Speaker Pelosi

Interesting article about the Republican election machine in Time. Quote:

Republicans acknowledge one ominous vulnerability: for more than a decade, the party has benefited from an intensity gap. Stoked by hatred of Bill Clinton or love for George W. Bush, G.O.P. voters have been more certain to vote than Democrats--meaning that the party tends to perform better than the final opinion polls suggest. Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, head of the House Democrats' campaign committee, recently told TIME that gap had counted for as much as 5 to 7 points for the Republicans. But he thinks this election year might be different. "Their voters are unhappy," he says. "They're despondent about a failed President."

I have been amused whenever I've heard the Republicans chant "Speaker Pelosi" like a sacred mantra to ward off election defeat. Their hope is that the lethargic Republican voters who aren't pulled into voting booths by Bush love will instead by repelled into voting booths by Pelosi fear (what is it about Republicans and their relentless use of fear as a motivator??).

The irony, of course, is that Republican voters should be delighted by the possibility of such a weak and ineffective Democratic Speaker as Pelosi. As the readers of my blog know (both of them), I am no Pelosi fan but c'mon.... a weak Speaker (Dennis Hastert comes to mind) is really an opposition party's dream.

Silly strategy and, if it works, silly voters.