'Outright disrespectful': Four House women struggle as Pelosi isolates them

[USALiberal]

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi admonished Democrats for personally attacking one another, warning in a closed-door meeting Wednesday that the party’s fracturing was jeopardizing its majority.

Without naming names, her target was clear: the four liberal freshman known as “the Squad.”

“You got a complaint? You come and talk to me about it. But do not tweet about our members and expect us to think that that is just okay,” Pelosi (D-Calif.) told Democrats.

But “the Squad” — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) — is convinced it is Pelosi who is being the bully.

The four are struggling with the speaker’s moves to isolate them in recent weeks, according to interviews with the lawmakers, congressional aides and allies. Pelosi has made at least half-dozen remarks dismissing the group or their far-left proposals on the environment and health care. More recently she scorned their lonely opposition to the party’s emergency border bill last month.

And she defended those comments Wednesday, saying, “I have no regrets about anything. Regrets is not what I do,” doubling down on her claim that the group has little power in the House.

“When these comments first started, I kind of thought that she was keeping the progressive flank at more of an arm’s distance in order to protect more moderate members, which I understood,” Ocasio-Cortez told The Washington Post. “But the persistent singling out . . . it got to a point where it was just outright disrespectful . . . the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color.”

The four women are trying to figure out how to respond, texting one another and weighing whether to confront Pelosi to ask her to stop. But for now, they are focused on their congressional duties, even as they defend their votes in the House that have drawn Pelosi’s ire.

“Thank God my mother gave me broad shoulders and a strong back. I can handle it. I’m not worried about me,” said Pressley, who called Pelosi’s comments “demoralizing.” “I am worried about the signal that it sends to people I speak to and for, who sent me here with a mandate, and how it affect them.”

More at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/outright-disrespectful-four-house-women-struggle-as-pelosi-isolates-them/2019/07/10/a33c63a8-a33f-11e9-b7b4-95e30869bd15_story.html

[msongs]

1. focus on duties vs tweet 24 hrs a day. hmmm nt

[Horizens]

59. Well Said

and I may use it on other forums.

[BigDemVoter]

2. And Nancy is right.

While there are MANY Democrats I truly loathe, I would NEVER criticize them in front of a repig. The repigs always protect their own which is why they win. We have to do the same thing and stop the sniping.

[USALiberal]

6. LOL, Pelosi insulted them also. But that is OK with you I assume?? nt

[BigDemVoter]

9. No.

They ALL need to cut the shit.

[Dennis Donovan]

8. Reagan's 11th commandment...

"Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican."

..or whatever party one is a part of, is sheer nonsense. Speaker Pelosi is making a grave error with this "caution".

[Dennis Donovan]

3. Speaker Pelosi is the one in the wrong.

NOT acting to curb the Executive Branch, which oversight is still the RESPONSIBILITY of the Legislative Branch, will lose us everything in 2020.

[shanny]

10. + a zillion

[Mach1miles]

14. No one gave the House permission to give their power away.

The only way three equal branches works is if they have equal power. Same with the court. After the President got the bad decision he ignored the court’s decisions don’t was prepared to ignore it. Imagine that! This is a case of a runaway presidency.

[bottomofthehill]

72. The problem is that the House is not an equal branch

The Senate is the other half which makes up the co-equal. Just wanting our agenda to pass is not a realistic expectation. Finding common ground is the only way to move legislation. In this environment, that means center right is the best we can hope for as the other side is happy to see nothing happen and the government shut down.

[Mach1miles]

79. Yes to common ground.

The House alone has separate duties spelled out. In recent history One such detail is the Cencus and the other was to oversee the Mueller report results. That is why they were having hearings. These things were their responsibility and only theirs. As such when people don't show up for hearings or a President doesn’t like what the Supreme Court tells him we need to follow up directly regarding who has a specific power and why. The American people flounder with zero understanding of the process. In a not so distant past people who refused to testify for a hearing were jailed. My guess is they wouldn’t have to do too many before people would participate in the process.
I know things take time but while they are waiting let the people know the who, what , when ,where , why and how. Personally I think we need to get in touch with civics teachers and create a basic, simple guide to what every American should understand about the government they live under. Who has what powers and how the system is designed to work. We are going to have to chisel these people away from FOX and bring them back into the fold. Not to pick there because they aren’t the only people who don’t have a clue.

[bottomofthehill]

121. neither the muller report nor the census have special duties spelled out for the House.

