Why was Pelosi so much older as speaker than Paul Ryan?

[dsc]

By any measure, Pelosi was older than most people when elevated to the Speakership. She was 62 when she became minority leader in 2003, and 66 when she was made Speaker in 2007. By contrast, Paul Ryan was 45 when he was made Speaker in 2017. So surely she was in office a whole bunch longer when we was made minority leader. Nope, she was in office slightly less than 16 years and he was in office for over 17 years when he was made speaker. So why the age difference. Well, Pelosi couldn't run when she was younger, her first election was in 1987 when she was 47. His was in 1998 when he was 28. Why the difference. Well both of them have children and she had to wait for hers to grow up, he didn't. The reason Pelosi was so much older when she became party leader than he was is the sexist notion that women but not men have to center their work around their children. Funny how all of the she needs to go because she is old never mention just why she is so much older than most people who become speaker.

[Turbineguy]

1. Republicans don't want

maturity.

[former9thward]

19. Maturity?

What age is that?

[homegirl]

30. I don't want to

change the subject - but, how old is Mitch McConnell?

[Turbineguy]

35. Oh,

around 11 I'd say.

[mgardener]

43. He is

74 years old, 2 years younger the Nancy Pelosi

[Horse with no Name]

47. He didn't age well

He rotted. From the inside out.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. I'm not ageist. Elect Democrats in November; then elect a Speaker. Eschew RubleCon framing.

I'm not against Ryan because of his youth, inexperience, and lack of staying power.

Getting tRump and his Republicon Party kicked to the basement is a higher priority than accepting RepubliConMen's idea of what the issue should be.

[DownriverDem]

40. Those here against Pelosi

don't know Pelosi. She is an excellent leader who keeps the Dems united. Nancy also raises a ton of money for the Dems. It doesn't matter how old she is. She is a damn good leader.

[oasis]

3. Nancy's mind is as sharp as it ever was. Big mistake to push her out.

[lame54]

4. Boner quit suddenly and nobody else wanted the job...

He didn't rise to it
It was dropped on him

[Scarsdale]

22. If he had been sober

he might have seen that coming! Nancy Pelosi is gop's worst nightmare, an intelligent, knowledgeable FEMALE. Everyone knows women do not belong in government (according to gop thinking). They should stay home, bake cookies and have supper ready when their big, strong man returns from an exhausting day of grifting cash from Russia and others.

[True Blue American]

25. Boehner left because he was losing with all the loud mouthed Freedom Caucus

And it has gone down hill ever since.

[Cha]

51. Sounds right.

[dubyadiprecession]

5. It's not that she's old...

She just doesn't inspire confidence. Past speakers of both parties,were able to hold onto to the house for more than just two terms. We need someone with more skill than pelosi.

[dsc]

9. She isn't to blame for the loss of the House

the young voters who stayed home because they didn't get 100% of what they wanted five minutes after we got control of government are to blame for this.

[Wwcd]

11. Thank you. The blame goes to the young voters who threw a teenage tantrum

Do come back when you're "old" and tell us what you've accomplished for the good of your country.
How'd the years of hard struggle turn out in the end.

Do tell us.

[Scarsdale]

23. The gop has had

Speakers who managed to do the job, while molesting interns, or having affairs with other men's wives!! You know, REAL accomplished MEN.

[Wwcd]

26. PRECISELY. And here is Speaker Pelosi being derrided because of her age? WTF moment indeed.

To single her out among the many Senators & Reps who are near or older than her is absolutely pathetic, and sounds loudly just who is pushing this sick disgraceful meme.

We know who is behind this & why.

[JI7]

28. Paul Ryan is protecting Gym Jordan who wants to be next Speaker

the fact that people are going after Pelosi for age while Ryan Protects a man who allowed sexual asssult of kids shows how fucked up the whole thing is.

Hogg is young so hopefully he will learn.

but it's the others i really have a problem with.

[Hortensis]

29. She's not responsible for Duby's lack of confidence either.

Educating himself to have confidence that our members of congress are competent to make this decision (and won't be needing his thoughts on it) is his job.

Regarding that "sexist" business in the OP, though, Nancy's anything but a helpless little woman victim of male oppression.

She was raised in politics from infancy and is, as I imagine even Duby feels confident of, an extremely strong-minded woman. She and her husband had plenty of money to hire live-in childcare if they chose. Nancy chose to raise all 5 of their daughters as a busily politically involved but stay-at-home-mom herself.

In her 40s, instead of preparing for her next role as an invisible and irrelevant older woman, she then ran for office for the first time when her youngest daughter was in high school. Then went on to rise to the highest political position any women has held in federal government.

