Michael Savage on Nancy Pelosi

That post title doesn't sound right, but I gotta be careful here because I'm about to quote Michael Savage, one of the nation's most disagreeable radio talk show hosts. (Yes, Virginia, I do listen to Michael Savage because NPR someties fails to catch my fancy that time of the evening.) Come to think of it, my post headline is not all that bad...

"Even a blind hog" exactly says how I want to play this quote. Savage is offensive, but not stupid. He's been around longer than me and has had a lot more exposure to the real world. We have arrived at very different world views, thankfully, but I respect his gift for -- I'll be nice -- candor.

I think he got it right this time when everybody else got it wrong about Pelosi's support of Murtha. That I find myself in agreement with Michael Savage is more disturbing to me than anything that happened in Congress. But my instinct is exactly the same as his in this instance.

DID PELOSI SET MURTHA UP FOR A FALL?

Self-important Washington analysts are all asking why Pelosi nominated Murtha when she didn't have the votes. Republicrats are celebrating her lack of acumen. Demoncats are worried she may be too"inexperienced" for the Speaker's position. My analysis brings me to a different conclusion. Murtha became so engorged on his own image(as a result of his calling our troops "Nazis" and demanding a French-like retreat) that as near as a few months ago he was vying to become the Speaker himself! In other words he challenged Pelosi herself for the top-dog position. By nominating Murtha instead of Hoyer the new Speaker did, in fact, count the votes in advance. And she may have KNOWN Murtha would lose. So why would she do this?To publicly humiliate Murtha, to be rid of him and his radical, left-wing consortium which threatens to swamp the centrist (i.e. business) wing of the Democrat Party.

Political Humiliation

This week Nancy Pelosi used the tactic of public humiliation against John Murtha in order to remove his threat to her leadership. Murtha stood before the cameras at the back of the Democratic leadership, cowed and head hung low, defeated before the world. When he came to the microphone, he had only words of quiet praise for her.

This is not the first time that political humiliation has been used as an effective political tactic. In the 1950's, Lyndon Johnson was Majority Leader in the US Senate and ruled over the chamber with an iron fist. When Paul Douglas, a liberal senator from Illinois stood against Johnson on an ideological point that Johnson knew would never pass the full Senate, Johnson took action. When the vote came down, instead of setting for a voice vote, Johnson insisted that a roll call be taken so that Douglas would hear each and every voice against his proposal, which was defeated almost unanimously.

Douglas eventually became Johnson’s ally, but it was not because Johnson played to his sensitivities. If Nancy Pelosi becomes the Iron Lady of the House, it will not be because she lets Murtha or Hoyer push her around. It will be because she exploits their weaknesses and uses them to her best advantage.

I did the best I could with the link. Savage's site doesn't have hyperlinks, so this is from the November 19 page. Maybe it will get a separate link when it hits the archives. A lot of other stuff is there which I don't recommend. Most of it is fairly, well, Michael Savage. Think Jerry Springer in print. (For example, if beheading videos are your thing, find them there.)