This really struck me, on
ABC's "This Week" show yesterday. At the end of an interview about various political matters — which, of course, had her very critical of Trump — Nancy Pelosi was asked a question about her personal interaction with Trump:
GEORGE KARL: How often do you talk to the president?
NANCY PELOSI: I have no complaint that I don’t talk to him enough.
KARL: So you hear from him with regularity?
PELOSI: No, I wouldn't say -- well, I talk to him enough.
See how she catches herself there. She goes on, as if seized by some need to be honest or awareness of how Trump will react and respond to her in private.
I mean, I have spoken to him and I’ve spoken to his administration about issues. And we have a courteous, really cordial respectful conversation.
We have a courteous, really cordial respectful conversation. That means a lot, and — on video — she looked and sounded reflective and aware of the need to give the man his due.
But -- I always grant people their position. I respect what you believe in and what you have come to do.
They have
respectful conversation and she
respects what he believes in and what he has come to do. Respect, respect.
I’m not actually sure what he believes in yet. But if it's reflected in his budget, we will fight that.
That's stepping back into the political position, and then:
But he knows that. And -- so I think we have -- I think we have a -- shall we say, an understanding.
And that's how the interview ended.
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I’m not actually sure what he believes in yet. But if it's reflected in his budget, we will fight that.
So she doesn't know what he believes but will fight it anyway.
What a douchebag she is.
Waaaay past her sell by date.
John Henry
I wonder if the Republican leadership could have honestly said the same thing about their relationship with Obama. The rumor was that he seldom reached out to Democrats in Congress and was even less inclined to talk with Republicans.
And we have a courteous, really cordial respectful conversation.
This worries me much more than President Trump having a very friendly conversation with Duterte.
On first reading it sounds like an ex-wife describing her current relationship with her former husband.
Complain voraciously about the Ex to friends and sympathetic listeners, but adopt a measured tone when it could look petty to the 'neutral' observer. They run in the same circles, best to keep the appearance of cordiality.
Thank goodness they didn't have children.
I am Laslo.
Off topic comments deleted.
I listen to Democrats the same way I listen to Muslims. Members of both groups are forever lying to us.
That much is always a given.
If Democrats, Muslims ever told the truth about their hidden agendas, they would get no where.
And they know that. Explaining the constant lying.
So DJT treats his opponents better than O treated his allies.
Not that it matters.
To chime in with the chorus of Sebastian & DKW above, Obama left Trump a real low bar to jump over when it comes to the subjects of cordiality & collegiality.
There's no doubt in my mind that Trump's much better at the glad-handing & talk-em-up. Every businessman who has to close deals with people who are basically strangers learns how to strike up conversations & put on the friendly face.
Pelosi is being charitable. Maybe she understands that it's difficult to be hated by so many and can relate to him on that level. It's good to know she'll stick to her principles and oppose him when it's necessary in the political arena.
Pelosi is successful, but why she still clings to power at age 76, instead of grooming some young articulate future Dem leaders is a mystery.
Cordial to Trump, but disrespectful when talking about him, shows how much political discourse is really just Kabuki theatre.
Pelosi-Clinton-Biden 2020. The Early Bird Special/Memory Care Tour.
He's growing on me too. I may turn into a fanboy one day.
I recently rewatched some video of Inauguration Day and was struck by a short interaction between the two of them where she appeared genuinely pleasant as she greeted him.
I'm not sure if this is what it really is or not but I think those kinds of relationships (Reagan-Tip O'Neill, Scalia-Ginsburg) are vitally important. People in power should have collegial relationships and can still be adversarial when they enter the arena. Like the old Warner Bros. cartoon of the sheepdog and wolf punching the time clock at the end of the day.
For Pelosi it is just a game between "us" and "them"that she happens to be good at.
Bay Area Guy said...
Pelosi is successful, but why she still clings to power at age 76, instead of grooming some young articulate future Dem leaders is a mystery."
It is very difficult for people who love power to give it up. She's an extremely rich woman who is addicted to power and will hang on to it for as long as she can, even if it means blocking the rise of younger Democrats.
Which is fine by me.
"But -- I always grant people their position. I respect what you believe in and what you have come to do."
Sounds like the Democrat leadership has given up on their initial post-election policy of "Don't normalize Trump." I'd count this as one of Trump's significant 'First 100 Days' accomplishments.
There is something irritating about these people staying in office and dying in office. Both parties do it. These seats were not supposed to be life-time appointments.
McCain comes to mind....
The hesitations indicate her Turning software needs to be upgraded. I'll bet she still runs on DOS 3.1.
As Scott Adams predicted the dems have moved on from "TRUMP IS HITLER!" to "Well, Trump is incompetant" to now "Well he's doing things we don't agree with and needs to learn how to compromise"
"I respect what you believe in and what you have come to do.'
