, the new Speaker will be half as smart as Nancy. Although I personally like Hakeem, I have my doubts that he has the fire in the belly we need right now to address the unending list of atrocities committed by the current lunatics running the insane asylum in DC. I hope I'm wrong.
Jeffries may just be "feathering his prop" so to speak for the time being. I, like you, hope that this is the case. Can you think of any other Democratic representative that might be a better fit for speaker?
Unfortunately not. That might be my problem for now knowing more of them better, but Jeffries was picked by Pelosi, trained by Pelosi and still seems to have her blessing right now.
Hopefully we will see the Dems voting for Speaker in January, and when we do, let's see if we get a firebrand to step up and show some leadership instead.
I am a huge fan of Maryland's Jamie Raskin but I think we would be better served if he would be named head of the Judiciary Committee. His incredible knowledge of constitutional law will come in handy when the MAGAt troublemakers start their shit.
For Dem Speaker, that's a tough one. Obviously, it will have to be someone who has better math skills than Little Mikie in terms of counting votes. Hakeem knows the machinations of the House and that may be advantageous.
Speaker isn't a job for a "firebrand." The speaker's job is to coerce, cajole and convince the ENTIRE caucus to come together — from Summer Lee and Becca Balint all the way down the Henry Cueller.
I think a lot of people are going to be stunned by Hakeem Jeffries whom Pelosi trained for the job. I get that we want tables overturned and Trump's head on a platter, but Pelosi knew that's not how you make real progress.
Speaking of our current House Speaker— and I use the term loosely— let’s remember how long it took for him to get elected during that shitshow. The Republicans were really scraping the bottom of the barrel— which is saying a lot — when they finally landed on his sorry carcass— someone who Trumpty Dumpty would sign off on.
Yes, scraping the bottom of the barrel, indeed. The main reason the current unqualified sap was given the job is because he promised to obey each and every order decreed by the sociopathic malignant narcissist": "Yes, sir, may I please be humiliated again?"
Agreed! Little Mikey is certainly one of the worst Speakers of all time. He may have the "title" but he just looks to me as simply another wasted seat from Alabama.
Just recently he said, in effect, "I want us to nibble around the edges of our failing healthcare system, and I'll be satisfied with a few tweaks to ICE." A national health care system, which will deliver better care for less cost, is rapidly becoming mainstream. Just like opposition to AI and data centers. The majority of Americans are way ahead of Jeffries on ICE, as well. He wants to resurrect the status quo, which the great majority if Americans say wasn't working for them.
As to the Speakers job, it is to run "floor debates, pick which bills get voted on, choose members for important committees, and act as the top voice for the majority political party."
In other words, a man who wants to turn back the clock 10 years does not understand the assignment.
“…hope that, roused to the Trump menace, the public will usher in an arduous but political about-face and dramatic march to recapture our democracy in November.”
Please! I hope, I hope, I hope……and pray!!! 🤞🤞🤞🙏🙏🙏!!!
It’s the ONLY way out of the ever-deepening mess this utter fool has gotten us into! Vote Blue, no matter what else you do!
Simply the best political commentator we have. Democrats need to listen to her, stop their stupid internecine warfare and coalesce to stop trump and MAGA. They must take the House (and maybe even the Senate!). We must end this madness...
Yes, and I would add that blowhard bloviating arrogant social media (the scourge of our time) know-it-alls like Hasan Piker must shut the hell up and get on board or get a real job.
I will add that all the Third Way types, the James Carville and Jaime Harrison has-beens should also shut the hell up. Add in the Haley Stevens going in NewsNation to bleat about Piker-- which will only increase his audience. They don't know how to elect Democrats. They fught harder against Democrats who don't agree totally with them much harder than they have fought against the MAGA crime gang.
There are no Democratic "third way" types — the Third Way has no support in either party anymore, and it seems to be beating the media bushes for attention and relevance, which it doesn't have.
