We Really Really Like Her

The latest WAPO / ABC News poll pegs Nancy Pelosi's approval rating at 53%. This is an astronomical number for that position. For instance, in Newt Gingrich's heyday he never topped 41%. I not sure, but this might be an all-time high for a Speaker of the House. I guess that Syria trip didn't hurt her at all.

There is something more going on here though. For a Speaker of the House to achieve an approval rating that high, independent voters must now be in full revolt against the republican party. Perhaps that is what Giuliani was talking about when he told a group of social conservatives that the republican party need to "get past" their issues.

The Truth About Liz

Since Liz Cheney decided to write an op-ed decrying Nancy Pelosi's trip to Syria, let's take a look at Cheney's job performance as Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs including heading the State Department's Iran-Syria Operations Group (ISOG).

Well, it's a little difficult. You see, she's been AWOL from the job for around a year while on maternity leave. Forget the usual twelve weeks most people take, you're a Cheney, therefore it's in your blood to abuse the system.

Unless you're willing to do the job, which you don't appear to, you should probably shut the fuck up. And to be honest, the State Department is probably better off without you around anyway.

Attack The Source

I think Nancy Pelosi is mishandling Dick Cheney's remarks from Japan. Who cares what Dick Cheney says? His mentality is clearly firmly rooted in fantasy land so if he slams you, don't call the president, just point that fact out to the press. Here is his latest shot at Democrats from The San Francisco Chronicle:

"I think if we were to do what Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Murtha are suggesting, all we will do is validate the al Qaeda strategy,'' the vice president told ABC News. "The al Qaeda strategy is to break the will of the American people ... try to persuade us to throw in the towel, and then they win because we quit.''

Rather than calling the president to complain which is what Pleosi said she would do, I'd like to see her retort, "Dick Cheney? That man has zero credibility. Just the other day he said Don Rumsfeld was a great Secretary of Defense. Why does anybody believe a thing that man says?"

To me, it simply looks weak to run complaining to Bush every time Cheney spouts off nonsense about the Democratic party. In fact, it's probably Cheney's intent.

Catching Up

Since I've not been blogging the past couple of days, I do want to take time to comment on two ridiculous stories that bubbled up in the media during that time.

The first one is about the Edwards campaign bloggers Amanda Marcotte (Pandagon) and Melissa McEwan (Shakespear's Sister). Noted bigot and president of the Catholic League, Bill Donohue, attacked the Edwards campaign for hiring the two because of "controversial" postings the two made on their own private blogs before being retained by Edwards.

For a while, their fate with the campaign seemed to hang in the balance. Luckily for Edwards, he decided to keep the pair. Any candidate looking weak in the face of silly right-wing bitches like Donohue isn't going to make it through the nominating process.

That being said, didn't whoever hired these two, and I assume it wasn't Edwards himself, consider past remarks they have made? While I think their remarks were insignificant and to be honest, rather pale by blogging standards, apparently the Edwards campaign took them fairly seriously as it took them a day and a half to meaningfully respond to them.

The other story that came up was Nancy Pelosi's request for a plane that could make the trans-continental flight from DC to her district in Northern California. I actually didn't know this, but since 9/11 the Speaker of the House flies on military provided aircraft. Since former Speaker Dennis Hastert only lived in Illinois, the same plane he used will not reach California without having to refuel. None the less, the right-wing noise machine cried foul. silly lot that they are, they have been rebuked by everyone from the House Sargent At Arms to even the president's spokesman, Tony Snow.

You gotta find something to bitch about, I guess, and they're going to have a tougher time than we did in the minority. There just aren't enough corrupt bastards on the Democratic side to bitch about. I guess in that respect, we had it easy.

Impressive

Behold the fundraising ability of Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi has raised this cycle $25,299,419 for DCCC. That's roughly 34% of all the money they have raised. In addition, Pelosi raised $7,874,500 for the Red To Blue fund or about 22% of the money that fund as received this cycle.

I'm pretty sure she will be keeping the top Democratic spot in the House whether it be Speaker or Minority Leader, and it is looking more and more like it will be Speaker.