Pelosi: "We're capitalists, and that's just the way it is."

[136or142]

I love the responses to this just as a reflection of who we are as a political system. The left is distressed if she's telling the truth, the right is distressed that she isn't telling the truth in the first place.

I think it's also accurate to point out here that liberals like me think 'what Pelosi said is completely accurate' while further left Bernie Sanders type progressives are unhappy with what she said.

[Chief Justice Keef]

Good. Hopefully the Dems never embrace socialism.

Enjoy capitalism while it still exists.

[Confused Democrat]

I love the responses to this just as a reflection of who we are as a political system. The left is distressed if she's telling the truth, the right is distressed that she isn't telling the truth in the first place.

I think it's also accurate to point out here that liberals like me think 'what Pelosi said is completely accurate' while further left Bernie Sanders type progressives are unhappy with what she said.

I was a Bernie Sanders supporter during the primaries, and I absolutely agreed with Pelosi here and believe she's doing a pretty good job of being house minority leader so far.

That kid's line of questioning was stupid and frankly cringeworthy. It's not that young people "don't believe in capitalism," we just don't blindly fawn over it. We believe Capitalism is flawed and that it is the job of the government to correct those flaws.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Good. Hopefully the Dems never embrace socialism.

Enjoy capitalism while it still exists.

Capitalism is over. We're heading back to mercantilism for the benefit of the plutocrats.

[136or142]

I love the responses to this just as a reflection of who we are as a political system. The left is distressed if she's telling the truth, the right is distressed that she isn't telling the truth in the first place.

I think it's also accurate to point out here that liberals like me think 'what Pelosi said is completely accurate' while further left Bernie Sanders type progressives are unhappy with what she said.

I was a Bernie Sanders supporter during the primaries, and I absolutely agreed with Pelosi here and believe she's doing a pretty good job of being house minority leader so far.

That kid's line of questioning was stupid and frankly cringeworthy. It's not that young people "don't believe in capitalism," we just don't blindly fawn over it. We believe Capitalism is flawed and that it is the job of the government to correct those flaws.

I think that's fair and I've written previously that Sanders himself isn't actually a socialist as he doesn't advocate the nationalization of any industries (he actually calls himself a democratic socialist which refers to workplace democracy, but I've never heard him mention that either) but I don't think that reflects the views of most of his supporters.

[Chief Justice Keef]

I love the responses to this just as a reflection of who we are as a political system. The left is distressed if she's telling the truth, the right is distressed that she isn't telling the truth in the first place.

I think it's also accurate to point out here that liberals like me think 'what Pelosi said is completely accurate' while further left Bernie Sanders type progressives are unhappy with what she said.

I was a Bernie Sanders supporter during the primaries, and I absolutely agreed with Pelosi here and believe she's doing a pretty good job of being house minority leader so far.

That kid's line of questioning was stupid and frankly cringeworthy. It's not that young people "don't believe in capitalism," we just don't blindly fawn over it. We believe Capitalism is flawed and that it is the job of the government to correct those flaws.

The "kid" isn't even asking Pelosi if Democrats would convert to full-on socialism. He's asking for "contrast with right-wing politics", but Pelosi just dismisses that right out of the gate as some radical assumption.

What's infuriating about this is the outright refusal by most centrists like Pelosi to actually go left on economics. I saw this throughout the primary, how liberals would constantly talk about Hillary as "a progressive who gets things done", casting opposition to any of the social democratic reformism that Bernie was proposing as some radical idea. Even if we had opportunities like promoting the redistribution of wealth within a capitalist framework, that's disregarded as "too left-wing".

[Devout Centrist]

Good. Hopefully the Dems never embrace socialism.

Enjoy capitalism while it still exists.

Capitalism is over. We're heading back to mercantilism for the benefit of the plutocrats.

It really worries me to see these neo-mercantilists on the march. There's nothing capitalist about closing borders, restricting trade, and shirking diversity.

[136or142]

I love the responses to this just as a reflection of who we are as a political system. The left is distressed if she's telling the truth, the right is distressed that she isn't telling the truth in the first place.

I think it's also accurate to point out here that liberals like me think 'what Pelosi said is completely accurate' while further left Bernie Sanders type progressives are unhappy with what she said.

