The Beltway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive, but Nancy Pelosi ain't one of them. After a remarkable, sometimes dangerous (for her and her family) thirty-five years in Congress, which included two stints as Speaker of the House, this is one hero stepping down from power fully intact.
It has been such a rocky road for Pelosi. I’m glad she’s finally getting the respect and appreciation she deserves. She’s the boss.
ReplyDeleteI guess you could say she was a political boss, Mitchell.
DeleteHi, Kirk
ReplyDeleteI assume those are your words and not a quotable quote attributed to The Boss. Loved by many and, at the same time, hated, feared, mocked and scorned by many, Nancy stepped down at the right time and for the right reasons. She left her leadership position on her own terms, acknowledging that it was time to pass the torch to a younger generation. She went out with a smile, with humility, dignity and class, marking the end of an era in American politics. .
History has turned the page, uh huh
And the beat goes on, the beat goes on
It was indeed me and not Bruce, Shady, but I just now had to re-word this post a bit. All the news reports initially used the word "retirement", except that may not come for another two years as she was just re-elected to Congress. She IS choosing not to run for House Minority Leader, and thus in my way of thinking, stepping down from power.
DeleteShadow of a Doubt started out as a political blog, but I soon found that frustrating. Things I would like to see happen (Medicare for All, free college tuition, some kind of living wage guarantee) were politically impossible then and probably still are now, so it seemed pointless writing about them. Yet I didn't just want to echo the Democratic Party's talking points, which can happen if you tie a blog too closely to the news cycle, so I switched over to writing about pop culture. Now, that doesn't mean I've totally divested this blog of politics. If you read my pop culture posts carefully, you'll see I here and there let a political comment slip out. And if something really sticks in my craw (such as what I perceive as part of a backlash against the transgender rights movement) I will confront an issue directly (as I did just this past Wednesday.) And on a more positive note, if I can tip my hat to a politician who, all things considered (such as the need to get reelected), fought the good fight, I will do so. Nancy Pelosi fought the good fight.
I didn't realize that SOAD started as a political blog.
DeleteYou don't need to publish this follow-up comment, Kirk. I simply wanted to share it with you, a good friend who is part of the solution, in case you haven't seen it, because I know it will send a chill. This 12 minute animation includes all of our favorites: Matt, Ted, Margie, our good friend Lauren and yes, the star of the show - Big Ron. Beware - this is disturbing. After watching, after experiencing, you might awaken in the night in a cold sweat. Don't say I didn't warn you. Let me know what you thought of it either here on your site or on mine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bedzkv2DGlM
Tom
Shady (or Tom), I gave it a thumbs up. Still, I have one quibble. If Donald Trump is Anakan Skywalker, that means Eric and Ivanka are Luke and Leia. I don't think so.
DeleteI know Bruce but not Nancy. Not up on your politics.....to be fair I don't know much about mine either! Trying to avoid our politics just now :-|
ReplyDeleteAnanka, I just did a quick speed-reading of the Scotland political set-up. Nice thing about parliamentary systems is that it's possible to have more than one VIABLE party on the Left. Let's just say the Democratic Party here in the U.S. is roughly equivalent to your country's Labour Party. Nancy Pelosi has headed that party in Congress since 2002, and that's gotten her the Speaker of the House gig twice when her party was in power.
DeleteIf the United States did indeed have a parliamentary system, Pelosi might very well have been Prime Minister these past four years (one reason why I favor another Constitutional Convention.)
A long and distinguished career.
ReplyDeleteDebra, Nancy Pelosi was no Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but probably as close as someone politically could get to AOC and still become Speaker of the House. Pelosi, the daughter of a Baltimore mayor, was proof that as compromised as the Democratic Party has become by Big Money (she herself is married to a stockbroker) it still has a progressive core.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of AOC, here's what she had to say on Twitter to Lauren Boebert after the latter congresswoman expressed condolences to the victims of the Colorado Springs gay bar shooting:
"@Laurenboebert you have played a major role in elevating anti-LGBT+ hate rhetoric and anti-trans lies while spending your time in Congress blocking even the most common sense gun safety laws.
You don’t get to “thoughts and prayers” your way out of this. Look inward and change."
May AOC also have a long and distinguished career.
But not Boebert.
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