But it is soliciting $15 Million which it will dedicate to attacking "progressives." Reported in the NYT. Now, it may be that they just saw a golden opportunity to fleece some donors. We will see.
I put the Center for American Progress in the "Third Way" type--which is just shorthand for the highly influential "centrist" Dems. Who are farther to the right than Eisenhower.
Women--smart, caring and courageous--have always been an undervalued, unappreciated resource this country has squandered since, well, this nation's founding.
Wake up men (yeah, doncha know where problem has always been)!
I vehemently disagree that those who refused to kick Biden out of the race shoulder blame for where we are now. The blame rests squarely with the voters who chose Trump because they hate women and minorities and especially the 86 plus million registered voters who didn't bother to vote in 2024. I maintain and always will that Biden would have beaten Trump because he was white and male. He could have stepped down in 2025 for health reasons but he should have remained the candidate. if there is any other blame to go around, I place it with Pelosi and all who publicly shamed Biden to drop out.
The people who are responsible for Trump being in the White House (what's left of it) are the people who voted for him in 2024. Full stop. The person responsible for the current Supreme Court is Mitch McConnell.
Totally agree with you regarding McConnell as he is/was a blatant liar. He refused to allow consideration of President Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland in March of 2016 because he stated that a president should not be allowed to nominate anyone for SCOTUS in the year a president's term ended (10 months before the end of his term). However when Justice Ginsburg died in September, 2020 (3 months before the end of trump's term) he push through the nomination of Barrett.
Those who blame Biden's advisors should consider this. Biden, without a brain, would have been a better president than Trump. He would have won and Kamala would have become president when Biden stepped down for health reasons!
Why didn't anyone think of that? Step down for health reasons? Oh, if only, if only. We wouldn't have had this nightmare. Full term of that wonderful team, and the chance to test Kamala's mettle.
The pain of that "manufactured" loss (and we know it was manufactured) is still worse than a dull ache.
Wouldn't it have been grand if he'd given her a full year to be president before she had to run for re-election? We would have had our first female president, something I never thought I would NOT see in my lifetime (as now seems likely) when I first voted as an 18-year-old. I wanted to vote for Shirley Chisholm back then, on principle and because she was fantastic, but then she wasn't actually on the ballot. Instead, I had the sickening experience of watching this country re-elect Richard Nixon in a still-historic landslide.
I lost a lot of faith in the electorate then, but never could have anticipated the horror that gave us Trump's election - twice.
He shouldn't have run for re-election. He’s a great man. Taught us how to be a good person. How to treat others. Did some great things for this country. He survived much personal suffering but he should not have run for a second term.
With you totally, up to blaming Nancy. A woman of honor and intelligence, who never steps beyond her conscience. The blame for tRump belongs squarely on the shoulders of the sexist, threatened young male voters who couldn’t handle a female president, especially a mixed-race woman.
could he have won though ? what would his campaign have looked like ? would he present as he did at the debate ? George Clooney said that Biden did not recognize him...
I also think that Harris ran a bad campaign. She wanted voters to reject Donald Trump instead of accepting her. That works in California but not in a national election. In addition, she had a ton of money and managed it badly.
This is absolutely false, and is an impression manufactured by the media which demanded t hat she only talk about Trump no matter what SHE wanted to talk about. It's bullshit. One media outlet interviewing her demanded to know what she thought about something Trump said and when she said she would rather talk about her ideas and plans, they accused her of being "evasive." Every day she was putting out great messages about what she wanted to do and they were falling into a black hole. I was on both her media and campaign email lists and I saved them all if anyone wants proof of how false this is.
