Putting a Target on "The Grandmother"
Operation: Destroy Pelosi has begun: Republican Rep. Eric Cantor has stepped in as the leader of this campaign, and he's not playing with kid gloves (ThinkProgess goes into his attacks some more).
The purpose of this strategy is obvious: until the last election, Republican had no person to identify Democrats with. Using Kennedy is tired and old; John Kerry isn't running for anything; attacking Hilary isn't garnishing anymore support than usual and Harry Reid has been pretty resilient to attacks (and the Senate Republican know they have to get along if they want any of their legislation to see the light of day). And, of course, none of these people have been overseas recently. But with Pelosi as Speaker of the House, the Republicans have someone tangible to target. To the more partisan ones, using her as a symbol of the negative side of the Democratic Party (which she isn't) is no different than making bin Laden the Unofficial Spokesman for Islamic Terrorism.
They hope to tarnish the image of the post-2004 Democrats as do-nothing (for the people) and overreaching (and their criticism and investigation of the Bush Administration). And if these attacks stick and make it to the mainstream media consistently, Pelosi may become a liability to the party...and a distraction for Democrats who want to re-take the White House.
That being said, I think Pelosi will be OK.
The purpose of this strategy is obvious: until the last election, Republican had no person to identify Democrats with. Using Kennedy is tired and old; John Kerry isn't running for anything; attacking Hilary isn't garnishing anymore support than usual and Harry Reid has been pretty resilient to attacks (and the Senate Republican know they have to get along if they want any of their legislation to see the light of day). And, of course, none of these people have been overseas recently. But with Pelosi as Speaker of the House, the Republicans have someone tangible to target. To the more partisan ones, using her as a symbol of the negative side of the Democratic Party (which she isn't) is no different than making bin Laden the Unofficial Spokesman for Islamic Terrorism.
They hope to tarnish the image of the post-2004 Democrats as do-nothing (for the people) and overreaching (and their criticism and investigation of the Bush Administration). And if these attacks stick and make it to the mainstream media consistently, Pelosi may become a liability to the party...and a distraction for Democrats who want to re-take the White House.
That being said, I think Pelosi will be OK.
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