WaPo Hits Pelosi for Her Complete Lack of Leadership

In an article designed to assign blame for the failed bailout vote to as many people as possible (most of them Republicans), Dan Balz also offers uncharacteristic (for the Washington Post) criticism of the Dem leaders of both houses of Congress, and especially San Fran Nan:

On Monday, he (John Boehner) and House Republican Whip Roy Blunt were confident they had the votes needed to pass the rescue package, but they turned out to be lousy vote counters. When the bill went down, he and Blunt and Rep. Eric Cantor all blamed Pelosi for scaring off a dozen of his colleagues with what he called an overly partisan speech.

Peter Wehner, a former Bush administration official, wrote Tuesday on the National Review blog that the Republican leaders' excuse was "foolish and irresponsible." "On one of the most important votes they will ever cast, insisting 'the speech made me do it' is lame and adolescent," he wrote.

Still, Pelosi deserves no praise for her leadership on Monday. Even stipulating that we are in the closing weeks of one of the most important political campaigns in a generation, her inability to rise above the tendency to score political points was inexcusable. Monday's vote was a moment to set aside those instincts and talk about the package as an example of Washington's ability to work cooperatively in a time of crisis.

Instead, Pelosi accused Bush of economic policies that create "budgetary recklessness" and "an anything-goes mentality." And she closed with a partisan call to arms. "In the new year, with a new Congress and a new president," she said, "we will break free with a failed past and take America in a new direction to a better future."

Pelosi's partisan rhetoric has been echoed, though less prominently, by Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid, who has sounded grudging in his comments about the Democrats' willingness to participate in finding a solution to a problem that he argues is wholly the fault of Bush and the Republicans.

The real news here is the critique of Pelosi, but I included the earlier paragraphs because of a bone I have to pick with the use of the word "scaring" in response to Republicans who may have switched votes because of Pelosi's speech. The media has repeatedly used "scaring" which is totally incorrect. If anyone switched votes because of that speech it wasn't because they were "scared", it's because they were livid and weren't going to allow Pelosi to claim victory after such a bitter, partisan speech.