The Democratic Insurgents Who Want to Topple Nancy Pelosi

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

There’s an insurrection brewing in the House of Pelosi.

An intractable group on the Democratic Party’s center flank is working to deny Nancy Pelosi the speaker’s gavel. The leaders of the block-Pelosi effort — which roughly mirrors the right-wing Freedom Caucus’ play to oust Republican Speaker John Boehner in 2015 — include Reps. Seth Moulton (D-MA), a 40-year-old former Marine officer, and Tim Ryan (D-OH) a 45-year-old former college quarterback who ran against Pelosi for the minority leader post in 2016 and lost badly, 134–63.

-snip-

What’s remarkable about the block-Pelosi play is that there is no Candidate B — no other Democrat has yet stepped forward to publicly challenge Pelosi for the post. According to a Democratic representative close to the effort, the idea behind the letter announcing an anti-Pelosi bloc is to demonstrate that she cannot win, and force Pelosi to withdraw rather than suffer an “embarrassing” defeat on the House floor. With Pelosi clearing the field, the theory goes, new candidates would emerge and the Democratic caucus would shake up its staid leadership ranks.

-snip-

Rolling Stone has been talking with both Moulton and Ryan on and off for the past year-and-a-half, seeking to understand their motives. What do these men want?

Ryan, who hails from post-industrial Youngstown, was blunt in his assessment of the Democratic Party this week: “We need a brand change.” He tells Rolling Stone that he wants a less coastal Democratic Party, pointing out the lack of House leaders from the middle of the country. “It’s a pretty large swath of the country to completely ignore,” he says. “How in God’s name do we expect to win the House, have a significant majority, hold it, have a party brand that’s connecting to people, and have nobody in the Midwest at all?”


In past interviews, Ryan has lamented his party’s turn toward political correctness. “We can’t have these purity tests,” he said, before listing a few key characteristics all Democrats should have. “You can’t be racist. You can’t be sexist. You can’t be homophobic — you’ve got to check those boxes — and then be economically progressive,” he said. “Other than that, we’ve got to be a big-tent party.” Ryan said he wants Democrats to come up with an umbrella economic agenda that can unify the party’s diverse coalition: “A robust economic message that all of those different groups could hear and go, ‘Yeah, you know, That’s me. I’m in on that.’”

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/nancy-pelosi-speaker-fight-757178/

[JustAnotherGen]

1. Ryan

Don't like his ideas.

So glad we are sending Malinowski to the House to . . .defend minority high earning women from the enemy within.

[Bfd]

4. Good lord

It’s a pretty large swath of the country to completely ignore,” he says. “How in God’s name do we expect to win the House, have a significant majority, hold it, have a party brand that’s connecting to people, and have nobody in the Midwest at all?”

Well now lets see,
We won the House, we have a significant majority, the Party brand clearly connected to people in the Nov election, even in the Midwest.

So say that again Mr Ryan?!!

[JustAnotherGen]

8. Amen!

They are playing from a very old playbook!

[brush]

10. Yes, that of white , male privilege. They don't seem to know demographics have changed.

[Cha]

5. Congratulations on Tom Malinnowski, Gen!

[brush]

2. @fivewhiteguys...in other words, conservadems afraid of what repugs...

Last edited Fri Nov 16, 2018, 07:18 PM - Edit history (1)

thing of who our House leadership is will get taken to the woodshed and spanked once Pelosi is speaker again.

And they will deserve it.

Ryan is not fooling anyone, he wants the speakership for himself.

[OnDoutside]

9. Ryan doesn't seem bright enough to be Speaker, to me. His disastrous effort last time appears to be

matched by this effort so far. He can't even get someone to step forward and oppose Pelosi, when they went public. Fudge is still "thinking about it".

[Me.]

3. Wrong About The Election, Wrong About Her

Clearly has a grudge against a powerful woman who doesn't follow his centrist dictates. Here's a piece about Moulton.

“Alas, it is my painful duty to report that the #FiveWhiteGuys are led by Seth Moulton, congresscritter from the Sixth Congressional District here in the Commonwealth (God save it!), and a man who has been farting higher than his own arse ever since he got elected in 2014. Moulton ran a strong campaign. He ousted an endangered incumbent who was all tangled in so much family corruption that a Republican pickup of that seat was a distinct possibility—or, at least, as distinct a possibility as was ever enjoyed by a Massachusetts Republican. Almost immediately, Moulton signed on to the challenge to Pelosi's leadership mustered up by the anti-charismatic Tim Ryan of Ohio. Almost immediately, and most spectacularly, Moulton began spending a lot of time in Iowa. This is a fellow who thinks a great deal of his own inherent political gifts.

Now, it seems, they've gotten the band back together again. The #FiveWhiteGuys are Moulton, Ryan, Ed Perlmutter of Colorado, Kurt Schrader of Oregon, and Bill Foster of Oregon, and Bill Foster of Illinois. The driving forces remain Moulton and Ryan, with the latter the putative leader. After an election in which the Democratic Party continues to elect a demographically and politically diverse collection of new House members, Ryan is still insisting that the party needs to "reach out" to angry white men in places like Ohio when, in fact, if the midterms proved anything, it is that the Democratic Party's future is in places like Arizona and Nevada, and even Georgia and Florida, while, except for Sherrod Brown, god bless him, Ohio is a lost cause. It was an outlier even in its own geographic area. There were Democratic—and progressive—victories in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois. Ohio and, yes, Iowa, were loss leaders.

This did not stop Moulton, who declines to challenge Pelosi himself, from spouting off in Roll Call that he and his group have the votes to block Pelosi's elevation to the speakership on the floor of the House—although, as has now become customary, Moulton declines to provide details on exactly how many members of the House have signed on here.

I am willing to concede—indeed, I am devoutly hoping—that this talk is all a bluff. The #FiveWhiteGuys seem to think they can scare Pelosi out of running, which is completely foolish. This is because, if it's not a bluff, and Moulton really has these votes, it almost certainly means that he's cut a deal with some Republicans to get them.”

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a25093451/nancy-pelosi-speaker-democrat-opposition-tim-ryan-seth-moulton/

[Autumn]

6. Fuck that. "Coastal" Nancy probably represents about a large a swath of the country as anyone

in the Midwest does. “You can’t be racist. You can’t be sexist. You can’t be homophobic, you must be economically progressive" I'm sorry, those are characteristics all Democrats should have. Which of those boxes does he want to check off to have his big tent party? Maybe he should try the Republican party since they kicked all those boxes to the curb years ago.

[JustAnotherGen]

7. Anyone notice neither one

Brought up repealing the SALT Cap?

This coastal Democratic thinks they are being selfish.