THE REVOLUTION EATS ITS OWN:

Pelosi's First Dive (David Corn, November 20, 2002, The Nation)

It didn't take long.

That is, for Nancy Pelosi, the new Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, to run for cover. Days after her colleagues selected her to replace Dick "I'm Outta Here" Gephardt, Pelosi appeared on Meet The Press. Out of the box, Russert asked her about recent news reports on the increasing threat posed by a resurgent al Qaeda. Pelosi, the ranking Democrat on the intelligence committee, confirmed the "threat is real" and added, "We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the President in the fight against terrorism." Is a new attack inevitable? Russert wondered. "That certainly is a possibility," she replied, and added, "We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the president."

Clearly, she had inherited page one from Gephardt's playbook: regarding terrorism, handcuff yourself to Bush.

This essay and this one, D.C. Mystery: Who Sucked The Life Out Of Nancy Pelosi? (Arianna Huffington, November 22, 2002), are terrible signs for the Democrats. They suggest that movement liberals are serious about dragging the party to the Left and the consequences be damned. If the Party really does demand that its leadership oppose the war on radical Islam, they could be headed for oblivion. Posted by Orrin Judd at November 24, 2002 5:44 PM