Both the House and Senate have legislative oversight They are not theirs and only thiers, the Senate, under the direction of Dear Leader McConnell just choose not to exercise their legislative oversight, in my opinion, the senate is afraid of what it may find, but they clearly have the authority.

[Grasswire2]

76. +++++ nt

[Bettie]

75. Plus...well, everything

Speaker Pelosi has made it very clear in recent weeks that she has no interest in curbing Trump and his minions.

She's far too busy attempting to kneecap young women of color who commit the sin of daring to disagree with her.

[wasupaloopa]

80. When will people get it in their heads that without Repubs there will be no

curbing of the executive branch?

You reply is not based in fact.

[Dennis Donovan]

112. Of course you will never see a conviction in the Senate as of now.

However, and impeachment inquiry would do a great deal of damage to Trump's 2020 campaign. And it would energize the base of the Democrats. At least it's something. No action is going to cause people to stay home in 2020.

[GulfCoast66]

114. Respectfully strongly disagree.

It would give him a big win right before the election.

You think there are folks out there that are tuned into politics enough to pay attention to the proceedings that will change their mind? He’ll know.

The common non-tuned in person would see it as a vindication.

But honorable people can disagree.

[wasupaloopa]

120. I am all for an impeachment inquiry but I want people

to understand that only we with our votes can remove him from office.

[UniteFightBack]

4. "The four women are trying to figure out how to respond" If they have something to say they

should say it to the leaders face then...or any other Democrat they have a problem with.

Pelosi's comments were 'demoralizing' ...GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK.

[Mach1miles]

5. Kind of strange it's us and them to her.

Beat them down until any independent thought is dead. I think Nancy can see the writing on the wall. A new guard is coming. But hey she’s given her all. If she gets us through this mess she’ll deserve a good rest.

[CentralMass]

7. I wish the Speaker would play hardball with tRump instead of her fellow representatives.

[Skittles]

11. yeah, good luck with that

[melman]

12. That would be nice

[BigDemVoter]

13. Me too.

But don't forget she CAN and has proven it before. I am truly 100% puzzled about the reason, but maybe we will find out more. I don't believe she simply doesn't want to, and I don't believe it's because she doesn't have the votes. I would like to think it's a shrewd political decision that will bring Pussy Grabber great misery, but I am so disgruntled and impatient that I'm doing my best not to think about it. You can see how well THAT is working!

[dansolo]

18. She doesn't have the votes

I don't understnand why you people can't grasp this. You seem to believe that if Pelosi went ahead with impeachment, her entire caucus will follow. We've already seen that the hard left members won't stand behind her, so why do you believe that she can force everyone else to follow her.

[Takket]

43. you don't "get everyone on record" in a losing effort

Pelosi failing to Impeach because she can't even get the votes from her own party would probably be the single most incompetent thing the Democratic Party has ever done. We would be an absolute national laughing stock.

[Takket]

53. they are all voting "no."

[stopdiggin]

88. dude

You don't see the political cost of a LOSING vote? Seriously? That's just not thinking.

[TwilightZone]

61. That would be political suicide for pretty much the entire Democratic party.

Not to mention extraordinarily incompetent. Calling for a vote that she is certain would fail would be idiotic.

If the first vote fails, there will not be another one. We get one shot at this.

[BigDemVoter]

47. "You people"??

You sound like a nice person.

And no, you obviously didn't read anything I wrote, as I support Nancy. So MYOB and avoid using phrases like 'you people"-- As a non-observant Jew, I find it very offensive.

[Skittles]

123. it's her job to GET THE VOTES

[bottomofthehill]

73. When she did it before it was with a democratic senate and President

This is a completely different game.

[MicaelS]

21. Pelosi needs to either shit it get off the pot. n/t

[cwydro]

26. Spot on.

God help us if al this infighting continues.

[leftstreet]

33. +1

[mcar]

48. I wish "The Squad" would play hardball with Republicans

rather than Democrats.

[MrsCoffee]

92. Thread win.

Yet it will fly over many heads.

[Celerity]

107. +10000

[highplainsdem]

15. Shame on AOC. She's implying Pelosi is racist.

[Dennis Donovan]

20. ?

Not seeing that at all.

[highplainsdem]

23. AOC: "...just outright disrespectful...the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color"

How is that NOT suggesting Pelosi is racist?

[mr_lebowski]

82. That is a logical interpretation (nt)

[CentralMass]

22. I would counter with I think your comment is unfair.

While I am more familar with AOC then the other 3 I believe they all defeated long time incumbents and are probably doing a very good job of representing the will of their constuents. Most of the Democrats that I know aren't sycophantic about it. We aren't in lockstep with the party leadership and don't expect our representatives to be either.
Both sides could have handled this better and although non of them represent me i come down on the side of the unrepentant four.