I wish everyone could be proud and admiring of her for that. Instead, I get the strong feeling some here would prefer her to take up her too-long-delayed role as one of the older women they see no reason to consider. As soon as possible.

[dubyadiprecession]

39. Well it's a great thing,those kids aren't going to bother...

Voting this time around. We will somehow cross the 50% mark without them...I would hope!

[dsc]

54. I don't see why we should cater to a group that shows no propensity to vote

If we get rid of our current leadership at their behest today, it will be something else tomorrow, and yet something else the next day and so on. Then they still will sit at home and not vote.

[joshcryer]

46. Yep. Those young voters talking crap about the "elders" didn't vote.

They literally sat home.

Let's be real. I'm not really old but I'm not young either (early 40s). Minds don't "change" after around 25 (this is scientifically proven). These young folk will realize, 40 years from now, this reality.

In the meantime they sit around spouting ageist nonsense that has no actual relevance.

[brush]

13. You're a tad misinformed. Pelosi has held her caucus together thru all...

the big legislative battles without defections. McConnell and Ryan can't say that.

Plus she raises tons of money for other Democrats in their races.

Seems anti-Pelosi, repug framing is influencing even some Dems.

It's our party's business who is our leader in the House and once the Nov. election is over our reps. will vote on and decide who that will be.

Any discussion about this now is premature and unwise as it plays into the repug playbook's attempt to divide Democrats on an issue that is our business, not theirs.

[Wwcd]

16. Same people treated Sec Hillary Clinton with the same whitewash they give Pelosi now.

Both women have achieved far beyond that of some aging Senators & Reps that have sat in their chairs for years.

One even named a post office. Yup. Wow!

[brush]

17. Yes. It's sickening and, like I said, plays into the repug agenda to divide us.

[Wwcd]

14. Pelosi has inspired & accomplished quite a lot. Here, maybe this will help you out.

Pretty damned Inspiring bio, Speaker Pelosi has achieved.

Snip

Under the leadership of Pelosi, the 111th Congress was heralded as "one of the most productive Congresses in history" by Congressional scholar Norman Ornstein. President Barack Obama called Speaker Pelosi “an extraordinary leader for the American people," and the Christian Science Monitor wrote: “…make no mistake: Nancy Pelosi is the most powerful woman in American politics and the most powerful House Speaker since Sam Rayburn a half century ago.”

Working in partnership with President Obama, Speaker Pelosi led House passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in early 2009 to create and save millions of American jobs, provide relief for American families, and provide a tax cut to 95 percent of working Americans. With the House Democratic Caucus, Pelosi continues to focus on the need to create jobs in America and prevent them from being shipped overseas.

Speaker Pelosi achieved passage of historic health insurance reform legislation in the House which establishes a Patients’ Bill of Rights and will provide insurance for tens of millions more Americans while lowering health care costs over the long term. The new law provides patients with affordable insurance choices, curbs abuses by the insurance industry, strengthens Medicare, and reduces the deficit by more than $100 billion over the next 10 years.

In the 111th Congress, Speaker Pelosi also led the Congress in passing strong Wall Street reforms to rein in big banks and protect consumers as well as the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which expands educational opportunities and reforms the financial aid system to save billions of taxpayers’ dollars. Additional key legislation passed into law included the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to restore the ability of women and all workers to access our judicial system to fight pay discrimination; legislation to provide health care for 11 million American children; national service legislation; and hate crimes legislation. In late 2010, Pelosi led the Congress in passing child nutrition and food safety legislation as well as repealing the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which prohibited gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military.

Pelosi has made energy security her flagship issue, enacting comprehensive energy legislation in 2007 that raised vehicle fuel efficiency standards for the first time in 32 years and making an historic commitment to American home grown biofuels. In 2009, under her leadership, the House passed the landmark American Clean Energy and Security Act – a comprehensive bill to create clean energy jobs, combat climate change, and transition America to a clean energy economy. The legislation was blocked by Republicans in the United States Senate, but sent a strong signal to the world about the United States’ commitment to fighting the climate crisis.

A leader on the environment at home and abroad, Pelosi secured passage of the “Pelosi amendment” in 1989, now a global tool to assess the potential environmental impacts of development. In San Francisco, Pelosi was the architect of legislation to create the Presidio Trust and transform the former military post into an urban national park.

