While the rest of us battle healthcare, 3 democrats are picking this moment to battle Pelosi

[La Lioness Priyanka]

Wonder where their priorities are: Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) and Tim Ryan (D-Ohio)

'A dozen unhappy House Democrats met Thursday afternoon to discuss if — and how — they can replace Rep. Nancy Pelosi as minority leader.

Led by Reps. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) and Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), at least some in the group believe Pelosi has to go in order for Democrats to have a chance to win the House back in Nov. 2018. Ryan unsuccessfully challenged Pelosi for party leader back in November.'


http://politi.co/2rIwQYX

[smirkymonkey]

1. Very disappointed in Seth Moulton.

I'm not happy with any of them, but I had high hopes for Moulton. WTF is his problem? Why can't these people stop attacking their own and get back on message. It's so damn frustrating!

[La Lioness Priyanka]

2. i don't like moulton at all, and i think this behavior is typical of him

he was one of the first ones after the 2016 election badgering HRC instead of focusing on how the GOP cheated to win this election.

(i mean i dont like his personality, his policy stances like most D's are fine with me.)

[NCTraveler]

3. It's a power play by people with big ego's. Simple positioning for personal reasons.

They see we might regain power and they are trying to get in position. This isn't about constituencies or progress.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

4. and i bet not a single person of color or woman of color being consulted on this

[NCTraveler]

7. I believe that is a big part of this.

I also don't think we need to qualify it as "woman of color" just because a couple of white women are involved. I have seen very few women spewing this bullshit.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=9242055

[La Lioness Priyanka]

10. yeah, kathleen rice is a woman but does not represent most of us.

Cecile richards however does

Link to tweet

[La Lioness Priyanka]

21. i literally dont understand what you are saying. Ann Coulter is a woman too

and she is hideously misogynistic. Ben Carson supports racism.

[LanternWaste]

33. You're trying a wee bit too hard

You're trying a wee bit too hard, and rather than making a cogent point, are simply (and loudly) advertising a bias.

Gotcha, part deux.

[Tom Rinaldo]

13. I hope I am wrong on this (but I don't think so)

Please someone correct me if I am wrong and I will self delete this post.

I believe the Chair of the Democratic Black Caucus was at that meeting. I caught the tail end of a black congressman being interviewed on Morning Joe this morning who admitted to being present at the meeting. I didn't catch his name. He was openly evasive about what happened there saying it was "family" getting together and it is inappropriate to discuss in public what family has to say among themselves. When pressed repeatedly he praised Pelosi compared to Trump. When asked if that meant he supported Pelosi staying in her position, he instead stated that he is Chair of the Black Caucus and as such he represents their views, and that there is strong support for Nancy within the caucus. But he never explained why he was at that meeting, ot while I was watching.

I did a quick internet search and found this tweet about today's show from the Morning Joe team:

Morning Joe
✔
@Morning_Joe

… Peter Baker, Fmr. Secy. Jeh Johnson, Sen. Bill Cassidy, Tom Brokaw, Rep. Cedric Richmond, Amb. Peter Wittig and more
05:47 - 23 Jun 2017

[BeyondGeography]

17. That was Richmond; he wouldn't tell Morning Joe if he personally supports Pelosi

but that the majority of the CBC does:

"So she should stay then?" Geist asked.

Richmond replied, "We have to figure out a way to get back to the majority, and that is the most crucial point of where we are now."

"So she should stay as leader then, congressman?" Geist asked.

"Well, I am chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and I will do what my membership dictates," Richmond said. "And I think my membership has strong support for Nancy Pelosi."

http://freebeacon.com/politics/cedric-richmond-refuses-three-times-answer-pelosi-house-leader/

[tblue37]

34. Paul Ryan said to keep Kevin McCarthy's comments about Russians owning GOP officials

secret because it was all "in the family."

I don't like that excuse for hiding questionable actions.

[PatSeg]

12. That's how it looks to me as well

Democrats have far more important things to focus on right now. These three all together couldn't fill Nancy Pelosi's shoes. Meanwhile, they are just reinforcing the media and republicans' negative and false portrayal of Pelosi.

[Tom Rinaldo]

5. Yes, it is crazy and completely couner productive

Even if I did not strongly support Leader Pelosi, which I do, they are playing right into a media counter narrative that the Democratic Party is in disarray, rather than the train wreck that is the Republicans. It creates a counter story to the assault on Obamacare for reporters to be distracted by at absolutely the worst time possible. Idiots.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

6. and really shitty fucking behavior on their part.

[dalton99a]

8. Sheer idiocy.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

9. amen. nt

[BeyondGeography]

11. 63 Democratic House members voted against her in January

Filemon Vela, who voted for her then, now says, “I think you’d have to be an idiot to think we could win the House in 2018 with Pelosi at the top.”

So there's a disagreement here among loyal Democrats (not to be confused with unqualified loyalty to Pelosi) that involves a lot more than three people. What do you want to do with these folks, excommunicate them?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

15. i want them to talk ONLY about the healthcare bill while we are in crisis mode

the time to talk about Pelosi was when they had a vote a few months ago.

[dalton99a]

20. Exactly.

[BeyondGeography]

22. And when that's done you will ONLY want them to talk about something else

From my POV, it would be abnormal for a party that has been on the outs since 2010 not to question whether new leadership is needed when the leader has been in power for 14 years and is approaching 80 years of age. It would also be abnormal for the accomplished leader's defenders not to push back. So it goes.

