Pelosi: If I weren't effective, they wouldn't try to take me down [View All]

[Rose Siding]

...She brought vases of white lilies to the minority leader's office, but also a discipline that Democrats had not seen in years, threatening consequences for anyone who strayed from the party line. The result was unity 88% of the time on such votes as energy policy and President Bush's budget. The famously unified Republicans did only slightly better.
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Some believe Pelosi is held to a higher standard in maledominated Washington. When the men in the leadership stick to talking points, they are "on message." When Pelosi does, she is redundant and shrill.

"There is still a double standard," said Democratic strategist Anita Dunn, who has given Pelosi tips on media presence. "There have been some comb-over jokes about male members of Congress, but by and large people just accept what they look and sound like. That is still not the case with females."
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"I think the fact that I am a woman will raise expectations in terms of more hope in government, and I will not disappoint," she says.

"The gavel of the speaker of the House is in the hands of special interests, and now it will be in the hands of America's children. I don't mean to imply my male colleagues will have any less integrity…. But I don't know that a man can say that as easily as a woman can."

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-pelosi21oct21,1,5254728,print.story?coll=la-headlines-politics