In continuing to push for accountability and transparency in government, under Speaker Pelosi, the House passed the toughest ethics reform legislation in the history of the Congress, including the creation of an independent ethics panel, and increased accountability and transparency in House operations, including earmark reforms. As Speaker, Pelosi led the fight to pass the DISCLOSE Act in the House, which fights a corporate takeover of U.S. elections and ensures additional disclosure; she continues to fight for this legislation today.

Additional key accomplishments signed into law under the leadership of Speaker Pelosi include: an increase in the minimum wage for the first time in 10 years; the largest college aid expansion since the GI bill; a new GI education bill for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars; and increased services for veterans, caregivers, and the Veterans Administration.

https://pelosi.house.gov/biography-0

[dubyadiprecession]

44. She's the minority leader, not Tip O'Neill.

It's nice to see her staffers supporting her here. We can't get shit done if we are reduced to the role of obstructionists. We need another Tip O'Neill. He had it tougher than most and held the house during the Reagan years.
Remember 1984 when Mondale lost 49 states? Old Tip was our firewall!

[True Blue American]

27. Most of the young Democrats that are winning want a new Speaker.

Last edited Wed Aug 22, 2018, 05:08 AM - Edit history (1)

So do I. A nice retirement would be my suggestion.

All 3 Leaders over 70. It is time.

[murielm99]

38. Oh, yes....

and while we are at it, let's get rid of RBG. How would that help us?

Do I need this:

[brush]

45. It's premature. Don't fall for repug framing of who our House leader is.

It's premature. The Nov. election and taking back the House is all we Democrats should be focused on. It is our business and our reps will decide who our leaders are in-house AFTER THE ELECTION.

Being divided by this issue now is just following the repug playbook.

[procon]

37. Gathering voters is not Pelosi's job, that's the task of the DNC leadership

and the Democratic candidates. Pelosi's major contribution was to bring in money to fund those campaigns, and she excelled in that job:

Internal documents obtained by CNN show that the California Democrat remains a fundraising juggernaut for House Democrats as they battle to pick up the 23 seats they need to retake the House majority for the first time since the GOP won control of the chamber in the 2010 midterms.

Through June, Pelosi had raised an eye-popping $83 million for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for the 2018 election cycle, more than double the next closest Democrat, according to an internal list for the group charged with electing more Democrats to the US House of Representatives. A source briefed on the matter said that through July she had raised nearly $91 million for the party committee, which is spending big in hotly contested races including where Democratic candidates are running away from Pelosi.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/15/politics/nancy-pelosi-fundraising-democrats/index.html

[BeyondGeography]

6. Ok, what about the rest of House leadership and ranking committee members?

This article is four years old but our leaders haven’t gotten any younger so it still applies:

The average age of the Democratic House leadership is 64. It’s 53 for Republicans.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/11/18/the-average-democratic-house-leader-is-11-years-older-than-his-or-her-gop-counterpart/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.8a9378c9a739

Republicans term limit their ranking committee members and we don’t. That drives their average age numbers down and pushes ours up.

[2naSalit]

7. Yes and

look at the lack of knowledge and experience in civics, civility and just plain functioning brain cells among the House R caucus, most of whom (the younger ones) oozed in with the ToiletPaper kocktopus movement. So...

There;s a lot to be said for institutional memory, whether you know anything about it or not, it matters.

[BeyondGeography]

8. We have plenty of institutional knowledge on the D bench sitting behind 70- and 80-somethings

The institutional knowledge argument is increasingly a crutch for clinging to power. Look at Judiciary, where Nadler and Lofgren waited for years while Conyers held the top spot. The situation is the same throughout the caucus. Our seniority rules for leadership positions have occasionally produced subpar outcomes and definitively made us the older party.

[True Blue American]

48. And that is where we are

Right now. Leaders who should have retired when we lost the Majority, hung on for 8 years, now think it is their right,ignoring those elected during those years.

I knew when it was time for me to retire. They should have bowed out years ago.

No wonder we keep losing. Raising money is not the criteria any more. New ideas are needed.

[mythology]

10. And Strom Thurman was around forever

We as a party need to do more to bring in new leadership both to better reflect our voters, but also so that we don't have a sudden vacuum in 5 to 10 years.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

15. Yes. Because there will be a sudden vacuum

in not very many years if younger people aren't brought along, especially into positions of leadership. If we keep on electing people to office until they are well into their 80s, there will be a crisis a few years down the road when a bunch of them decide to retire, get noticeably senile, or die in office.

Institutional memory is a very good thing. Every time someone here argues for strict term limits I point out the devastating loss of institutional memory that would ensue. But there's also a good reason for passing the torch to a new generation . . . hmmmm, something about those last few words sounds familiar, but I can't figure out why.

