Pelosi's staying

[Landslide Lyndon]

Pelosi isn't more polarizing or less beloved than Bhoener or McConnell. Everyone who can read a poll can deduce that.

And is there anybody out there so gullible  to believe that a Minority Leader Steny Hoyer or John Larson won't be vilified by the Republicans as "another wild-eyed East Coast Liberal"?

[Landslide Lyndon]

Another thing I just read: remember when everybody said back in 2005 that the Democrats gave a big gift to Republicans when they elected "crazy liberal" Howard Dean as DNC chair?
Well, we all know what a "disaster" Dean's tenure was.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Another thing I just read: remember when everybody said back in 2005 that the Democrats gave a big gift to Republicans when they elected "crazy liberal" Howard Dean as DNC chair?
Well, we all know what a "disaster" Dean's tenure was.

Meh.  Never really thought of Dean as a liberal.  Spoke like one sure, but it seemed like he thought and governed like more of a centrist.

That didn't deter Republicans from using him as a boogeyman, a wild-eyed ideologue who wanted to turn America into some kind of Liberal Utopia.

And as I mentioned before, if Democrats elect Steny Hoyer for Minority Leader do you think that Republicans won't try to present him as the male version of Pelosi? We are talking about people that have convinced themselves that Obama is the Antichrist, literally.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Thats actually a great place to be in, really.

There are many things the GOP can do in the House to exceed expectations. Cutting Congressional pay would be a great first move. I hear Boehner is interested in that. Its not much but it does send a message that this congress and this new GOP gets it enough they if everyone else takes a pay cut they should as well. On its own its miniscule, but it is as I said a great start.

Cutting congressional pay? Good luck with that.
The problem is that besides symbolic votes about repealing HCR and extending Bush's tax cuts, the Republicans have absolutely no clue of what to do.
David Frum, Andrew Sullivan and other conservatives literally are begging Bhoener and Co. for a year now to present a serious plan about how they are going to reduce the deficit, to no avail.
Frum has gone even further saying that actually the GOP leadership will quickly drop any pretense about serious governing and will focus on passing the pet projects of Bhoener's lobbyist friends.

Unless of course by beating expectations you mean launching frivolous investigations, on things like Obama's trip to India, and trying to impeach him. 

[Landslide Lyndon]

According to the exit polls, she has an eight (as in "8" as in less than "9"... as in child molester territory) percent approval rating among independents.

8 percent.

If I was the GOP I would have 25 House members "switch" to the Dems just long enough to vote for Minority leader (and then switch back) just to make it happen.

This is the inequivalent of the GOP appointing Sarah Palin to be RNC chair (or similar act of political madness)

8%....?

Have the Dems lost their mind?

The GOP just keeps running the same plays they have run for the last two years..

Again, remember how elated were the GOPers when Howard Dean was elected DNC chairman?
He too was considered a permanently damaged name and a scourge for independents and moderates.

If Bhoener flops (and he isn't exactly popular, even among Republicans), then Pelosi will look good by comparison in two years.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Hoyer should run against Pelosi.  Not only do we need someone other than Pelosi, I get the sense that she's just trying to stay so that she can screw him out of the leadership.

Is that supposed to be a bad thing?

Dean is probably and was in 2005 far more popular then Pelosi is now.

Dean might not have been that "hated" but he was certainly presented successfully as a crazy clown, the liberal Christine O'Donnell of its day.
John McCain (then still a "moderate") said back then that his election was the biggest gift Democrats could make to Republicans and ensured their domination for the next years.

All this "Dean was popular, we never considered him an ultra-liberal" is revisionist history.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Hoyer should run against Pelosi.  Not only do we need someone other than Pelosi, I get the sense that she's just trying to stay so that she can screw him out of the leadership.

Is that supposed to be a bad thing?

Dean is probably and was in 2005 far more popular then Pelosi is now.

Dean might not have been that "hated" but he was certainly presented successfully as a crazy clown, the liberal Christine O'Donnell of its day.
John McCain (then still a "moderate") said back then that his election was the biggest gift Democrats could make to Republicans and ensured their domination for the next years.

All this "Dean was popular, we never considered him an ultra-liberal" is revisionist history.

The chairman of a party doesn't have the profile of a Speaker.

[Landslide Lyndon]

You think Steele actually had a very high profile? Sure, us political junkies knew him, but how often did pols on either side bring him up? How many times was he featured in an attack ad? How many non-political junkies would know who he was off the top of their heads?

Well, he did a damn fine job embarrassing his party time and again until the powers that be sent him to Dick Cheney's undisclosed location.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Pelosi should leave, mainly because she is damaged goods. Republicans were successful into making her into a boogeyman just based on where she lives. Yes the fact that she had passed all this legislation certainly helped, but she wouldn't be featured in so many ads if she was from Oshkosh. I hate how Republicans can go around attacking the cities of America (or letting one drown) but Democrats can't say sh**t about the assbackwards rural areas. Fukc that sh**t.

No, they're not attacking cities (most Republicans never do, and don't say Palin). San Francisco has a reputation. She also is not charismatic by any definition.

Yeah, the Republican never attack cities (besides San Fransisco, Boulder, New York, Chicago, etc.).
They only attack states (Massachusetts, California, Hawaii).

[Landslide Lyndon]

I don't know about you, but I've heard the phrase "Republican Hick" more often than "San Francisco Liberal", and they basically mean the same thing.

You mean like in that memo about the West Virginia ad?

[Landslide Lyndon]

I don't know about that. I remember plenty of ads attacking him for being a "Vermont liberal" before the scream happened.

No there weren't.  Nobody outside of VT heard of him, and he wasn't chairman until later.

Yes, there was. Famously, there was an ad running in Iowa where some old couple said they wanted Howard Dean to keep his liberal loving, "latte drinking", [insert five stereotypes here] leftist agenda out of Iowa.

After he was running for President.

Keep moving those goalposts.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Cutting congressional pay? Good luck with that.
The problem is that besides symbolic votes about repealing HCR and extending Bush's tax cuts, the Republicans have absolutely no clue of what to do.
David Frum, Andrew Sullivan and other conservatives literally are begging Bhoener and Co. for a year now to present a serious plan about how they are going to reduce the deficit, to no avail.
Frum has gone even further saying that actually the GOP leadership will quickly drop any pretense about serious governing and will focus on passing the pet projects of Bhoener's lobbyist friends.

Unless of course by beating expectations you mean launching frivolous investigations, on things like Obama's trip to India, and trying to impeach him.  

You lost all credibility when you claim Andrew Sullivan is a conservative.  He is nothing of the sort - he's practically a Democrat, even if he doesn't call himself that.  Nor is David Frum really that conservative.

The Republican leadership had absolutely no incentive to mention specifics about what they will cut while running for election.  It only would have served to turn off some of the people who would otherwise vote for them, and taken the spotlight off of the real issue in the campaign - Obama.  There will be budget cuts - Republicans know that if they don't govern better than in their recent past, they will be turfed again.

By the way, it's Speaker-Elect Boehner, not Bhoener, just like it's Speaker Pelosi, not Pelousy.

Sullivan and Frum are surely more conservative than pork king Mitch McConnell, Glenn Beck or Sister Sarah.

And Republicans refuse to specify what they will cut even now that the election is over. When Rand Paul says that defense and entitlements are off the table (and BTW, he is all for earmarks now) then I challenge you to guess what magic solution they will find to reduce the deficit.