Best Speaker of the House in your lifetime

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

Now that we're at the end of an era.

[bagelman]

The only other Democrat to serve as Speaker in my lifetime was Tom Foley, who lost reelection in the 1994 wave. I have no idea how good he was.

[The Dowager Mod]

O'Neill was good but Nancy edges him.

[darklordoftech]

The only other Democrat to serve as Speaker in my lifetime was Tom Foley, who lost reelection in the 1994 wave. I have no idea how good he was.

[Lechasseur]

I was born when Foley was speaker (not too long before he lost reelection though).

I'm going with Foley by default.

I don't know too much about him, but I know every speaker since him has been awful.

[Schiff for Senate]

Paul Ryan versus Nancy Pelosi is an easy choice.

[Schiff for Senate]

Paul Ryan versus Nancy Pelosi is an easy choice.

Looking farther back, Newt Gingrich and Dennis Hastert are Massive HPs, for obvious reasons. Boehner wasn't terrible but Pelosi still beats him comfortably.

I can kind of see why Pelosi has an overwhelming majority of votes, when the competition (given that this forum skews larger) mostly consists of just Dennis Hastert (actual pedophile), Newt Gingrich (the man who broke American politics), Paul Ryan (personally I don't strongly dislike him, but I can see how his deficit hawk tendencies and anti-tax-and-spend and strait-laced economic conservatism is highly distasteful to liberals on here), and John Boehner (who really wasn't that bad, but if you're a Democrat you'd still definitely pick Pelosi over him).

[Ferguson97]

Without just our lifetimes? Given that the majority of most Atlas users, this is probably going to Nancy Pelosi by default - even by the Republican users.

[MarkD]

I vote in this poll for Pelosi, not because she and I are an ideological match, but because I have always respected her political skills that enabled her to rise to become the Democrats' leader, and she has been a very effective leader of her caucus. She get things done.
On the other hand, ...

The only other Democrat to serve as Speaker in my lifetime was Tom Foley, who lost reelection in the 1994 wave. I have no idea how good he was.

I was born when Foley was speaker (not too long before he lost reelection though).

I'm going with Foley by default.

I don't know too much about him, but I know every speaker since him has been awful.

I'm much older, and I can remember that one thing Tom Foley did shortly after he ascended to the Speakership impressed the Republican so much that they gave him a standing ovation. The House was holding a voice vote on something, and Foley ruled that the Republicans won the vote. Previous Democratic Speakers, like Jim Wright and Tip O'Neil, always automatically ruled that the Democrats won every voice vote, and the fact that Foley did not act as partisan as his predecessors impressed the hell out of the Republicans, so they applauded him and stood to honor him.

[Vosem]

Obviously Gingrich for the vision thing, but controlling for circumstances it would be Boehner.

I would say Boehner for "favorite", just because I've always liked the guy and I thought he did quite well given how much opposition he faced from all corners, but Gingrich was probably "best"; he was an unusually relevant Speaker and the 1994 midterm was, especially in hindsight, a vast realignment to how American politics works which was achieved by a non-presidential campaign. Voted Gingrich.

Without just our lifetimes? Given that the majority of most Atlas users, this is probably going to Nancy Pelosi by default - even by the Republican users.

Legitimately can't imagine any Republican saying Pelosi; for that matter I struggle to imagine a swing voter who plausibly could vote Republican saying this. Might be useful to see this poll broken down by party, I guess. I will say that Pelosi was probably "best" at her job in a technical aspect; she was a master at counting votes, including on the other side, and knowing exactly what the standings were. Boehner is in a distant second and all the other Speakers are then way behind.

[dw93]

Pelosi. She wasn't always the best messenger, but she has admirable political skill. Gingrich was the worst of the bunch.

[Ferguson97]

Legitimately can't imagine any Republican saying Pelosi; for that matter I struggle to imagine a swing voter who plausibly could vote Republican saying this. Might be useful to see this poll broken down by party, I guess. I will say that Pelosi was probably "best" at her job in a technical aspect; she was a master at counting votes, including on the other side, and knowing exactly what the standings were. Boehner is in a distant second and all the other Speakers are then way behind.

I interpreted the question "best" to mean the most effective at their job, rather than your own personal favorite.

[Sestak]

Not the biggest fan of Pelosi, but when the other options are the pedo, the crying boner, and the granny killer…

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I am going to go with Boehner, which is amazing considering I supported Pence's challenge to him in late 2006.