Really. There's an encyclopedia of vicious and demagogic statements that have flown from her mouth. i guess she is saying that if you are respectful in private you can trash someone in public. All part of the game.
This personal affection for Republican presidents seems to be a family trait. Her daughter made an entertaining documentary about her travels with Bush II during the 2000 campaign, Journeys With George, and seemed to have been completely charmed by the man.
" All part of the game."
Yep. And that's the appalling thing - the sense that it's all just a game to these people. We live in serious times with a completely unserious ruling class.
"There is something irritating about these people staying in office and dying in office. Both parties do it. These seats were not supposed to be life-time appointments."
Pols will be pols, clinging to power for as long as they can. (And I agree McCain is just as bad.) At some point, you have to wonder about the people who keep electing them...
"she looked and sounded reflective and aware "
Did her expression change during the segment?
Pelosi is a wily old bird and she's up to something here. I do find it fascinating that she can go from babbling incoherently one day in an interview to making these carefully moderated remarks. There is something about staying on the job so long that you are unable to conceive of life beyond the job that makes politicians scary people. Nancy can be nice, but Nancy is scary. Fascinating at times, but scary.
Pelosi is trying to play statesman, but not convincingly in my opinion.
More important is the message to the Freedom Caucus. Trump intends to cut deals. If he can't cut them with the Freedom Caucus, there are other options.
Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill pretended to like each other, too, although Mr. O'Neill was possessed of more bonhommie and personal charm than Nana.
We have to denormalize the Trump before we can find out what is in the Trump.
Pelosi is successful, but why she still clings to power at age 76...
Well, it may be that over the course of the Obama Presidency the Dems' "bench" (in the State Houses and Governors' Mansions) was wiped out.
Leaving the face of National Dems (who unlike the R's don't term-limit their chairmanships) old (Hillary), old(Pelosi), old (Waters), old (Warren). It's become a party of shouty old women.
I was walking past the TV when I heard:
GEORGE KARL: How often do you talk to the president?
NANCY PELOSI: I have no complaint that I don’t talk to him enough.
I didn't take it as grudging acceptance or veiled fondness/respect. I took it as, "Oh my God, the very last thing I'd want is to spend more time talking to that man."
Sounds to me like she is still hoping he'll grab her pussy. She has a rich husband, but she made him rich. Trump did it the hard way. She "respects" that. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. She wants him to know she would not raise any objections.
"I’m not actually sure what he believes in yet. But if it's reflected in his budget, we will fight that."
You go, girl! Whatever it is he believes, you fight it. Geez, what a government!
I always grant people their position. I respect what you believe in and what you have come to do.
Say what you want about the dingbat Nancy Pelosi, but as Speaker of the House she showed the kind of old-fashioned political competence that makes Paul Ryan now look like a fool.
...but as Speaker of the House she showed the kind of old-fashioned political competence that makes Paul Ryan now look like a fool.
"Competence": Pelosi was never able to get a budget voted out of the House during her Speakership.
Re: Earnest Prole:
Say what you want about the dingbat Nancy Pelosi, but as Speaker of the House she showed the kind of old-fashioned political competence that makes Paul Ryan now look like a fool.
In fairness to Ryan, Pelosi has had some embarrassing vote-counting failures too. Back in September 2008, when she and Bush II had cooked up a financial institutions bailout (that Republicans in Congress opposed), she brought the measure to the floor in the apparent belief that she had the votes, but lost 95 Democrats (and, I think, all the Republicans, although the latter isn't really reflective of her competence as a leader). After Obama took power, I don't think she had any comparable failures, though -- she did an excellent job whipping her bench.
The question for Ryan is whether he can develop into an effective leader. I like him and respect him a lot, to be honest, but I think his orientation towards tweaking this and that lever of policy has worked against him. His policy-making has been something of a black box, and he has failed to bridge the gap from policy minutiae to the big picture, to persuade his own caucus that the policies he supports should be implemented.
Pelosi was never able to get a budget voted out of the House during her Speakership.
That was a Democratic strategy across government -- in other words, they saw it as a feature not a bug.
So DJT treats his opponents better than O treated his allies.
I think that is real. Reagan was friendly with O'Neill just as Truman was friendly with political opponents.
People in power should have collegial relationships and can still be adversarial when they enter the arena.
I agree but the Democrats have gotten so much like Bolsheviks lately that it might take a few elders, like Pelosi, to get anything done.
She said horrible things about GW all the time. Then I saw a quote from her, after he left office, saying he really was a lovely man. I don't think she is the sharpest knife in the drawer, but she is expert at old school down and dirty Dem machine politics.
There was a time not long ago when political opponents simply represented different interests. But now that politics are a substitute for religion, anyone not on my side is immoral.
It is quite amusing listening to the dems, who called Bush "Bushitler", now do what they always do: using their previously labeled republican "Hitler" as the benchmark against their newest tagged republican "Hitler".
The left literally has no other play in the playbook.
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