It’s been nearly two years since Nancy Pelosi was ousted as House speaker and challenged from within her own party for her leadership role. Her power and profile have waned dramatically, but there’s still one sphere where she wields enormous influence: the minds of Republicans.
Several Republicans invoked Pelosi during their speeches on the convention floor in Tampa Tuesday, where they continued to make Pelosi the boogeyman for what a Democratic-run government looks like, to the delight of the crowd.
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), who ran the National Republican Congressional Committee in 2010, when Republicans took back the House of Representatives, bragged about ending the “Pelosi-Obama regime.”
“Together, we retired Nancy Pelosi and brought common sense to the House by placing the gavel firmly in Speaker [John] Boehner’s hands,” Sessions told the crowd.
“We know the problem, America. Their names are Obama, Biden, Reid, Pelosi, Holder,” Republican National Committee Co-Chair Sharon Day said in her speech. “What they have done — and will continue to do, should Obama be re-elected — runs contrary to the values we believe in and the principles we stand for.”
David Rouzer, who is challenging incumbent Democratic Rep. Mike McIntyre in North Carolina’s 7th Congressional District, used his speech in Tampa to tie McIntyre to Pelosi. “We can’t afford to re-elect Mike McIntyre — a man who voted four times to make Nancy Pelosi the speaker, and then voted with her more than 90 percent of the time — 90 percent of the time — while she controlled the House,” Rouzer said.
In an interview with a local news outlet after his speech, Rouzer kept up the anti-Pelosi attack. “He can’t run from his record,” Rouzer said of McIntyre. “When Nancy Pelosi was speaker, Mike McIntyre voted more than 90 percent of the time with her. One very great distinction in this race is when elected to Congress, my first vote will be for John Boehner.”
