Spin from columnist Willie Brown, former Speaker of the California State Assembly and San Francisco Mayor:
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, 11-15-09
I'm not talking about the merits of the bill that emerged from the House - the debate on that subject is far from over. I'm talking about Pelosi's behind-the-scenes leadership to get the job done in such a way that at-risk Democrats can still win re-election.
The pundits portrayed the 220-215 tally and 39 Democratic no votes as signs of Pelosi's weakness. What they missed was that Pelosi got her majority while letting Democrats from conservative districts off the hook. Nancy knows that the first thing on every Democratic House member's mind is getting re-elected. In turn, as speaker, her first and foremost job is to ensure they get re-elected.
She also knows that the most important vote they cast once they are re-elected will be to keep her as speaker. And if that means letting them be a Republican now and then, so be it. That's not weakness, that's politics.
LINK:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/15/BAVT1AJFK8.DTLThat's the problem, IMO. It is
all about politics and re-election. We're still getting screwed in the process.