Right as usual. Biden's accomplishments in his first two years, when he (barely) had both houses of Congress behind him, were considerable. But I wish he had made good on his promise to be a bridge president and said that after his term, he would step aside (maybe his decision could have been announced after the predicted Red Wave in the midterms didn't happen). He could have said, we've done good work, and now it's time to hand the reins to a younger candidate in time to conduct a proper campaign for 2024. His friends, his family, and his advisors set the wheels in motion for the mess we're in now. But Biden was a good, decent, and capable public servant who shouldn't shoulder an inordinate share of the blame. There's plenty to go around—I'm looking at you, Mitch McConnell—from foreign bad actors who interfered with the election, to social media companies, to James Comey, even RBG, who could have stepped down after her cancer diagnosis. At worst, the court would be 5-4 conservative now. But Mitch stole two seats. It should be 5-4 liberal. Then, of course, Trump would be in jail.
Don't forget that worthless spineless Merrick Garland. One of our worst AGs. His inaction kept Trump from being served the justice he deserved. I blame him for so much.
Regaining the majority in both chambers of Congress is Job 1! Voters need to come out in epic numbers as a national referendum against the tRump Regime.
"Any factional fights, recriminations about primaries, and social media sniping among the pro-democracy forces are gifts to the MAGA totalitarian regime, adding to the risk that the assaults on the rule of law, simple decency, democratic pluralism, and truth will persist. Those who proceed in that vein are enabling Trump. Period.'
Respectfully, I must disagree. Any review of Pelosi that does not mention her complete embrace of insider trading (although completely legal) ignores the damage she did in fostering cynicism toward Congress. Yes, the trades she made pale in comparison to anything Trump is doing with his direct cash-for-pardons and crypto-bribery, but does not excuse her conduct. The mistrust she fostered toward leaders is part of the corrosive atmosphere that made a desperate-for-change electorate primed to be taken in by grifters like Trump. I'm not a Democratic Socialist, but AOC's refusal to accept this practice is the stance all Congressional Democrats must adopt.
You are incorrect about Pelosi's views. She promoted the STOCK act of 2012 that was aimed at stopping insider trading in Congress. She even criticized the bill as watered down.
She is quoted as saying this of the bill:
Members of Congress “must play by the same rules as everyone else” and that it “would be a betrayal of the public trust to personally profit from privileged information.”
The fact that she trades individual stocks at all, and refuses to support legislation banning it, speaks for itself.
"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi scoffed Wednesday at the idea of banning congressional lawmakers and their spouses from owning shares of individual companies, despite the possibilities for conflicts of interest between their legislative duties and personal finances.
“No,” Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters at a news conference where she was asked whether she would support such a prohibition. “We’re a free market economy,” she said. “They should be able to participate in that.”
She eventually was brow-beaten into reversing that position on individual stocks. Conveniently, it occurred only on her way out the door. Her family's investments were astronomically out pacing of the market. ($30 million turned into $278 million. Draw your own conclusions.
"In theory, the STOCK Act made congressional insider trading illegal. In practice, lawmakers (and their spouses) could still trade stocks as long as they
Disclose their stock trades within 45 days
Report transactions exceeding $1,000
Refrain from trading on non-public information
The penalty for violating these rules is just a $200 fine. That’s pocket change for lawmakers with multi-million dollar portfolios."
So if I were playing the stock market - which I don't - and Trump was about to come into office...knowing that he hates wind farms and wind power, if I had investments in those areas, I would sell those stocks. I might move that money into oil. That's how the stock market works. I know a couple of people who have made fortunes on the stock market by paying attention to what's going on in politics.
And you might want to look up the number of people who have multi million dollar stock portfolios. A million dollars is the new chump change.
"Her political acumen, as well as her razor-sharp recall and keen electoral judgement...."
And Nancy Pelosi is 86; Just a reminder that it isn't really age that's the problem with Trump's so-called leadership: It's depravity, selfishness, corruption, dementia, and stupidity.
I continue to be amazed at Jen Rubin's adept analyses! I am always excited when I see a new one to read!
I never missed her articles in my WaPo days.
Same here. When she left WaPo, so did I.