[highplainsdem]

28. Why is it unfair of me to point out AOC is suggesting Pelosi is a racist when AOC says she thinks

Pelosi has singled out "women of color"? There is no way that ISN'T a suggestion Pelosi is racist, and that suggestion is despicable.

[fleabiscuit]

31. +1

[Horizens]

60. +2

+2

[Thekaspervote]

36. Agree!

[CentralMass]

64. First a comment on the dissenting votes of the 4.

If I understand it correctly the house bill had some added provisions to address the humanitarian crisis at the border after push back from the progressives but the group of four voted no because they felt thst tRump could not be trusted to spend the funding for humanitarian aid rather then on immigration enforcenent. The house bill still passed but as tRump had already said he would vero it snd a different Senate bill was passed.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/07/politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-nancy-pelosi-border-funding-bill/index.html

"That bill still passed but it was not taken up by the Senate, as the White House had promised to veto it. The Senate instead passed their bipartisan bill and pressured the House to accept it. Democratic leaders at first added some of the progressive demands to the Senate bill, but then backed down after moderate Democrats threatened to take down the amended bill.:

So after all that noise the gang of four held their ground, and through no fault of their's, a compromise senate bill stripped of the added provisions is what got passed.

So I say bravo to the gang of four . It sounds like tRump is about to ramp-up deportation raids with some fresh funding to do it with. In a Washington where the voting on many bills is for show and the outcome is already known pols, who can ,vote against the party for their political safety. In this case the 4 stood on principal and in the end the compromise bill most likely gave tRump and company what they wanted or needed to rund their deportation raids.

Regarding the charge of racism. The four have been denigrated from many different sources on the right. I suspect that they are feeling attacked from all sides now.

[emmaverybo]

74. She suggested that Pelosi is a racist. In essence, she cried racist wolf, which is disgraceful. It

is terrible to tap the well of global pain, of historical suffering, to attempt to enlist support for one’s
side, whether or not that is the side of right.

[quickesst]

110. +1? +2?....

Let's go ahead and give your post what it deserves

+1000

[UniteFightBack]

89. No I think Ayana Pressley is the one doing that. nt

[madville]

97. I can't believe AOC went there

Pulling the race card on Speaker Pelosi? WTF

They either nip this in the bud fast or it's about to go nuclear and Pelosi will win handily.

[BlueIdaho]

16. Name one other House Democrat

That could replace Nancy Pelosi today.

[highplainsdem]

24. None could do half as good a job as Pelosi has.

[world wide wally]

17. Nancy is the one missing the boat here

She will do anything to avoid impeachment hearings because she thinks that is the "right thing to do", but she is wrong

[JoeOtterbein]

27. +1 nt

[Tech]

19. Everyone needs to stop. There is no time for this nonsense. Only trump wins.

[NoMoreRepugs]

55. THIS.

[JoeOtterbein]

25. Disrespecting our base (and in many ways our best) D reps is the best way to be "demoralizing" to...

...the entire party.

Nancy needs to apologize and correct her stance ASAP.

Before she does more damage to us.

[highplainsdem]

35. Pelosi isn't the one causing the damage to the party.

[JoeOtterbein]

37. She is wrong on this one. We need to be clear. We know we cannot trust Trump with children.

I'm with the (about) 90 Dem reps voting with the four she clearly disrespected for no good reason.

Nancy needs to use he energy and big mic to dump on Trump.

Not us.

[highplainsdem]

45. No, she wasn't wrong. She represents the entire Democratic Party, not just its left wing, and as

House Speaker she also represents the country, and she has a responsibility to pass needed legislation even if it contains some compromises that some in her party might complain about.

[Horizens]

66. The base

AOC and her three cohorts are not "the base".

There are 24 Blue Dog Dems in the House/ In addition 21 of the 41 house seats gained in 2018 are in districts that are traditionally partisan republican... half of those by 5 -13% republican partisan.

95 of the 235 dem reps describe themselves as progressive - 140 are liberals, moderates and conservatives.

[Princetonian]

30. These four women sound like spoiled brats. Is it that difficult to stay off Twitter?

Committing friendly fire is wrong in any medium.

[JoeOtterbein]

38. Or is is better for Nancy to whine about our best Dem Reps in public instead? nt

[Princetonian]

42. Pelosi is not the ones who are whining. She spoke to them in a closed-door meeting not in public.

It is also beyond ridiculous for AOC to infer that Pelosi is a racist.

