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16 Aug 2011 22:26

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U.S.: John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi both very unpopular

  • -24 net approval of Speaker John Boehner
  • -24 net approval of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi source
  • » The moral of the story? Don’t become Speaker of the House. Boehner’s approval ratings have fallen thirty-one points (!) since he assumed the Speaker’s chair; Pelosi, meanwhile, is just as hated as when she handed over the gavel. These numbers comport with surveys showing Congressional disapproval ratings at their highest levels in thirty years.

02 Apr 2011 21:52

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Politics: Americans woefully misinformed, part two

  • 19% of Americans think Nancy Pelosi is Speaker of the House source
  • » Even more discouraging: That number was at 13% after Republicans won the House in November. That means the percentage of people who incorrectly believe that Pelosi is still Speaker has increased since she handed to gavel over to John Boehner (who, by the way, is only correctly identified as Speaker of the House by 43% of Americans). Sigh.

27 Feb 2011 20:02

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World: Is John Boehner backing off government shutdown stance entirely?

  • Americans want the government to stay open, and they want it to spend less money. We don’t need to shut down the government to accomplish that. We just need to do what the American people are asking of us.
  • John Boehner (in expected statements) • Discussing the next steps his party plans to help encourage spending cuts. Note that he appears to be backing away from the idea of a government shutdown. Perhaps hard-line stances are proving a little too, uh, risky for the GOP right now?  source

15 Jan 2011 12:58

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Politics: John Boehner keeps declining Obama’s high-profile invitations

  • nope Boehner was invited to ride with Obama on Air Force One to the Tucson memorial on Wednesday. He declined because he had GOP-related plans in D.C.
  • no way The House Speaker was then invited to a state dinner with Chinese President Hu Jintao – a pretty high-profile world leader – but he declined that, too. source

06 Jan 2011 19:44

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Politics: Boehner not a birther, won’t clamp down on GOPers who are

  • The state of Hawaii has said that President Obama was born there. That’s good enough for me.
  • House Speaker John Boehner • Speaking on the topic of birthers, a topic that found itself in the news today thanks to someone who really likes shouting during a formal recitation of the U.S. Constitution. Despite his own personal feelings on Tea Partiers, don’t expect Boehner to stomp on the political beliefs of his fellow members of Congress, no matter the party: “People come, regardless of party labels, they come with all kinds of beliefs and ideas. It’s the melting pot of America. It’s not up to me to tell them what to think.” Ultimately, we pretty much agree with that sentiment, even if it means a couple of weirdos get in there. source

04 Jan 2011 21:23

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Politics: From Pelosi to Boehner: The changing of the Twitter guard

  • I’m now @NancyPelosi – 2 characters shorter than @SpeakerPelosi. RTers rejoice!
  • A tweet from @NancyPelosi • Regarding Pelosi’s change from Speaker to mere House Majority Leader. In case you’re wondering, John Boehner can be found at @SpeakerBoehner. And the ceremonial change of the Twitter guard commences. Hey, @SpeakerGingrich is open! So is @SpeakerHastert! And @SpeakerNewt! Anyone wanna make a parody account? (thanks pantlessprogressive for the tip) source

17 Nov 2010 21:33

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Politics: Nancy Pelosi House Minority Leader, but Heath Shuler gave her fits

  • It wasn’t about winning or losing this race. It was about truly making a difference within our caucus, to ensure that the moderates were heard.
  • Rep. Heath Shuler • Explaining why his loss in the race against Nancy Pelosi for House Minority Leader was still a bit of a victory. The caucus may have voted for Pelosi, but they gave Shuler 43 votes, which is more than a fifth of the 193 Democrats still left. There’s dissent within her own party, which will be hard for her to get past. As for Shuler, a Blue Dog Democrat, he gets to go back to North Carolina and tell his constituents that he took on Nancy Pelosi. This is why Shuler is still here and other Blue Dogs are not. source
 

11 Nov 2010 20:52

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Politics: Three perks Nancy Pelosi will have to give up in January

  • one She’ll lose access to a ride home to San Francisco on a military plane, instead of flying coach like the rest of us.
  • two Her office budget – currently around $5.1 million – will cut by ten percent, and her staff of 50 will cut by nearly half.
  • three Her offices – currently in a plum location adjacent to the Capitol rotunda –will move to a much-less-sexy place. source

07 Nov 2010 10:30

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Politics: Hah! Eric Cantor rips Nancy Pelosi for putting “ideology first”

  • This is a woman who puts ideology first. This says to voters, ‘we’re not listening to you.’
  • Likely House Majority Leader Eric Cantor • Dropping his two cents into the whole Nancy-still-wants-to-lead thing. Is this the guy who should be trashing people for putting ideology first? We remember what Eric did during the the Health Care Summit at the White House, and when you have to use attention-grabbing props to get your point across, you’re in it for the ideology, not getting things done. None of this is to say that Nancy should try to keep her leadership position. But Eric Cantor is the wrong guy to make this argument. source

05 Nov 2010 21:32

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Politics: Nancy Pelosi’s next House move, in historical perspective

  • 1998 Newt Gingrich steps down from his House leadership role after a particularly rough midterm; his party was still in the majority
  • 2006 Dennis Hastert leaves his House leadership role after his party lost the majority; he later left the House entirely without much fuss
  • 2010 Nancy Pelosi defies the logic set by previous House speakers and announces that she plans to run for House Minority Leader (oh boy) source