House Editorial: Give Pelosi a fighting chance
Republicans should handle the lady like a lady, or at least with the kid gloves they use with their own party
Posted on November 20, 2006

Nancy Pelosi has had a tough first week. Party operatives say the Democratic speaker-in-waiting suffered an embarrassing blow pertaining to her colleague John Murtha, who lost in a party ballot for majority leader, despite Pelosi’s support and lobbying for him. Murtha, a Vietnam veteran, is calling for an immediate pullout of troops in Iraq.

Republicans say this embarrassment foreshadows the tough time she’ll have uniting the scattered Democratic majority and are calling her a “key target” in their comeback campaign. In fact, they’ve already started strategizing to attack Pelosi. Republican strategists decided not only to weaken her in the face of the nation, but also align her with Sen. Hillary Clinton, the favorite for the 2008 Democrat presidential nomination. What they haven’t considered, however, is that neither of these women is actually running for president. Sure, in January, Pelosi will become the most powerful woman in American political history and second in line to the presidency after Vice President Dick Cheney; Clinton has yet to declare herself a candidate despite huge campaign donations that indicate otherwise. But neither of these women is actually asking to be president of the United States.

Tom DeLay, the Republican powerbroker who got caught in a lobbyist corruption scandal, said, “two years of Pelosi gives a good idea of what four years of Hillary will be like.” Then again, he’s kind of whiny. Who can trust the opinions of a man who redistricts Texas in order to get Republicans more votes and has the jolliest mug shot in Texas history?

A comparison between Clinton and Pelosi can certainly be made, on an anatomical level at least, if that’s how you determine your vote. However, anyone would buckle under the pressure Republicans — and Democrats, for that matter — are putting on Pelosi. One wrong move and the American public may see that as her general incapability and, therefore, the incapability of Clinton. But, if anyone is able to escape comparisons to other political leaders, it’s Clinton. In fact, Pelosi has had her fair share of persecution, too. Her 19 years as a San Francisco congresswoman left her with a lot of Republican strategist attacks, and only a few bruises.

Perhaps if Republicans would channel their bellyaching on, say, real issues, instead of these petty childhood games, they wouldn’t be the minority party in this mess in the first place.

Plus, it’s only been one week, boys. Republicans have given President Bush more than five years; give Pelosi a fighting chance.