[JoeOtterbein]

50. If it was "closed-door" why do you know about it?

Nancy knew it would be leaked. Because she is very smart.

[Princetonian]

63. Um, because the OP states that.

Perhaps AOC is the one whose whining brought what happened to light.

[JoeOtterbein]

65. AOC is fighting for the light! nt

[Loki Liesmith]

102. "Fighting for the light" lol

This isn’t Lord of the Rings. It’s realpolitik. Jebus.

[highplainsdem]

46. They're far from our best.

[JoeOtterbein]

52. Neither is Nancy, Steny or our leadership. If they were so "smart" Trump never...

...would have been elected.

First thing we must do to win; is correct our persistent mistakes.

And fight for a change!

[highplainsdem]

57. We have Nancy to thank for regaining control of the House in 2018. She is NOT to blame in any way

for Trump being elected in 2016. That's one of the oddest things I've ever seen anyone post here.

[JoeOtterbein]

62. I'm talking about the report from the op.

She needs to stop stepping on her own Reps. She needs to step on Trump and the GOP.

It's not like she doesn't have plenty of reasons to dump on Trump and the GOP, instead of AOC!

[highplainsdem]

70. ???? Joe, you'd just said that if Nancy and our other Congressional leaders were so smart,

"Trump never would have been elected." Your words.

So I responded to that.

The Squad will eventually figure out -- if they're in politics long enough, if they don't blow themselves up -- that politics, real world politics, is the art of the possible, especially in a legislature.

In the meantime, suggesting that Pelosi is racist has given RWers on Twitter something they're celebrating tonight.

And it hasn't won anything for AOC or her allies.

Though if all she's paying attention to is Twitter followers telling her they can't wait till she's old enough that they can vote for her for president, she might not realize that.

[Horizens]

68. Correct

The “Blue Wave” was no accident. As titular head of the Democratic Party, Pelosi planned and implemented the strategy that turned 41 seats from red to blue in the 2018 mid-terms. She also raised over 125 million for congressional candidates – a staggering sum by any measure.

More votes (roughly 60 million) were cast for Democratic candidates than were EVER cast for ANY political party in a mid term election. That’s 15 million more votes than the roughly 45 million cast for Republican candidates in 2018 – the second most votes cast for a political party in a mid term election.

"There's not any precedent for an opposition party coming this close to matching the president's vote total from 2 years earlier." (Nate Silver)

[JoeOtterbein]

71. So money always wins? Now I'm really demoralized. Jeeze, please don't rub it in. nt

[mr_lebowski]

83. No offense, but this is a weak comeback ... (nt)

[Thekaspervote]

86. Indeed .. putting the election of dotard on the shoulders of a dem speaker??? Really??

[UniteFightBack]

90. It's actually the other way around and that is what the meeting was about. nt

[brooklynite]

106. IN what way are they "our best"?

[Thekaspervote]

40. Agree..speaker Pelosi is the speaker for a reason. They need to work with her as a team.

Especially and including aoc. Fine to bring new ideas to the table, but as a freshman you may not have your way.

Speaker Pelosi held a closed door meeting and talked with them, she didn’t do it in public for heavens sake! They could have chosen to left it behind closed doors instead of leaking it. That’s just trying to stir up sympathy for their hurt feelings...

[customerserviceguy]

39. Not that I want

to silence the four, but they should take their differences with the Speaker up with her privately. They're stepping all over the candidates' messages, and giving Trump something to gloat his ass off about.

[ChicagoRonin]

41. Is it just me, or I am I just imagining this?

Because I'm reading an awfully condescending vibe from Pelosi and a lot of her supporters posting here with an unfortunate racial dimension.

Look, overall, I respect Pelosi's seniority and past work. I'm sympathetic to her cautious approach to countering Trump (Though, I'm also anxious and upset that more drastic action either can't or isn't being implemented against everything from climate change to the migrant detention camps).

But, maybe it's because I'm a person of color, but I see a white, wealthy veteran politician (Roll Call pegs her net worth at $16 million — 30th-richest member of the 115th Congress - attributed to the success of her venture capitalist and real estate tycoon husband) smacking down four freshmen congresswomen who all happen to be minorities. All of whom were elected by highly energized, young, diverse campaign teams representing a broad swath of this nation's ethnic communities and income levels. And quite frankly, even if she strongly disagrees with their opinions or tactics, this will do her and other establishment Democrats no favors in the long term. That energy (even if a lot of it is anger) needs to be acknowledged, harnessed and included somehow.

