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Nancy Pelosi's Game: Inside the Democrats' war room.
Nancy Pelosi has not had a simple job since the Democrats won back the House last year, having to, most prominently, swat away an ill-fated attempt to replace her as Speaker, navigate uncharted political waters with the emergence of the progressive Squad, and try to negotiate with Donald Trump. But on no single issue has she faced a more persistent drumbeat from assorted members of her caucus than the impeachment of the president, whom her entire party regards as a criminal but whom far fewer have believed it wise, politically, to prosecute. Suddenly, though, almost her entire caucus is behind her, and Pelosis months of caution (years, really, since Maxine Waters and Al Green first started calling for impeachment) look something like strategic prescience. Its true that the Ukraine story was impossible to predict, and the polling swing in favor of impeachment has happened faster than even its loudest boosters could have hoped. But having held its fire on matters of Trumps emoluments, his tax records, his alleged collusion, and his obstruction of justice, the Democratic House appears to be in a nearly unified position, poised to bring charges on an egregious, easy-to-follow transgression committed in plain sight which even her lefty critics have to admit is not the worst place to be.
When Pelosi convened the 235 House Democrats behind closed doors on a Tuesday afternoon late last month to announce that she would back an impeachment inquiry into Trump now that there was clear evidence he had pressured Ukraines president to effectively support his 2020 campaign she was careful to remind them shed had a plan from the start. We had ourselves on a path, seeking the truth there, and that work must still go on, she said to her colleagues in the Capitol, referring to investigations into the administration theyd pursued since regaining control from Republicans in January. What has happened this past week is grievous and serious with our Constitution. And so we must. It is understandable to the public. It has clarity in terms of what he did, she continued, according to a senior Democratic aide in the room. We have to strike while the iron is hot. This is a national-security issue a national-security issue and we cannot let him think that this is a casual thing. So thats where Im at.
It was a monumental, if reluctant, step for the 79-year-old San Franciscan, who is simultaneously a liberal icon and the face of the party Establishment, who watched Bill Clintons impeachment from the House, then shut down calls to impeach George W. Bush during her first stint as Speaker eight years later. The 17-term congresswoman, who has been known to quote Abraham Lincolns line Public sentiment is everything, had long bet there was no way to successfully impeach Trump earlier in his presidency frustrating the 138 members of her caucus who were already calling for it before the Ukraine news broke. As recently as early last month, she had privately dressed down the staffers who were leading what she saw as the overly aggressive, undisciplined, and premature impeachment push, sniping, You can feel free to leak this, according to Politico.
Im delighted that shes come around and is moving forward, said even Massachusetts congressman Seth Moulton, who led the most recent failed campaign to oust Pelosi, and whos been pushing for months for impeachment on national-security grounds.
More: http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/10/nancy-pelosi-trump-impeachment.html
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Nancy Pelosi's Game: Inside the Democrats' war room. (Original Post)
canetoad
Oct 2019
OP
crazytown
(7,277 posts)1. "she was careful to remind them she'd had a plan from the start"
We had ourselves on a path, seeking the truth there, and that work must still go on,