You're referring to post-2015 Rubin. Prior to 2015, when the orange ogre came on the scene, Rubin was pretty right wing, although by today's standards she was an extremely reasonable conservative. I couldn't stand Rubin back in the day but she has been one of my favorite opinion writers over the past decade.
Those who learn from adversity provide the best examples.
"You're referring to post-2015 Rubin."
Here's some of Jen's pre-2015 views on Nancy Pelosi:
"Well, unfortunately for them, Pelosi didn’t take seriously her promises on transparency or corruption. Instead, we’ve seen broken promises in regard to posting key bills ahead of the votes, the perpetuation of earmarks, the refusal until the health-care summit to let the cameras into health-care deliberations, and of course the refusal to dump ethically impaired members. It’s a pattern of hubris and indifference that contributed to Republican losses in 2006. Cantor and his troops hope the same is true in 2010."
https://www.commentary.org/jennifer-rubin/pelosis-other-problem/
"Pelosi may have peaked on the day she assumed office, as an identity-politics champion. In four years she’s helped drive her party into the ground and our country deeper and deeper into debt. Rather than draining the swamp, she’s coddled corrupt pols."
https://www.commentary.org/jennifer-rubin/planning-nancys-retirement/
Now, Jen's falling all over herself to lavish praise on the same person...
Yep, I remember. Benghazi! But she knows now that there are far worse things than failing to post key bills ahead of the voting and she can only dream about how minor our country's debt load then was compared to what it has become under Trump. She was able to face reality and do the right thing -- which is more than we can say for the Republicans now in Congress.
Nona, the "right thing" for Nancy would have been to confront Biden's family and aides early on when it was clear Biden's cognitive health was declining. I'll admit to not being the sharpest knife in the drawer, but even I saw that Biden was struggling in the 2020 campaign. As his term went on, it became more apparent. So how is it that such a "savvy" politician as Pelosi didn't notice until 2024? Or, for that matter, the entire Democratic Party and most of the media (including Jen Rubin)? Jen can try to gloss over this all she wants, but as my high school chemistry teacher once opined, "No matter how you paint it, an outhouse is still an outhouse."
Are you going to relitigate the past five or six years for the rest of your life, or -- maybe a better path -- recognize that people can get it wrong, their views can change, they make mistakes, and we don't have to rehash the crap for the rest of our lives. How about you focus on November 2026 and beyond instead of 2020? For gawd's sake.
Hal, I was talking about *Jen Rubin* doing the right thing -- which is why she left WaPo and cofounded The Contrarian. But as to your unrelated subject, well, I could give you my opinion of what happened with Joe Biden, but it's water under the bridge. If you go around looking for people to blame, you waste energy better trained on defeating the real enemy of this country, which is Donald Trump. Without him, none of the rest would have mattered.
People change their minds due to circumstances that demand that change.
Tim, I understand how Jen would want to distance herself from Trump and those Republicans who have aligned with him on certain issues and decisions. It does not necessarily follow that she would altogether abandon her previous center-right positions and go "all in" for the Democrats' worldview.
Same here.
"Those who love American ideals as much as Speaker Emerita Pelosi and continue to harbor faith in the ability of government to improve ordinary people’s lives can draw inspiration from her lifelong example of undaunted, undimmed, unafraid, and uncompromising patriotism. America is indebted to her for her decades of service." If Jenn puts this much trust in Speaker Pelosi, can she move one step further to recommend Pelosi as DEM's midterm advisor? Under her leadership, DEMs may come together, bringing in primary losers with winners.
💯
Me too; but I was shocked by this basic English error today:
"...raison d’etre for she and her colleagues." She meant to say, "for her and her colleagues."
Me, too, Kathi. They are wonderful!
The contrast between this amazing woman and today's Speaker of the House couldn't be more profound. A tiger vs a lap weasel.