And I feel like a lot of people here are acting an awful like Republicans, attacking how these young women are saying things instead of looking hard at what they are saying, and why.

[Princetonian]

54. Pelosi is a brilliant Speaker who shepherded Obamacare and Dodd-Frank into law in tough times.

I am a woman of color and I see nothing wrong with Speaker Pelosi asking the four women to stay off Twitter for the sake of party messaging unity heading into an election year.

[Horizens]

69. Obamacare

Obamacare was considered dead in the water by Dem and Rep. reps. Pelosi not only got it passed, she got it passed with a public option.

[Thekaspervote]

58. FYI: you can kill the messenger if you like but I wouldn't say DU'ers act like republicans

We are some of the most ardent hard working Dems you will ever find anywhere. It will not make you any friends here doing that

aoc is the one that called speaker Pelosi a racist, not the other way round! you won’t find a woman or dem leader that cares more about women’s rights, .. those of color or not.

Speaker Pelosi had a CLOSED door meeting with her constituents, she didn’t scold them in public. She has every right to call them out behind closed doors. She in not the one that leaked it to the press!

[mcar]

44. Talk to each other, don't tweet your issues

Seems simple to me.

[Mach1miles]

81. The irony is that she tweeted to tell them not to tweet.

She needed a private conversation so that they could understand her concerns and she could hear what they were saying. That’s a good manager. And in the end if she refuses to see things that they value they have the right to proceed as they wish. They may not get re-elected Or there is a good chance that mixing it up is why they were sent there by the voters.

[Thekaspervote]

84. speaker Pelosi did have a private meeting, a closed door mtg. It wasn't her that leaked it.

[Mach1miles]

85. I thought that was a while ago.

Thanks. I will follow up.

[Takket]

51. they all need to get in a room and hash this out.

AOC is fighting for progressive Causes
Pelosi is fighting for political capital.

These are both worthy goals but not always compatible.

They need to find a common ground in private because airing dirty laundry in public is not the way to go about things.

Save your public admonishments for the rethugs, where it belongs.

[smirkymonkey]

117. +1000

[aikoaiko]

67. Still, they are the future and other women like them.

My respect for Pelosi has grown over the last 2 years, but I still think she makes mistakes in how she characterizes some issues.

[lapucelle]

77. The Hill has quotes from the meeting that might provide some context.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Democratic leaders on Wednesday scolded Democrats for publicly taking shots at each other and pleaded for unity as they head into key debates in the coming weeks.

“You got a complaint? You come and talk to me about it. But do not tweet about our members and expect us to think that that is just OK,” Pelosi told Democrats in a closed-door caucus meeting Wednesday, according to a source in the room.

snip============================================================

“I hope there will be some level of respect and sensitivity for our — each individual experience that we bring to this Caucus,” Pelosi said. “You make me the target, but don’t make our Blue Dogs and our New Dems the target in all of this because we have important fish to fry,” Pelosi said.

snip============================================================

Pelosi also told the assembled Democrats that if they, or a member of their staff, had thoughts to attack another lawmaker on social media they should "think twice," according to the senior aide.

"Actually, don't think twice; think once," Pelosi said.

"That was a very poignant moment in there," the senior aide said.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/452422-pelosi-scolds-democrats-for-public-barbs

[MFGsunny]

113. Context matters - a lot.

I'm with Pelosi on this one if this report is accurate.

[PatrickforO]

78. I think Pelosi is wrong here. This will backfire. There are a heck of a lot

of people who are progressive and like AOC, Omar, Tlaib and Pressley just fine, and think they are a breath of fresh air in a party that seems sometimes to have forgotten how to fight back hard, tooth and nail. Yes, we are the proverbial 'good guys' when compared with the Republicans, but in my own opinion, our party leadership needs to form a spine, because it losing the respect of millions of millennials and Gen Z kids who are just now awakening.

I say Pelosi is wrong because I'm a parent of kids AOC's age. And I'll tell you what, try and force them to shut up? Ain't gonna work. In fact it will backfire. Because they won't back down. They won't get in line. They will fight back even harder, because they are fed up with the same-old, same-old - electing people and nothing ever seems to get done that actually helps them.

There's a lot of people on here who vigorously defend Pelosi, Hoyer, Schumer and the rest, and genuinely seem to dislike AOC and her allies. But dismissing them, isolating them - that is the wrong way to go, mark my words. I don't like it at all. And I don't think I'm alone judging by some of the other posts on this thread.