If it's the health of the party you really care about, maybe stop impugning the character of those who oppose Pelosi. The other day you were characterizing them as misogynists. Then Kathleen Rice joined in so in this thread it's a non-POC conspiracy. The record shows that's wrong as well, so you're now 0 for 2.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

23. they just had a vote on her, you act as though that didn't happen.

they got their moment, they lost, and for the good of this country and the resistance they need to stop creating distractions and interparty conflict.

[hamsterjill]

39. Yep, and the poster to which you are replaying shows the real motivation

It's because of her age. You know, women of a certain age just can't get the job done, right? (Sarcasm of course).

Nancy DOES get the job done and they need to lay off her.

[BeyondGeography]

43. The House leadership is 77, 78 and 76 years old respectively

And people say we have a weak bench. Gee, I wonder why?

As a Democrat, you should be able to see the benefits of younger Reps wanting to step up, not to mention seats in deep blue areas finally opening up for new talent.

[hamsterjill]

44. As a Democrat, you should not relish age discrimination either.

As long as Nancy can do the job, what's wrong with Nancy doing the job? It's fine to have younger people in the wings, but age alone should not disqualify anyone.

[SharonClark]

14. What I don't understand is why they went all national media with this

Couldn't they have taken their concerns to the House leadership and/or their fellow House members?

What are they doing in their own districts to fight the gop health and tax cut bill? What are they doing to explain to their constituencies how bad gop policy is for them? Are they doing their own jobs or do they expect Pelosi to do it for them?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

16. This is a power play by the very mediocre Tim Ryan and his ambition

the Dems are vulnerable and he knows it, and he's looking for a moment to shine.

[bdamomma]

18. again there has been much

discussion about this. All Democrats should unite and continue to fight back this will just give those filthy repigs more ammo against us. Damn we have to focus.

Suggestion: if any of those Democratic Reps are yours please call their offices and keep them focused on that Healthcare Bill, not replacing Nancy Pelosi. We have enough to deal with right now.

[dalton99a]

24. The reply to "Hitler demands FDR to fire U.S. general" should be

"FDR tells Hitler to eat shit and die"

NOT "Let's see if Hitler has a point"

(Note: Hitler = Republicans in this post)

[La Lioness Priyanka]

25. +1

[Demsrule86]

26. Those of us that live in their districts need to hammer them. Ryan is my guy. I will call

him again.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

27. thank you. they cannot pretend that a vote didn't just happen, and they lost by a giant margin

these people need to stop sowing inter party conflict

[athena]

38. Great idea.

They should know that they're not earning any support from their constitiuents with such harmful rhetoric.

[Orsino]

28. I presume they have some particular beef with her...

...beyond her being an old lady who's been sort of in charge for a long time?

I might listen if they had something more to offer.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

29. if they had someone to offer who was as progressive as her, as intelligent and fierce

i would have considered it back when they had an actual vote

but they fucking have Tim Ryan, who was anti-choice till last year. That is unacceptable.

[Orsino]

30. But they haven't really said that progressivism is their issue, have they?

"More progressive" sounds good, but aren't they just flailing for change for it's own sake?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

31. their argument is that the right uses her as a boogeyman. But, if they had someone half as effective

the right would use that person as a boogeyman too.

[Orsino]

36. Same argument we used against Hillary.

Sure, it's valid, but why the hell should we let the GOP pick our candidates/leaders? Just to reset their demonization?

[Rene]

41. how do we contact these jerks....Ryan and Rice

and tell them to stand down.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

42. tweet at them. call their offices. i just tweet.

[tblue37]

35. +1. nt

[delisen]

32. When they run against Pelosi, they are running against us.

[athena]

37. These three are all very new members of the House.

They don't seem to have gotten the point that the House runs on seniority. If a congressperson hasn't been around for a very long time, meaning re-elected repeatedly by their district, they simply will not have any real power. Rice, Moulton, and Ryan don't want to be patient like everyone else and want instead to unseat the most senior member of their party. They will fail. The rest of the Democratic members of the House will not take kindly to having a bunch of junior members try to shake things up without earning their status like everyone else.

Most DUers don't like this sort of thing, but that's the way it is. Members of Congress who look so good on TV are not usually the ones who have any real power in the House. This is less true in the Senate, but it's still the case that new members are supposed to watch and learn for the first few years they're in that body. If they show up and immediately start criticizing the party, they won't be given any important committee assignments. DUers were very upset that President Obama wasn't more outspoken in Senate. If he had, the party wouldn't have supported him, and he would never have become president.

For those to whom this is entirely new, here is a useful reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seniority_in_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives

[pirateshipdude]

40. Pelosi strongly has the Democratic base. We stand behind her. Eom

[Greybnk48]

45. If they will do this to Pelosi, I don't trust them at all.

Phony Dems?

[octoberlib]

46. Tim Ryan is the Jason Chaffetz of the Democratic party.

To get "chaffetzed" is DC slang for getting stabbed in the back. Chaffetz did every underhanded thing he could think of to try to become Speaker and it looks like Ryan is using the same playbook.


The GOP is trying to sow division within the Democratic party and I don't know why so many Democrats are falling for it.