I was a Bernie Sanders supporter during the primaries, and I absolutely agreed with Pelosi here and believe she's doing a pretty good job of being house minority leader so far.

That kid's line of questioning was stupid and frankly cringeworthy. It's not that young people "don't believe in capitalism," we just don't blindly fawn over it. We believe Capitalism is flawed and that it is the job of the government to correct those flaws.

The "kid" isn't even asking Pelosi if Democrats would convert to full-on socialism. He's asking for "contrast with right-wing politics", but Pelosi just dismisses that right out of the gate as some radical assumption.

What's infuriating about this is the outright refusal by most centrists like Pelosi to actually go left on economics. I saw this throughout the primary, how liberals would constantly talk about Hillary as "a progressive who gets things done", casting opposition to any of the social democratic reformism that Bernie was proposing as some radical idea. Even if we had opportunities like promoting the redistribution of wealth within a capitalist framework, that's disregarded as "too left-wing".

I think it was in fairly liberal Oregon where the initiative this election cycle for 'single payer' health care went down 72-28%

[136or142]

Good. Hopefully the Dems never embrace socialism.

Enjoy capitalism while it still exists.

Capitalism is over. We're heading back to mercantilism for the benefit of the plutocrats.

It really worries me to see these neo-mercantilists on the march. There's nothing capitalist about closing borders, restricting trade, and shirking diversity.

Trump, at best, is advocating either mercantilism or reciprocity.

[angus]

Does anyone else have a reaction to this

ennui, mostly.  But to comment:

He veered far off script, not asking the question he agreed to ask, and admitted as much.  Then he rambled and digressed, taking over 60 seconds to ask his non-approved question, which was rather vague and circular, with unclear antecedents.  ("I wonder if there's any way the Democrats could move to a more populist position in the way that the alt right has sort of captured this populist strain on the right wing."  What does that even mean?)

She didn't roll her eyes.  She was polite.  She was gracious.  I'm no fan of Nancy Pelosi, but it seems to me that her comment was reasonable given that he started out by saying that from what he has seen, his generation didn't support capitalism.  (He even referred to a Harvard poll claiming that 51% of those aged 18 to 29 no longer support the system of capitalism.)  Moreover, she went on to explain her answer to his unscripted and vague question.  She certainly didn't dismiss it.  Rather, she gave him a rather lengthy explanation, with footnotes even (citing two works of Adam Smith.)

[Antonio the Sixth]

She's not entirely wrong (capitalism can be something different from its neoliberal version) but she utterly missed the point of the question. Shame.

And can we also acknowledge how stupid the question was? America is failing not because of its income inequality but because it has raised an entire generation of young adults who have no idea how anything works, and are running into the open embrace of tyranny as a result. If you cannot rely on God and you cannot rely on yourself, the only thing left to turn to is government. Socialism requires that government becomes your god.

Can we acknowledge that you are an ass?

[Fight for Trump]

And can we also acknowledge how stupid the question was? America is failing not because of its income inequality but because it has raised an entire generation of young adults who have no idea how anything works, and are running into the open embrace of tyranny as a result. If you cannot rely on God and you cannot rely on yourself, the only thing left to turn to is government. Socialism requires that government becomes your god.

Can we acknowledge that you are an ass?

I openly acknowledge that.

[Crumpets]

My main takeaway from this, as it has been for the last decade, is that Nancy Pelosi does a terrible job making the case for the Democrats. She will never come across as a populist, and her go-to message has pretty much always been "but the Republicans..." very much like DWS.

[The_Doctor]

I don't really think capitalism is in a crisis as much as the fact that stagnant growth is really upsetting the Western world. Government action probably will end up being essential to right the capitalist system to distribute wealth more equitably through market channels (think universal college/trade schools to help those get skilled jobs that in turn boost the economy).

[justfollowingtheelections]

I love the responses to this just as a reflection of who we are as a political system. The left is distressed if she's telling the truth, the right is distressed that she isn't telling the truth in the first place.

I think it's also accurate to point out here that liberals like me think 'what Pelosi said is completely accurate' while further left Bernie Sanders type progressives are unhappy with what she said.

I was a Bernie Sanders supporter during the primaries, and I absolutely agreed with Pelosi here and believe she's doing a pretty good job of being house minority leader so far.