Little Mikie "Bible Thumper" Johnson is a spineless, sycophant who has no idea what he is doing as Speaker. All he would have to do if his head wasn't up the ass of the sociopathic, grifting, lying lunatic who got him appointed is to do what came naturally to the brilliant Nancy Pelosi: count the votes. Since he obviously cannot do the math in his head, maybe he should invest in a calculator.
The reason that MAGAts loathed and despised her when she was Speaker is that she helped facilitate Biden's numerous legislative accomplishments during the first 2 years of his term in spite of insurmountable odds.
Before that during T1.0, it was clear that she was always the smartest person in the room. She had no problem pointing her finger in the face of the balding, demented orange menace and calling him out like a stern school teacher lecturing a recalcitrant, clueless student.
Thank you, Nancy Pelosi for being there when our nation needed you most.
"Thank you, Nancy Pelosi for being there when our nation needed you most"
Our needs may be greater now than ever before. We need someone like this. Instead we get the "weasel bible-thumper" incompetent. What a bad deal.
Steve, let's just hope that if/when the Dems win the House, the new Speaker will be half as smart as Nancy. Although I personally like Hakeem, I have my doubts that he has the fire in the belly we need right now to address the unending list of atrocities committed by the current lunatics running the insane asylum in DC. I hope I'm wrong.
And yet, Jeffries was the one preferred by Pelosi.
Jeffries may just be "feathering his prop" so to speak for the time being. I, like you, hope that this is the case. Can you think of any other Democratic representative that might be a better fit for speaker?
Unfortunately not. That might be my problem for now knowing more of them better, but Jeffries was picked by Pelosi, trained by Pelosi and still seems to have her blessing right now.
Hopefully we will see the Dems voting for Speaker in January, and when we do, let's see if we get a firebrand to step up and show some leadership instead.
I am a huge fan of Maryland's Jamie Raskin but I think we would be better served if he would be named head of the Judiciary Committee. His incredible knowledge of constitutional law will come in handy when the MAGAt troublemakers start their shit.
For Dem Speaker, that's a tough one. Obviously, it will have to be someone who has better math skills than Little Mikie in terms of counting votes. Hakeem knows the machinations of the House and that may be advantageous.
Speaker isn't a job for a "firebrand." The speaker's job is to coerce, cajole and convince the ENTIRE caucus to come together — from Summer Lee and Becca Balint all the way down the Henry Cueller.
I think a lot of people are going to be stunned by Hakeem Jeffries whom Pelosi trained for the job. I get that we want tables overturned and Trump's head on a platter, but Pelosi knew that's not how you make real progress.
Speaking of our current House Speaker— and I use the term loosely— let’s remember how long it took for him to get elected during that shitshow. The Republicans were really scraping the bottom of the barrel— which is saying a lot — when they finally landed on his sorry carcass— someone who Trumpty Dumpty would sign off on.
Yes, scraping the bottom of the barrel, indeed. The main reason the current unqualified sap was given the job is because he promised to obey each and every order decreed by the sociopathic malignant narcissist": "Yes, sir, may I please be humiliated again?"
This whole administration was an exercise in scraping the bottom of the barrel, and it continues with each new appointment.
They literally snatched Liddle Mikey off the back bench just to have a warm body to coalesce around.
Agreed! Little Mikey is certainly one of the worst Speakers of all time. He may have the "title" but he just looks to me as simply another wasted seat from Alabama.
Yes, and I wish fervently that she had not anointed Hakeem Jeffries as her successor. He just isn't up to the job.
Yes, he is, and I look forward to seeing people eat their words next year. I think people profoundly misunderstand what the speaker's job is.
Just recently he said, in effect, "I want us to nibble around the edges of our failing healthcare system, and I'll be satisfied with a few tweaks to ICE." A national health care system, which will deliver better care for less cost, is rapidly becoming mainstream. Just like opposition to AI and data centers. The majority of Americans are way ahead of Jeffries on ICE, as well. He wants to resurrect the status quo, which the great majority if Americans say wasn't working for them.
