politicking
Nancy Pelosi doesn't care if you like her
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) knows that the popular vote doesn't count for much.
In an interview with Rolling Stone published late Sunday, Pelosi explained why she doesn't mind if her ratings are way down and she's attacked from every side. The literal 16,000 attack ads that demonize the top House Democrat don't matter much when you've got a House to win back, she said.
Pelosi says that President Trump is "terrible," but that she wants voters to focus on his awful policies, not his bombastic personality. She believes that Democrats have the right message and values, even though "people say, 'Well, it doesn't inspire me.'" In response to people who criticize her for weighing in on primaries, Pelosi just shrugs. She isn't eager to back ultra-liberal and progressive candidates, even if they win primaries, because she thinks they don't have "the faintest chance of winning the general election" in moderate districts, something she's focused on in order to flip 23 House seats this fall.
The minority leader says critics "come after me because I'm effective," and says she's "proud" to stand by values that are alternately called too liberal and too conservative. Rather than focus on bringing her own poll numbers up, she told Rolling Stone, she'd rather focus entirely on winning midterm elections. Joking that Trump helped recruit new Democratic candidates, Pelosi said she'd "rather spend the money on the candidates who win rather than getting into a tickle contest with a skunk over some of this stuff."
Pelosi pointed out that at least her numbers are higher than "whatshisname," aka Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Besides, no matter what people say, concludes Pelosi, "I just want to win the election." Read more at Rolling Stone.