That kid's line of questioning was stupid and frankly cringeworthy. It's not that young people "don't believe in capitalism," we just don't blindly fawn over it. We believe Capitalism is flawed and that it is the job of the government to correct those flaws.

The "kid" isn't even asking Pelosi if Democrats would convert to full-on socialism. He's asking for "contrast with right-wing politics", but Pelosi just dismisses that right out of the gate as some radical assumption.

What's infuriating about this is the outright refusal by most centrists like Pelosi to actually go left on economics. I saw this throughout the primary, how liberals would constantly talk about Hillary as "a progressive who gets things done", casting opposition to any of the social democratic reformism that Bernie was proposing as some radical idea. Even if we had opportunities like promoting the redistribution of wealth within a capitalist framework, that's disregarded as "too left-wing".

I think it was in fairly liberal Oregon where the initiative this election cycle for 'single payer' health care went down 72-28%

No it was Colorado.  I wish we had that in Oregon!

[Confused Democrat]

I love the responses to this just as a reflection of who we are as a political system. The left is distressed if she's telling the truth, the right is distressed that she isn't telling the truth in the first place.

I think it's also accurate to point out here that liberals like me think 'what Pelosi said is completely accurate' while further left Bernie Sanders type progressives are unhappy with what she said.

I was a Bernie Sanders supporter during the primaries, and I absolutely agreed with Pelosi here and believe she's doing a pretty good job of being house minority leader so far.

That kid's line of questioning was stupid and frankly cringeworthy. It's not that young people "don't believe in capitalism," we just don't blindly fawn over it. We believe Capitalism is flawed and that it is the job of the government to correct those flaws.

The "kid" isn't even asking Pelosi if Democrats would convert to full-on socialism. He's asking for "contrast with right-wing politics", but Pelosi just dismisses that right out of the gate as some radical assumption.

What's infuriating about this is the outright refusal by most centrists like Pelosi to actually go left on economics. I saw this throughout the primary, how liberals would constantly talk about Hillary as "a progressive who gets things done", casting opposition to any of the social democratic reformism that Bernie was proposing as some radical idea. Even if we had opportunities like promoting the redistribution of wealth within a capitalist framework, that's disregarded as "too left-wing".

He prefaced the question by saying:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

A pretty radical assertion if you ask me. The person who conducted the poll even said it was hard to interpret his results because:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Moving on. Then the questioner throws this bizarre statement out:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

The alt-right? Really? Way to ask a loaded question. The alt-right is a racist fringe element of the Republican party, and you're asking Pelosi if we should move in that direction?

No wonder Pelosi had trouble directly addressing his question. This wasn't just "asking for contrast with right-wing politics." This was asking if we should start giving credence to an alt-left movement. Even with that loaded and disjointed question, Pelosi still managed to give an awesome answer, and I'm failing to see why people are faulting her for it.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

What a perfectly reasonable statement. Mind telling me what was so wrong with this?

[Pyro]

$196,299,990.

[Confused Democrat]

$196,299,990.

Great way to distract from the substance of her answer, but point taken.

[Xing]

Whether you agree with her or not, this is why a lot of people see the current Democratic Party as "Republican lite."

[GlobeSoc]

Whether you agree with her or not, this is why a lot of people see the current Democratic Party as "Republican lite."

True, but a large problem was with her messaging. She framed her answer in a very idiotic way.

[Confused Democrat]

Whether you agree with her or not, this is why a lot of people see the current Democratic Party as "Republican lite."

True, but a large problem was with her messaging. She framed her answer in a very idiotic way.

That's because the question was framed in an idiotic way.

[LLR]

The day the Democrats turn socialist is the day they die. If a majority of young people today are socialists, I want to leave this country. Disgusting stuff.

The response was framed wrong, yes. She should have said "We're in a capitalist society, it's our job to hold corporations accountable." or something. If a majority of the youth disagree with that, however, that's gross.

[DavidB.]

Great comment! I'm a true Nancy Boy today.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Thank God there are still some relatively sane people in this country nowadays. This country is capitalist, and it will be as long as it exists as a free and independent state. Anyway, There should be huge regulations on industry.

So not very long then?

[OSR stands with Israel]

This is the best thing Pelosi has said in a long time.ever

FTFY