[Alben Barkley]

With the exception of Foley, the others were Republicans in my lifetime — all terrible, terrible Republicans for that matter. So Pelosi wins this hands down, although she likely would even if I was around for the earlier Democrats. Perhaps Tip O’Neill and Sam Rayburn could come close but that’s about it.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Betty Boothroyd

[OSR stands with Israel]

Legitimately can't imagine any Republican saying Pelosi; for that matter I struggle to imagine a swing voter who plausibly could vote Republican saying this. Might be useful to see this poll broken down by party, I guess. I will say that Pelosi was probably "best" at her job in a technical aspect; she was a master at counting votes, including on the other side, and knowing exactly what the standings were. Boehner is in a distant second and all the other Speakers are then way behind.

I interpreted the question "best" to mean the most effective at their job, rather than your own personal favorite.

Newt was extremely effective. Despite the democrats controlling the WH , he got these bills passed into law :

- Welfare Reform
- Multiple deregulation bills
- Capital Gain tax cuts
- Line item veto which sadly the SCOTUS struck down

[Sir Mohamed]

Easily Pelosi. (born 1988)

[You don't see any blue avatars now]

It'd have to be Pelosi, wouldn't it? (born 2001, so my only other options are Boehner, Ryan, and the pedocon)

[Benjamin Frank]

Paul Ryan versus Nancy Pelosi is an easy choice.

Looking farther back, Newt Gingrich and Dennis Hastert are Massive HPs, for obvious reasons. Boehner wasn't terrible but Pelosi still beats him comfortably.

I can kind of see why Pelosi has an overwhelming majority of votes, when the competition (given that this forum skews larger) mostly consists of just Dennis Hastert (actual pedophile), Newt Gingrich (the man who broke American politics), Paul Ryan (personally I don't strongly dislike him, but I can see how his deficit hawk tendencies and anti-tax-and-spend and strait-laced economic conservatism is highly distasteful to liberals on here), and John Boehner (who really wasn't that bad, but if you're a Democrat you'd still definitely pick Pelosi over him).

This was Paul Ryan's budget proposal: https://www.vox.com/2014/4/14/18076756/paul-ryan-budget
Everything you need to know about Paul Ryan's 2015 budget
By Matthew Yglesias

The budget can be summarized into one phrase: poor people bad, rich people good.

When you distill Republican ideology, it's often as simple as that.

[Lechasseur]

Betty Boothroyd

Haha I got the joke

But in the UK she'd unironically likely be my choice as well

[Benjamin Frank]

Tip O'Neill had a great understanding of politics for his day ("All politics is local.")

He was the Speaker from 1981-1982 when the Democrats held a majority in the House, but the Republicans had what was referred to as an 'ideological majority' combining the Republicans (maybe not the Eastern liberal Republicans) and the conservative mostly Southern Democrats (like Earl Hutto.)

As the Democrats had a majority, O'Neill presumably could have attempted to have blocked most of Reagan's Agenda, as the Republicans have done in the Senate to Democratic presidents even with a minority by abusing the filibuster, (The House committee chairs had more power at this time, and maybe could have stood up to O'Neill though), but O'Neill decided that due to the 1980 election results that Reagan had earned a mandate to have his agenda implemented if it could earn majority support in Congress.

Of course, O'Neill may have also been concerned about a large scale defection of conservative Democrats to the Republican Party, but given that the term 'boll weevil Democrat' still existed in the South, I think that would have been unlikely.

[Benjamin Frank]

I had not been a big fan of Speaker Pelosi before the last two years. I thought that she was far too willing to accept corruption as evidenced by the corrupt Democrats in her ranks (Alcee Hastings for instance) and for refusing to impeach war criminal George W Bush, or, to at least investigate the lead up to W. Bush's Iraq War.

However, the mastery that she legislated during the last two years with the narrow Democratic majority was extraordinary, and has to have her considered as either the best Speaker of all time, or at least the best/most effective Speaker since Henry Clay.

[West_Midlander]

Pelosi by default

[Dani Rose]

I've been alive since Tom Foley, and absolutely nobody in that entire stretch of time has been in even the same ballpark as Nancy Pelosi, which I say as someone on the wing of the Democratic Party that most often disagrees with her. In a career that was completely limited to the House, she was just as unifying and effective at rallying the troops as Lyndon Johnson was across his entire career, only ever really hobbled by obstructionism and unfavorable elections.