Nancy Pelosi to Continue to Lead House Democrats to Glorious Defeat

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who served as Speaker of the House before leading the Democratic Party caucus to a historic defeat in 2010 from which it has never recovered, will maintain her grip on power as House Minority Leader in the 115th Congress.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Pelosi’s office would not comment about her future role but did nothing to discourage speculation that she would try to keep her job as minority leader. Democrats gained just six of the 30 seats she needed in her longshot bid to regain the speakership post that she held from 2007 to 2011, leaving Democrats at a severe 241 to 194 disadvantage against Republicans.

Pelosi led the Democrats’ return to power in 2006 on promises to “drain the swamp” in Congress. Once in power, she did the opposite, centralizing control in the Speaker’s office, and cashing in on personal investment opportunities such as an initial public offering of Visa stock.

In 2009-10, Pelosi rammed Obamacare through Congress on party lines, infamously declaring that they had to pass it “so that you can find out what’s in it.” (She continues to back a “single-payer” model of fully government-run heath care.) After the Tea Party-fueled Republicans took back the House in the 2010 midterm elections, Pelosi crushed an internal rebellion and installed herself as Minority Leader, apparently for life.

The 76-year-old San Francisco leftist suffers from deeply negative public approval ratings, according to the most recent polls. She is a lightning rod for conservative criticism and motivates Republicans in their re-election efforts. She has failed to re-take the House in three successive attempts — including in 2012, when Democrats had the tailwind of President Barack Obama’s re-election.

Yet Pelosi has maintained a stranglehold on her position, and looks set to keep it for the foreseeable future.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. His new book, See No Evil: 19 Hard Truths the Left Can’t Handle, is available from Regnery through Amazon. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.