The Republican Party Failed To Defeat Pelosi-- So Now The Republican Wing Of The Democratic Party Will Give It A Shot

The Republican wing of the Democratic Party wants to replace Pelosi with someone far to her right. The Wall Street-financed New Dems are behind the big anti-Pelosi push. Late this afternoon, HuffPo released the signatories to a letter pledging not to support her for Speaker, primarily a real garbage heap of Democraps. I'd love to see Pelosi replaced... but not by a New Dem of Blue Dog. This is the list (the worst of the plotters are bolded):

• Tim Ryan (D-OH)
• Seth Moulton (New Dem-MA)
• Kathleen Rice (New Dem-NY)
• Ed Perlmutter (New Dem-CO)
• Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog-OR)
• Filemon Vela (Blue Dog-TX)
• Marcia Fudge (D-OH)
• Bill Foster (New Dem-IL)
• Brian Higgins (D-NY)
• Stephen Lynch (D-MA)
• Linda Sanchez (Crook-CA)
• Jim Cooper (Blue Dog-TN)
• Jeff Van Drew (Blue Dog-NRA-NJ)
• Joe Cunningham (New Dem-SC)
• Max Rose (Blue Dog-NY)
• Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NRA-NY)
• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)

This is not a list of good government reformers. This is a list of personally ambitious opportunists and right-of-center assholes who fear any moves towards a progressive agenda. Notice there are no progressives on the list. HuffPo reports that there are 3 ultra-right-wing Democrats-- Blue Dogs Conor Lamb (PA) and Dan Lipinski (IL) plus New Dem Ron Kind (WI)-- as well as 5 of the worst freshmen-- Blue Dogs Abigail Spanberger (VA) and Mike Sherrill (NJ) plus New Dems Elissa Slotkin (MI), Jason Crow (CO) and Haley Stevens (MI)-- and one bona fide reformer, Andy Kim (NJ) who are seen as likely to vote against Pelosi but who also are afraid to sign the letter until they can be sure Pelosi will not be in a position to get even with them.

The anti-Pelosi members are working to gather as many names as possible as quick as possible, as they believe the longer they remain in the shadows, the more likely it is that Pelosi could flip some of their members.

But Pelosi’s opponents also told HuffPost they think the actual number of Democrats who do not want to vote for Pelosi is much larger than anyone anticipates, and they remain confident she doesn’t have the votes.

Ryan, who ran against Pelosi to be minority leader at the end of the last Congress, told reporters Wednesday that he was certain Pelosi didn’t have the votes, and multiple members who support Pelosi even told HuffPost on the condition of anonymity that they believe she is in trouble.

One of the members pointed to Pelosi’s minority leader race in 2016 with Ryan in which he received 63 votes from his Democratic colleagues to Pelosi’s 134. This member said Pelosi didn’t get the message when one-third of the caucus voted for a “backbencher.”

But if Pelosi didn’t get the message before, she and her team are certainly working now to try to tamp down the revolt and swing the incoming Democrats from no to yes-- or at least to “present.”

Pelosi’s allies all readily point out that “you can’t beat somebody with nobody,” but Pelosi’s opponents are testing that idea. In fact, they seem to think their movement is strengthened without a clear alternative.

The idea is that, once Pelosi knows she can’t win, she will step aside and there would be a new race for the speaker position.

To that point, one office for a prominent Democrat already reached out to HuffPost to suggest that their boss is well-positioned to become speaker if Pelosi can’t get the votes.

Members believe-- for good reason-- that there would be a rush of candidates for the speaker job if Pelosi stepped down, potentially including Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Assistant Minority Leader Jim Clyburn (D-SC), Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).

Ryan, in an effort to deflect criticism that the anti-Pelosi Democrats are just trying to knock off a woman from a leadership role, repeatedly said Wednesday that he’d like to see another woman become speaker, and he has pointed to four women: Marcia Fudge (D-OH), Kathleen Rice (New Dem-NY), Karen Bass (D-CA), and Cheri Bustos (Blue Dog-IL). (Fudge and Rice are both also anti-Pelosi.)

Moulton has also been strongly pushing Fudge, who is a former Congressional Black Caucus chairwoman.

The anti-Pelosi group is expected to release its letter by the end of the week, though Ryan also said they would hold the letter as long as they were still getting new signatures. Ryan, Moulton, and Perlmutter are the members loosely organizing the letter, and they’re checking in mostly with the new Democrats to make sure they won’t flip under pressure.

But Ryan also assured reporters Wednesday that there were more Democrats than just those who will be on the letter who intend to vote against Pelosi-- they just don’t want the scrutiny associated with revealing themselves.

Still, Pelosi says she is confident she can survive.

Exiting a caucus meeting this morning, Pelosi said she could stop and take questions.

“I’m a busy person,” she said. “I will be speaker of the House no matter what Seth Moulton says.”

If I thought there was a real chance Barbara Lee would become Speaker, I'd be all for this but, like I said, this is a power play by the Wall Street-owned wing of the party to get one of their own into the speaker's chair. Ironic that Pelosi's DCCC-- and the House Majority PAC she controls-- worked so hard to recruit and elect Blue Dogs and New Dems, while eviscerating progressives, all through the cycle.

But, like I've been predicting all year, the way this will probably play out is that Pelosi will make a deal to only serve 3 months at which time she will retire from Congress and help get her daughter Christine elected to her San Francisco seat, in return for being able to work on her not very exciting agenda as Speaker. A couple more points: Hakeem Jeffries has told intimates he's running. Progressive Caucus co-chair Mark Pocan is secretly behind Clyburn, who is pretty reactionary. Chuck Schumer, a male conservative Dem, was reelected to his own leadership post in the Senate today with no opposition. And... I spoke with Barbara Lee a few days ago and she told me she's running for Caucus Chair.