Via Digby, Matt Stoller gives a telling vignette of Toxic Leader Nance:
I just got back from a fancy NYC fundraiser headlined by Nancy Pelosi for Kirsten Gillibrand to which I snagged a ticket.
I went up to Pelosi after her odd speech to ask her in person about her support for Al Wynn. I said 'I helped organize a fundraiser for Donna Edwards', and I was about to talk about retroactive immunity and ask her to take this as a sign of frustration, as well as to tell her how proud she makes me as the first female Speaker of the House. But the moment I mentioned Al Wynn, Pelosi's whole face abruptly changed, her smile melted away, and she got hostile and said in an icy voice 'I know about that.' She then turned away to talk to someone else.
Classy!
There seem to be two types of frustration, insider frustration and activist frustration. Many of the Democrats in Congress, Pelosi for instance, are insider frustrated. They know something is vaguely wrong somewhere, they know their activists supporters are unhappy, they are still raising lots of money, they know they are in power and feted at fancy breakfasts, and they are unwilling to consider new strategies that actually challenge the constraints they see as permanent.
And when someone else does, they get mean, their face turns cold, and they walk away.
So, if inflicting pain on the Beltway Dems is the only way to get their attention, so fucking what?
Yeah, they "They are advocates, we are leaders". Way to show those leadership skills, Nance.
NOTE Donna Edwards's page is here. As Atrios notes, she's only $15,000 shy of the $100,000 goal.
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This exemplifies a corollary of the Iron Law Of Institutions vis
Power: Members of any Institution are more Loyal to other Members of the Institution than any Constituency to which They owe faithful Representation.
The Iron Law of Institutions: People who hold power within Institutions will sacrifice Power of the Institution-as-a-whole as long as it does not cost them power within the Institution.
Me? A Quick Study, But A Slow Learner
Me? A Quick Study, But A Slow Learner
Stay Classy, Nancy
Reminds me of Barbara Boxer stumping for Lieberman, if I might use that expression. She made the commitment, and somewhere in the middle of it, I think she realized she had fucked up a little bit, but she got all defensive because, as Woody notes, her default position was loyalty, and once she had committed to supporting Clueless Joe, she couldn't back out.
The ugly part is, in their defensiveness, their true feelings bubble up; a kind of "The peasants are revolting!" dismissal seeps out. Makes a normally sane person wanna vote for Ron Paul. Or RuPaul, or something.
"A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead
"A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead
Nancy Pelosi
You know that she was annointed by Sala Burton as she lay dying, don't you? Sala raised her dying head and pointed her (already) dead fingers at Nancy and shrieked, "She's the one!" The alternative would have been for Harry Britt to accidentally become the first GAY Congressman. It could have happened that way, but it didn't. The Democratic Machine here in S.F. told the Gays that this wasn't their time. Maybe later. I think it was the patronizing tone of voice that most annoyed me.
But I digress. I have very low expectations of Nancy Pelosi, and so far she's met none of them.
We progressives need to come up with our own game plan. We are no longer Democrats. We need something else, and I'm sure as fuck not talkaing about that asshole whats-his-name, the Corvair guy. Oh yeah, Nader. What an asshole.
Do you feel satisfied that the establishment Democrats dropped transgenders from the proposed ENDA legislation posed to pass, even if only to be defeated by veto? I feel cheapened by the exercise. Maybe I just expected too much.
Oh sigh. I've run on too long about too many diverse subjects.
Cheers
(P.S. Your comments filter just told me I was lousy at math, but bless it's heart, it's giving me a second chance.)