As to the Speakers job, it is to run "floor debates, pick which bills get voted on, choose members for important committees, and act as the top voice for the majority political party."
In other words, a man who wants to turn back the clock 10 years does not understand the assignment.
I don’t agree. He has yet to come into his own
I'm sorry, but an existential crisis of democracy is not the time for a novice!
And a clueless little underqualified back bencher chosen only because they could not get enough votes for Kevin McCarthy.
“…hope that, roused to the Trump menace, the public will usher in an arduous but political about-face and dramatic march to recapture our democracy in November.”
Please! I hope, I hope, I hope……and pray!!! 🤞🤞🤞🙏🙏🙏!!!
It’s the ONLY way out of the ever-deepening mess this utter fool has gotten us into! Vote Blue, no matter what else you do!
Simply the best political commentator we have. Democrats need to listen to her, stop their stupid internecine warfare and coalesce to stop trump and MAGA. They must take the House (and maybe even the Senate!). We must end this madness...
Yes, and I would add that blowhard bloviating arrogant social media (the scourge of our time) know-it-alls like Hasan Piker must shut the hell up and get on board or get a real job.
I will add that all the Third Way types, the James Carville and Jaime Harrison has-beens should also shut the hell up. Add in the Haley Stevens going in NewsNation to bleat about Piker-- which will only increase his audience. They don't know how to elect Democrats. They fught harder against Democrats who don't agree totally with them much harder than they have fought against the MAGA crime gang.
There are no Democratic "third way" types — the Third Way has no support in either party anymore, and it seems to be beating the media bushes for attention and relevance, which it doesn't have.
But it is soliciting $15 Million which it will dedicate to attacking "progressives." Reported in the NYT. Now, it may be that they just saw a golden opportunity to fleece some donors. We will see.
I put the Center for American Progress in the "Third Way" type--which is just shorthand for the highly influential "centrist" Dems. Who are farther to the right than Eisenhower.
Pelosi is a remarkable human being. Her intelligence, political savvy, and love of our country are greatly appreciated.
Will you ever forget how she tore up that speech, slowly and sardonically?
One of her most perfect moments!!
And here's another. Nearly 9 minutes. For George Floyd.
And for me when she sat at the table with Trump and pointed at him and lectured him, “schooled him“, was a magnificent moment!
Pity he's been impervious to schooling since the age of 4.
Women--smart, caring and courageous--have always been an undervalued, unappreciated resource this country has squandered since, well, this nation's founding.
Wake up men (yeah, doncha know where problem has always been)!
Thank you Jennifer and Nancy! Bold women as the weaker sex? Huh?
Mrs.Speaker Pelosi was and is a Star, She had the Chops, which is why she was a frequent target 0f the Right. She scared the crap out of them.
I vehemently disagree that those who refused to kick Biden out of the race shoulder blame for where we are now. The blame rests squarely with the voters who chose Trump because they hate women and minorities and especially the 86 plus million registered voters who didn't bother to vote in 2024. I maintain and always will that Biden would have beaten Trump because he was white and male. He could have stepped down in 2025 for health reasons but he should have remained the candidate. if there is any other blame to go around, I place it with Pelosi and all who publicly shamed Biden to drop out.
The people who are responsible for Trump being in the White House (what's left of it) are the people who voted for him in 2024. Full stop. The person responsible for the current Supreme Court is Mitch McConnell.
Totally agree with you regarding McConnell as he is/was a blatant liar. He refused to allow consideration of President Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland in March of 2016 because he stated that a president should not be allowed to nominate anyone for SCOTUS in the year a president's term ended (10 months before the end of his term). However when Justice Ginsburg died in September, 2020 (3 months before the end of trump's term) he push through the nomination of Barrett.
💯
Actually, we wuz robbed. Did Trump admit that Musk stole Pennsylvania?
Did Musk admit it?
some say so
He didn't "steal" it; spending huge money is a product of our broken system but it's not "stealing."