In fact, I'm predicting that if we can refrain from shooting ourselves in the foot before the big race, which is somewhat in doubt, but IF WE CAN, then we will utterly smash the GOP and that party will be dragged down by Trump and go the way of the Whigs.

At that point, yes, our party will split. Libbies like me will become the progressive wing, and others will become the conservative wing. And, for a time we'll have a sane government based on comprise, but with both parties dedicated to moving us forward, unlike the republicans, who stopped negotiating with Newt's 1995 lock-step House.

[UniteFightBack]

91. All she is saying is to take complaints behind closed doors and not put it on BLAST on twitter...

against other Dems. It's shocking that people have a problem with this and just want to defend FOOLISHNESS because it's coming from a FEW representatives that they blindly idolize.

That goes both ways, the freshman reps shouldn't be doing it and neither should Pelosi in her interviews.

[marlakay]

93. We need AOC and her energy and

The others like her. When I knock on doors the young tell me they don't vote because the dems are mostly older people too that don't understand them. We need young people in office that can speak to them.

Nancy should have called AOC and talked to her those closed door meetings by anyone are a joke because they always get leaked so anything you say you know will be public.

It was a warning to the young ones to back off. And maybe they did cross the line but I can tell you with any job I have ever had if a manager publicly scolds an employee rather than in private doesn't look good.

And I am from the Bay Area and like Nancy. If saying she should have called them is wrong here so be it.

[Thekaspervote]

94. She did not publicly scold them. It was a closed mtg. Pelosi didn't leak it

Unfortunately the young people have a bazillion reasons as to why they don’t vote. I have young family members and every election cycle they have a new reason as to why they didn’t vote. More civics, more social responsibility...not sure what it will take to change it

[marlakay]

95. I know she didn't personally leak it

But she knew it would be. It's a game they all play on both sides and that's what needs to stop. The young ones are new and part of social media. She could have privately talked to them to straighten it out.

I think we need to show kids their vote will make a difference. And responsibility that starts with how they are raised. I was raised to vote and that was part of being a citizen. I raised my girls that way and they mostly vote but my grandchildren rarely do.

[Thekaspervote]

99. Agree, somehow some way we need to get our kids to understand their freedoms are not free

And, at the very least they need to vote

[ehrnst]

116. And there were no names mentioned even then. The only one that is doing any public scolding is AOC

because it was a case of "if the shoe fits..."

[JonLP24]

87. Go after Blue Dogs

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

104. Yes, because we'd rather have Republicans than centrist Democrats.

Not every district will elect a left-leaning liberal candidate.

There are benefits to being the majority party in the House, and maybe, someday, in the Senate.

[JonLP24]

105. I'm tired of Pelosi going after these women

She criticized them on 60 minutes so I don't know where Pelosi is coming from. Fuck. Blue Dogs can do whatever they want and we have to kiss their ass but then we use "purity" when it comes to Sanders or AOC.

[Celerity]

109. Between the New Democrat Coalition, the Blue Dog Caucus, and the No Labels/Problem Solvers

Caucus, that is around half the entire Democratic House caucus.

Structurally, due to decades of voter suppression and RW gerrymandering, the only way for us to get a majority and hold it in the House is to have a huge chunk of our caucus be moderates/centrists. There are so many artificially purple, pink and reddish seats now that literally around half our caucus are in one or more of the New Democrat Coalition, and/or The Blue Dog Caucus, and/or the truly problematic No Labels-backed Problem Solvers Caucus (who have massive RW funding for the parent group, No Labels). Combined, they are far more powerful than they were just a few cycles ago.

Many will block so-called progressive (and I am NOT talking Bernie-level left, I mean closer to the centre left) legislation, either for fear of losing their seats or simply on philosophical grounds. I think the public option (let alone M4A, which is not going to happen for decades, if ever) is going to be extraordinarily hard to get past their phalanx. Same for even free community college (forget 4 years) and even expanded student loan forgiveness. Significant war/security/surveillance state cuts and a robust re-regulation of the financial industry? Nope, sorry, I do not see it happening. I say this even if we have the trifecta starting in 2021 of POTUS, Senate (with say 51 or 52 seats) and maintain 240 or even increase our caucus to 250ish in the House.

They are going to deffo toss a spanner in the works for anything that is to the left of centre left (and even will block some centre left things). The electoral grid is too stacked in the rightward direction.



