| Some things just write themselves ... |
And, frankly, she doesn't give a damn.
"No, I don't care," Pelosi told POLITICO last Thursday, laughing heartily as she walked beneath the Capitol dome and plunged into a crowd of tourists.
Last week's Public Strategies Inc./POLITICO poll brought grim news for Pelosi, revealing that only a quarter of Americans trust the San Francisco Democrat -- putting her in the basement with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio).
Mention of the "trust" question halted the click-clack of Pelosi's heels against Rotunda marble, and she turned to face the reporter who posed the question.
"I don't know about 'trust' -- I think I'm trusted," she said. "I certainly want to be trusted. I'm not particularly concerned if I'm liked."
| We trust you to do the wrong thing, always, and for the benefit of your friends, backers and ACORN. Is that the kind of trust you're referencing? |
| 'Productive'? I don't think that word means what the Politico reporter thinks it means ... |
| Right down there with Corzine and Patrick ... |
"Nancy Pelosi is not only vastly unpopular with the American public, but her credibility is waning within her own party," said Ken Spain, communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee.
In a recent interview with POLITICO, Pelosi countered: "Our leadership team is so effective it is driving Republicans to distraction. And they and their allies have decided that I am their target, and they come after me relentlessly -- relentlessly. On the left, I have to put forth a bill that's going to fund the war and the rest, and they're not happy about that. So none of it is a popularity contest. You just have to be responsible for the job you're setting out to do."
| The Dem leadership is so-o-o-o effective that they can't bring the health care bill to a vote in the House they control. And they had to bribe their own people with campaign cash for the cap and tax bill. Yup, real effective leadership ... |
| Fear being the key word ... |
Adds House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.): "She's what I like to call 'operational' -- she knows how to get things done."
Sources close to the speaker say she's so unconcerned with her own popularity she won't commission national polls, as many congressional leaders often do. But individual Democratic members do test her name in their districts, with results grimly similar to the national data in public surveys.
Conservatives have always hated Pelosi for her Left Coast brand of liberalism and her penchant for moralizing, with right-wing columnist Michelle Malkin caricaturing her as a "Queen Nancy" who surrounds herself with Evian, white lilies and vanilla-scented candles.
Her defenders say there's always been a strong undercurrent of misogyny in the criticism, a charge lent some credence by the sheer mass of anti-Pelosi vitriol in the blogosphere and in the comments section of news outlets such as POLITICO.
| Misogyny is only okay if it's aimed at Sarah Palin ... |
These days, however, disdain for Pelosi has gone more mainstream, with her popularity ebbing among independents and centrist Republicans.
Her aides acknowledge that the current spike in anti-Pelosi sentiment was probably fueled by the speaker's handling of the waterboarding controversy this spring. Her muddled explanation of when she knew about enhanced interrogation left fellow Democrats scratching their heads and may have left some voters believing she can't be trusted.
But people close to Pelosi say there's another element in her growing unpopularity: Her willingness to walk the point for Obama on nearly every major legislative issue, drawing fire that have would otherwise been directed at the White House or the gun-shy Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
"She doesn't mind that role, but it certainly doesn't help her personally," said one Democratic strategist. "She's the tactician -- you always need someone to be driving the bus --it's about forward motion, not popularity."
Republicans have tried unsuccessfully to leverage Pelosi's problems against Democratic candidates for the past three cycles. But they believe the speaker has given them an opening in 2010 by moving so quickly on the cap-and-trade bill, which could be a drag on Democrats in about a dozen battleground districts.