November 9, 2002
DISPROVING DARWIN:
A Change That Pleases Both Parties (ADAM NAGOURNEY, November 9, 2002, NY Times)"I want to know where I send the flowers," said Nelson Warfield, a conservative Republican political consultant. "I am ecstatic. She'll be a working poster-board for what's wrong with the Democratic Party. Across the board, she is a plus for Republicans."More than a few Democrats acknowledged some concerns about whether they were about to give the Republicans a new target for their campaign and fund-raising appeals. Ms. Pelosi was a leader in the fight against the resolution pressed by President Bush to allow the United States to go after Saddam Hussein. She supports legalizing gay marriage and is in favor of needle exchanges as a way to combat the spread of AIDS. These are positions that Republicans said they would seek to attach to the Democratic Party in the months ahead.
The fact that Ms. Pelosi is on the verge of replacing Representative Richard A. Gephardt reflects the fact that the House Democratic caucus is a good deal more liberal in its thinking than the rest of the country.
Is there a single issue where 70% of the electorate agrees with her, instead of opposing her? Posted by Orrin Judd at November 9, 2002 6:13 AM
A lot of neo-cons like myself think gay marriage should be legal. That is an issue the Republicans should not touch in my opinion. I think it's possible that more and more people are beginning to believe that marriage is a civil right and, if we take their taxes, we can't deny them that right.
Posted by: NKR at November 9, 2002 7:37 AMA G-d send for the Reeps,they can distract their base with her,while ignoring that same base as usual.
Posted by: Ms. Unddltrgeh R Boredc at November 9, 2002 8:31 AMI love the comment from Coelho about Tip O'neill being a very liberal Speaker in '82 and managing to have and keep control of the house. He totally ignores the fact that 2002 is a much different world. We now know that Tip was wrong, the Soviet Union was as dangerous a threat to us as even the most paranoid cold warrior could imagine, and we won the cold war by doing exactly the opposit of what Tip wanted us to do. Oh yeah, and there was also this little event called 9/11 that has changed the way Americans think about foriegn policy, something that the most leftist part of the Democrats haven't been factoring in in their playbook. Bring Pelosi on, she is just what the Republican Party needs..
Posted by: Ann at November 9, 2002 9:43 AMNKR:
Polling alone suggests that issue is a big loser for the Democrats.
Orrin: Actually gay marriage is probably the type of issue that both parties would be best to avoid. Support it in California and get creamed in the Midwest and South. Oppose it in Utah and you lose California. The worst part of it is that is one of those quintessentially local issues, once you get over the fact that a marriage in one state may not be a marriage in another. But that has been true for "common law" marriages for some time, with some unfortunate men being legally encumbered by different women in different states.
Posted by: Tom Roberts at November 10, 2002 9:23 PM