New Democrat Coalition 101 Members, so many of the new freshman/freshwomen class

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Democrat_Coalition#New_Democrat_Coalition_members_(House)

Alabama
Terri Sewell (AL-7), Vice Chair
Arizona
Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-2)
Tom O'Halleran (AZ-1)
Greg Stanton (AZ-9)
California
Pete Aguilar (CA-31)
Ami Bera (CA-7)
Julia Brownley (CA-26)
Salud Carbajal (CA-24)
Tony Cardenas (CA-29)
Gil Cisneros (CA-39)
Lou Correa (CA-46)
Jim Costa (CA-16)
Susan Davis (CA-53)
Josh Harder (CA-10)
Katie Hill (CA-25)
Scott H. Peters (CA-52), Leadership at-large
Harley Rouda (CA-48)
Raul Ruiz (CA-36)
Adam Schiff (CA-28)
Norma Torres (CA-35)
Juan Vargas (CA-51)
Colorado
Jason Crow (CO-6)
Ed Perlmutter (CO-7)
Connecticut
Jim Himes (CT-4), Chair
Delaware
Lisa Blunt Rochester (DE-AL)
Florida
Charlie Crist (FL-13)
Val Demings (FL-10)
Al Lawson (FL-5)
Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (FL-26)
Stephanie Murphy (FL-7)
Darren Soto (FL-9)
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23)
Georgia
Lucy McBath (GA-6)
David Scott (GA-13)
Hawaii
Ed Case (HI-1)
Illinois
Cheri Bustos (IL-17)
Sean Casten (IL-06)
Bill Foster (IL-11)
Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-08)
Mike Quigley (IL-05)
Brad Schneider (IL-10)
Indiana
André Carson (IN-7)
Iowa
Cindy Axne (IA-3)
Kansas
Sharice Davids (KS-3)
Louisiana
Cedric Richmond (LA-2)
Maryland
Anthony G. Brown (MD-4)
David Trone (MD-6)
Massachusetts
Seth Moulton (MA-6)
Bill Keating (MA-9)
Lori Trahan (MA-3)
Michigan
Brenda Lawrence (MI-14)
Elissa Slotkin (MI-8)
Haley Stevens (MI-11)
Minnesota
Angie Craig (MN-2)
Dean Phillips (MN-3)
Nevada
Susie Lee (NV-3)
Steven Horsford (NV-4)
New Hampshire
Ann McLane Kuster (NH-2)
Chris Pappas (NH-1)
New Jersey
Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5)
Tom Malinowski (NJ-7)
Donald Norcross (NJ-1)
Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11)
New Mexico
Xochitl Torres Small (NM-2)
New York
Anthony Brindisi (NY-22)
Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-18)
Gregory Meeks (NY-5)
Eliot L. Engel (NY-16)
Kathleen Rice (NY-4), Leadership at-large
Max Rose (NY-11)
Tom Suozzi (NY-3)
Oklahoma
Kendra Horn (OK-5)
Oregon
Kurt Schrader (OR-5)
Pennsylvania
Brendan Boyle (PA-2)
Madeleine Dean (PA-4)
Chrissy Houlahan (PA-6)
Susan Wild (PA-7)
South Carolina
Joe Cunningham (SC-1)
Tennessee
Jim Cooper (TN-5)
Texas
Colin Allred (TX-32)
Joaquin Castro (TX-20)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
Veronica Escobar (TX-16)
Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15)
Lizzie Pannill Fletcher (TX-7)
Marc Veasey (TX-33)
Utah
Ben McAdams (UT-4)
Virginia
Don Beyer (VA-08)
Gerry Connolly (VA-11), Whip
Elaine Luria (VA-2)
Donald McEachin (VA-4)
Abigail Spanberger (VA-7)
Jennifer Wexton (VA-10)
Washington
Suzan DelBene (WA-01), Vice Chair
Denny Heck (WA-10)
Derek Kilmer (WA-06), Vice Chair
Rick Larsen (WA-2)
Kim Schrier (WA-8)
Adam Smith (WA-9), charter member
Wisconsin
Ron Kind (WI-3), Chair Emeritus
U.S. Virgin Islands
Stacey Plaskett (VI-AL)




Blue Dog Coalition 27 members


REP. ANTHONY BRINDISI Co-chair
REP. J. LUIS CORREA Co-chair
REP. STEPHANIE MURPHY Co-chair
REP. TOM O'HALLERAN Co-chair

