A big part of Karen Handel’s winning pitch to voters in Georgia’s 6th was that her opponent Jon Ossoff would be loyal to Nancy Pelosi and her liberal agenda. And because of that strategy a growing number of Pelosi’s fellow Democrats believe that the minority leader is a drag on the party and should be replaced.
“We’d better take a good, long, strong look in the mirror and realize that the problem is us, it’s the party,” Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) told The Hill as he left what seemed to be a contentious House Democratic Caucus meeting on Wednesday. His colleague Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) agreed:
“We need to have a plan, we need to have a vision, we need to tell Americans why Democrats will be better, not just why Trump is bad,” Moulton said. “And I don’t think we’re doing enough of that, and I think that’s evident in this [Georgia] race.”
Talking about the ads like the one above that tied Ossoff to Pelosi Rep. Ryan who challenged Pelosi for the leader position in January said, “Those are still effective ads that hurt our candidate…Everybody knows where I stand on this… My position hasn’t changed.”
Rep Kathleen Rice (D-NY) came out of the Democratic caucus meeting sounding angrier than Ryan and Moulton. According to Poltico she said:
“It was probably one of the more disturbing caucus meetings that I’ve ever been in. And everyone pretty much sat in silence and I’d like to think that they were as shocked as I was that they were hearing the spin that was being put on this loss,”
And then she got to the nitty-gritty:
“There comes a time when every leader has to say, ‘For the good of the order and for the betterment of the party, it’s time for me to step aside.’ And I wish that would happen right now,”
Rice told CNN “We need leadership change. It’s time for Nancy Pelosi to go, and the entire leadership team”
Rep. Filemon Vela (D-TX) voted for Pelosi over Ryan in the January caucus leadership vote has changed his mind about the Democratic leader, “I think you’d have to be an idiot to think we could win the House with Pelosi at the top.” Vela added, “Nancy Pelosi is not the only reason that Ossoff lost. But she certainly is one of the reasons.”
One Democrat, Joe Cunningham who isn’t in congress yet, but has declared his intention to vie for the nomination to challenge Mark Sanford in South Carolina, announced that if he wins he will oppose Pelosi:
The Democratic Party needs new leadership now. If elected, I will not vote for Nancy Pelosi for speaker. Time to move forward and win again.
— Joe Cunningham (@JoeCunninghamSC) June 21, 2017
Now the public comments weren’t all bad, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), the Democratic National Committee’s Vice Chairman said, “I think she’s one of the best speakers ever, and I am glad to support her.” And don’t forget Ellison’s support of the Muslim Brotherhood, and his distaste for Jews and Israel makes him a future star for the Democratic Party.
Michael Moore didn’t blame Pelosi directly, but he did tweet out his disappointment with the Democratic party and it’s leaders “The DNC&DCCC has NO idea how 2 win cause they have no message, no plan, no leaders, won’t fight &hate the resistance”
In the end Pelosi will survive…for now. However if the Democrats don’t do well in the mid-terms the entire party leadership will be gone.
9997