Those who blame Biden's advisors should consider this. Biden, without a brain, would have been a better president than Trump. He would have won and Kamala would have become president when Biden stepped down for health reasons!
Why didn't anyone think of that? Step down for health reasons? Oh, if only, if only. We wouldn't have had this nightmare. Full term of that wonderful team, and the chance to test Kamala's mettle.
The pain of that "manufactured" loss (and we know it was manufactured) is still worse than a dull ache.
Wouldn't it have been grand if he'd given her a full year to be president before she had to run for re-election? We would have had our first female president, something I never thought I would NOT see in my lifetime (as now seems likely) when I first voted as an 18-year-old. I wanted to vote for Shirley Chisholm back then, on principle and because she was fantastic, but then she wasn't actually on the ballot. Instead, I had the sickening experience of watching this country re-elect Richard Nixon in a still-historic landslide.
I lost a lot of faith in the electorate then, but never could have anticipated the horror that gave us Trump's election - twice.
He shouldn't have run for re-election. He’s a great man. Taught us how to be a good person. How to treat others. Did some great things for this country. He survived much personal suffering but he should not have run for a second term.
With you totally, up to blaming Nancy. A woman of honor and intelligence, who never steps beyond her conscience. The blame for tRump belongs squarely on the shoulders of the sexist, threatened young male voters who couldn’t handle a female president, especially a mixed-race woman.
could he have won though ? what would his campaign have looked like ? would he present as he did at the debate ? George Clooney said that Biden did not recognize him...
George Clooney probably thinks he still looks 30.
ha ha ha don't we all !
I also think that Harris ran a bad campaign. She wanted voters to reject Donald Trump instead of accepting her. That works in California but not in a national election. In addition, she had a ton of money and managed it badly.
She didn't have Elon Musk and Project 2025 at her back.
This is absolutely false, and is an impression manufactured by the media which demanded t hat she only talk about Trump no matter what SHE wanted to talk about. It's bullshit. One media outlet interviewing her demanded to know what she thought about something Trump said and when she said she would rather talk about her ideas and plans, they accused her of being "evasive." Every day she was putting out great messages about what she wanted to do and they were falling into a black hole. I was on both her media and campaign email lists and I saved them all if anyone wants proof of how false this is.
Right as usual. Biden's accomplishments in his first two years, when he (barely) had both houses of Congress behind him, were considerable. But I wish he had made good on his promise to be a bridge president and said that after his term, he would step aside (maybe his decision could have been announced after the predicted Red Wave in the midterms didn't happen). He could have said, we've done good work, and now it's time to hand the reins to a younger candidate in time to conduct a proper campaign for 2024. His friends, his family, and his advisors set the wheels in motion for the mess we're in now. But Biden was a good, decent, and capable public servant who shouldn't shoulder an inordinate share of the blame. There's plenty to go around—I'm looking at you, Mitch McConnell—from foreign bad actors who interfered with the election, to social media companies, to James Comey, even RBG, who could have stepped down after her cancer diagnosis. At worst, the court would be 5-4 conservative now. But Mitch stole two seats. It should be 5-4 liberal. Then, of course, Trump would be in jail.
Don't forget that worthless spineless Merrick Garland. One of our worst AGs. His inaction kept Trump from being served the justice he deserved. I blame him for so much.
because why ? He was too old
You said it! Nancy Pelosi is truly a rock star among politicians and this is a great recognition of her strength, stamina and clarity. Thank you.
Regaining the majority in both chambers of Congress is Job 1! Voters need to come out in epic numbers as a national referendum against the tRump Regime.
This is the most important thing you wrote today:
"Any factional fights, recriminations about primaries, and social media sniping among the pro-democracy forces are gifts to the MAGA totalitarian regime, adding to the risk that the assaults on the rule of law, simple decency, democratic pluralism, and truth will persist. Those who proceed in that vein are enabling Trump. Period.'
