Pelosi to Salon: They had to take me down

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 18:40:00 +0000

You remember the Republicans' 2010 midterm campaign message: Nancy Pelosi, engulfed in flames, demon-like. Nancy Pelosi, in charge, bossing you around with her crazy liberal values. An official "Fire Pelosi" bus tour sponsored by the Republican National Committee, and the specter of her leadership invoked in ad after ad.

All of this was a key Republican strategy in taking back the House, and while there were lots of reasons the Democrats lost and Pelosi was dethroned, it achieved the desired result. Since the next big electoral battle will be control of the House in 2014, and a Democratic win would presumably put Pelosi back in charge, expect to see more Pelosi boogeyman-ing.

"It didn't bother me, I figured they thought I was effective and therefore they had to take me down," Pelosi told Salon at the premiere Thursday night of "Fall to Grace," her daughter's HBO documentary on former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey. Still, she worries about the message it sends to other women who might be considering a run.

Another year of the woman

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 20:07:00 +0000

In this election year of "I love you women," of rape-parsing and slut-talk, a pretty notable fact has been overlooked: There are more women running for Congress than ever before. And that includes remarkably progressive, path-breaking women -- like folk hero Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts, or like Rep. Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin, who just might become the first lesbian senator -- as well as a host of far-right women, like the climate change-denying, anti-choice, anti-gay-marriage Deb Fischer, who is poised to beat Bob Kerrey for Nebraska's Senate seat. Oh, and Michele Bachmann, whose seat looked like it might be at risk, but who has led comfortably in recent polls.

Salon.com > Women in Congress

Pelosi to Salon: They had to take me down

Another year of the woman