Regular Members

REP. SANFORD BISHOP
REP. ED CASE
REP. JIM COOPER
REP. JIM COSTA
REP. CHARLIE CRIST
REP. HENRY CUELLAR
REP. JOE CUNNINGHAM
REP. VICENTE GONZALEZ
REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER
REP. KENDRA HORN
REP. DANIEL LIPINSKI
REP. BEN MCADAMS
REP. COLLIN PETERSON
REP. MAX ROSE
REP. BRAD SCHNEIDER
REP. KURT SCHRADER
REP. DAVID SCOTT
REP. MIKIE SHERRILL
REP. ABIGAIL SPANBERGER
REP. MIKE THOMPSON
REP. XOCHITL TORRES SMALL
REP. JEFF VAN DREW
REP. FILEMON VELA


No Labels Problem Solvers Caucus 46 Members (31 Dems and 15 Rethugs, it was 8, 24 and 2, but the Dem number grew by 7 and the Rethugs dropped by 9 in the 2018 elections)

Democrats

Sanford Bishop (Ga.)
Anthony Brindisi (N.Y.)
Julia Brownley (Calif.)
Salud Carbajal (Calif.)
Tony Cardenas (Calif.)
André Carson (Ind.)
Jim Cooper (Tenn.)
Jim Costa (Calif.)
Charlie Crist (Fla.)
Joe Cunningham (S.C.)
Debbie Dingell (Mich.)
Vicente González (Texas)
Josh Gottheimer (N.J.) co-Chair
Derek Kilmer (Wash.)
Susie Lee (Nev.)
Daniel Lipinski (Ill.)
Stephanie Murphy (Fla.)
Eleanor Norton (D.C.)
Tom O'Halleran (Ariz.)
Jimmy Panetta (Calif.)
Scott Peters (Calif.)
Collin Peterson (Minn.)
Dean Phillips (Minn.)
Max Rose (N.Y.)
Bradley Schneider (Ill.)
Kurt Schrader (Ore.)
Darren Soto (Fla.)
Abigail Spanberger (Va.)
Tom Suozzi (N.Y.)
Jeff Van Drew (N.J.)
Peter Welch (Vt.)

Republicans

Earl Carter (Ga.)
Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.)
Mike Gallagher (Wis.)
Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon (Puerto Rico)
Dusty Johnson (S.D.)
David Joyce (Ohio)
John Katko (N.Y.)
Peter King (N.Y.)
Adam Kinzinger (Ill.)
Dan Meuser (Pa.)
Tom Reed (N.Y.) co-Chair
Lloyd Smucker (Pa.)
Glenn Thompson (Pa.)
Fred Upton (Mich.)
Steve Watkins (Kan.)

[budkin]

96. WTF is Pelosi's problem

I was willing to give her a chance this go around, but she is seriously pissing me off.

[5starlib]

98. What is going on in our party?!

In the matter of a few weeks, both Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi have become racists? Please wake me up when this nightmare is over. I guess Obama will be called a racist next.

[Watchfoxheadexplodes]

100. The "squad"

I see all sorts of infighting coming geez

[RelativelyJones]

101. Pelosi's 100% right. The Squad" brought this on themselves

[DeminPennswoods]

108. Here are the facts: 95 Dems voted NO,

129 Dems voted AYE, 10 Dems did not vote, meaning only 52% of Dems supported this bill. On the GOP side, 176 Rs voted AYE, 7 voted NO and 15 did not vote.

Roll Call Vote on accepting Senate version of emergency border funding: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2019/roll429.xml.

No votes: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2019/roll429.xml#N
Not voting: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2019/roll429.xml#NV
Ayes vote: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2019/roll429.xml#Y

From the headline, one would've thought the bill passed 434-4, but the reality is much different.

I think Pelosi had to whip this vote really hard, she only got a slight majority of her own caucus to vote for it and had to pass it with GOP votes.

[Gothmog]

111. I support Speaker Pelosi

[GulfCoast66]

115. Let me get this straight: they feel free to attack their fellow democrats on Twitter,

And even support primary opponents running against them.

And then get all offended when the leader of the Democratic Party, who is more more experienced than all them combined times 10, tells them to cut their shit?

Politics is a team effort and public unity is important. If your not with the team, don’t expect the team to be there for you.

[ehrnst]

118. And she didn't even say their names, and she didn't even do it publicly...

But we have some 'team members" that feel that they should be both quarterback and coach.

[silentEcho]

122. I think the women put a lot of effort into their own isolation.

They have no problem speaking up at will yet seem to have a real issue if others do. They are all for saying whatever is on their mind. They should equally respect others adopting their ways.