Betsy's Page
It's becoming a real tit for tat thing in the House. First the Democrats went after Tom DeLay big time. Now the Republicans are going after Nancy Pelosi. Not so much for ethical violations, but for poor leadership. And that would be more of an Achilles' Heel for her than some abstruse travel violation that people can't follow and think everyone up there does. Instead, the Republicans are pointing out how many GOP-sponsored bills that rank and file Democrats are deserting Pelosi and the Democratic House leadership to vote in support of.
<<<
In order to highlight internal Democratic divisions, Republicans have been touting several bills, including bankruptcy reform, class-action reform and the estate tax repeal, that each attracted more than 40 Democratic votes despite Pelosi's opposition.
Republicans began employing this tactic in earnest following passage of the bankruptcy bill, when Rules Chairman David Dreier (R-Calif.) pointed out to his fellow leaders that several recent measures seemed to be attracting Democratic support.
"We have had several strategy discussions in recent days to step up our criticism of her," a Republican leadership aide said. "It's only recently that her policy missteps have allowed us to paint her as out of touch."
At an event Wednesday touting Republicans' accomplishments in the first 100 days of the 109th Congress, Republican Conference Chairwoman Deborah Pryce (Ohio) took a clear shot at Pelosi and other Democratic leaders.
"This pattern, where rank-and-file Democrats abandon leadership to support marquee legislation that shows their constituents they're working to help improve Americans' quality of life, by the other party has been set, and it shows no signs of stopping anytime soon," Pryce said.
At his pen-and-pad briefing later Wednesday, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) made a similar point, reciting the litany of GOP bills that have drawn some Democratic support while making sure to add, "although Leader Pelosi voted against almost everything."
Republicans have also been working to draw attention to Pelosi's recent appearance on ABC News' "This Week," cutting highlight videos and e-mailing transcripts to reporters to make the argument that she is an inarticulate party spokeswoman on ethics, Social Security and a host of other issues.
>>>
Being House Minority Leader is a thankless job. Your party doesn't have much power in the House. You can't stop the majority's bills like the minority can in the Senate. So, all you can do is kvetch. And that is what the Democrats are doing. All they do is criticize what the Republicans put forth. But they don't have any ideas of their own.
Of course, the media will miss what is going on, but I'm sure that members of the Democratic caucus know this and are starting to get concerned.
posted by Betsy Newmark
betsyspage.blogspot.com
www6.lexisnexis.com |