[True Blue American]

49. I do not know about you

But I remember those words and how thrilling it was to hear. To see the enthusiasm in the country.

I am ready to hear those words again. I am sick of those who think it is their turn. We did it with Obama, then fell into the old pattern.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

55. Oh, yes, I remember those well.

Obama, if for no other reason than he was a younger generation, was a wonderful step forward. With all due respect to Hillary Clinton, her nomination was a step backward. Trump is simply an abomination, and has been his whole life. At every level, from county dog catcher up to the Presidency, we should be looking at younger candidates, encouraging young people to run for office, make them welcome.

Tomorrow is my birthday, hooray! (I love birthdays) And it's a milestone one. Bigger HOORAY! I do not want to see people my age or older (and the one's I fuss about are even older than me) clinging to power beyond a reasonable time. Clearly, there is room for disagreement about what constitutes a reasonable time.

People like to point out that young voters don't participate much in voting. One reason is that if you're under thirty, especially these days, you don't see anyone who looks like you running for office. At least not if you're a Democrat. Republicans, for thirty years now, have been getting young Rs to run for office, and I wouldn't be surprised if they have slightly higher young voter participation.

The last thing we need is a gerontocracy, and we pretty much have that these days on the Democratic side of the equation.

[True Blue American]

56. Happy Birthday!

Mine is September 7. A Labor Day baby.

I do see a huge change in young people voting. They are smart,observing and realize it is their future on the line. Think this year is a turning point in a lot of ways. They see Republicans as old and corrupt.

Democrats need to emphasize that.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

57. The kids from Parkville are having a huge impact, I think.

Alas, young Mr. Hogg keeps on being vilified here, which is entirely too bad. And a mistake.

To make a dumb joke, as my son once pointed out to me, "You'd better be nice to me, Mom, because I'll be choosing your nursing home some day."

[True Blue American]

32. We should.

We have too many young members that would be great Leaders.

[Iggo]

12. Keep spinning that merry-go-round. (n/t)

[dsc]

18. It isn't spin

she literally says when asked why she waited so long that she needed to wait for her kids to be grown. And yes, Paul Ryan has kids. In point of fact he made his taking of the speakership contingent upon his being given a travel schedule that would let him be home as often as possible for his kids (just imagine the reaction if Pelosi had done that).

[Iggo]

24. That's not the kind of spinning that I'm talking about.

At the public parks I went to when I was a kid, there was this apparatus we called a merry-go-round. Some kids would get on it and other kids or adults standing next to the merry-go-round would have to grab onto one of the hand-holds and give it a strong tug and a push to get it spinning. As it got to spinning, they'd have to keep pushing it to keep it spinning. If they didn't keep pushing it, it ran out of steam and it would stop.

[ehrnst]

20. Same with SCOTUS judges. Women can't be raising children, and do the job apparently.

Wheras Alito and Scalia can have broods of children and be considered perfectly competent.

Women must be child-free if they are to serve prior to their 60's, like Kagan and Sotomayor.

[iluvtennis]

21. As Nancy said on Joy Reid interview a few weeks ago, WE GOTTA FIRST WIN in November, and

then discuss the leadership. She is smart and knows how to "work things in DC", so I would want her as speaker. Maybe one of the younguns could work with her to learn the ropes.

[Me.]

31. Because It Took That Long For A Woman To Be Given The Chance?

[Stinky The Clown]

33. Ginger did everything Fred did, but she did it backwards and in heels

Women have always had to work harder for the same outcome as men

[Jersey Devil]

42. lol, have to remember that one!

That was terrific.

[True Blue American]

50. And better!:)

But Ginger was not in her 70’s.

[LovingA2andMI]

34. Ummm.... Why Does This Matter In Light Of These (Questionable) Tweets....

That's Being Attacked (Rightly) On Twitter By David Hogg? Sounds alike like ageism.....which interlinks to racism by the way....

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

But First, He's Quoted By Saying This Yesterday....

Link to tweet

[samnsara]

36. i always vote for experience

[BumRushDaShow]

41. Cheeto Boner was 62 when he got the job, Hastert was 57, Gingrich was 52, Tip O'Neill was 65

Eddie Munster was the exception to the rule because no one really wanted it after Boner's spectacular FAIL with the teabaggers that he helped to nurture.

[woodsprite]

52. Leadership ability vs manipulability. nt

[beachbum bob]

53. paul ryan was "nice face" to put on terrible republican agenda....and a compromise

the republican extremist could sign on to.