Respectfully, I must disagree. Any review of Pelosi that does not mention her complete embrace of insider trading (although completely legal) ignores the damage she did in fostering cynicism toward Congress. Yes, the trades she made pale in comparison to anything Trump is doing with his direct cash-for-pardons and crypto-bribery, but does not excuse her conduct. The mistrust she fostered toward leaders is part of the corrosive atmosphere that made a desperate-for-change electorate primed to be taken in by grifters like Trump. I'm not a Democratic Socialist, but AOC's refusal to accept this practice is the stance all Congressional Democrats must adopt.
You are incorrect about Pelosi's views. She promoted the STOCK act of 2012 that was aimed at stopping insider trading in Congress. She even criticized the bill as watered down.
She is quoted as saying this of the bill:
Members of Congress “must play by the same rules as everyone else” and that it “would be a betrayal of the public trust to personally profit from privileged information.”
In 2012...
The fact that she trades individual stocks at all, and refuses to support legislation banning it, speaks for itself.
"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi scoffed Wednesday at the idea of banning congressional lawmakers and their spouses from owning shares of individual companies, despite the possibilities for conflicts of interest between their legislative duties and personal finances.
“No,” Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters at a news conference where she was asked whether she would support such a prohibition. “We’re a free market economy,” she said. “They should be able to participate in that.”
--SOURCE: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/15/house-speaker-nancy-pelosi-opposes-banning-stock-buys-by-congress-members.html
She eventually was brow-beaten into reversing that position on individual stocks. Conveniently, it occurred only on her way out the door. Her family's investments were astronomically out pacing of the market. ($30 million turned into $278 million. Draw your own conclusions.
SOURCE: https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/nancy-pelosi-family-turned-30-101324314.html
She supported the STOCK act in 2011 or 2012. It did not forbid the sale of stocks; it created regulations for transparency.
Some people are just out to get her
Some regulations.
"In theory, the STOCK Act made congressional insider trading illegal. In practice, lawmakers (and their spouses) could still trade stocks as long as they
Disclose their stock trades within 45 days
Report transactions exceeding $1,000
Refrain from trading on non-public information
The penalty for violating these rules is just a $200 fine. That’s pocket change for lawmakers with multi-million dollar portfolios."
https://insider-trading.org/the-nancy-pelosi-insider-trading-controversy/
Let me be clear: I'd much rather have Pelosi than any Republican and many Dems. But some people seem to think she walks on water.
"Refrain trading on non-public information"
So if I were playing the stock market - which I don't - and Trump was about to come into office...knowing that he hates wind farms and wind power, if I had investments in those areas, I would sell those stocks. I might move that money into oil. That's how the stock market works. I know a couple of people who have made fortunes on the stock market by paying attention to what's going on in politics.
And you might want to look up the number of people who have multi million dollar stock portfolios. A million dollars is the new chump change.
Thank you for clarifying with facts.
There is no hard evidence that Pelosi herself traded stocks with insider information. But it doesn't look good. https://archive.ph/6HzHC
https://insider-trading.org/the-nancy-pelosi-insider-trading-controversy/
She was investigated repeatedly and there was no "there" there.
"Not looking good" is different from doing something illegal
Not by much when it comes to lining one's pockets.
Hillary's emails
Jen, You & Heather are my first reads each weekday and neither of you ever disappoint.
"Her political acumen, as well as her razor-sharp recall and keen electoral judgement...."
And Nancy Pelosi is 86; Just a reminder that it isn't really age that's the problem with Trump's so-called leadership: It's depravity, selfishness, corruption, dementia, and stupidity.
Trump's age is a blessing. He'll soon nod off for good.
The most anticipated obituary in the history of these United States.
I like her quote:
You don't have to be a genius to be Speaker. You just have to know how to count!
She's being far too modest- she was infinitely more than just a bean-counter.
She definitely was more than a bean counter. That comment was simply an insult to Johnson