Pelosi attacks NBC
President Trump isn’t he only party leader who believes that some institutions of the mainstream media are out to get him. And like him, she may be right. Nancy Pelosi went on MSNBC yesterday to complain about NBC News having a “jag” against her. Speaking to the Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart as he filled in for Joy Reid, and asked her is she’d be willing to step aside as leader of the House Democrats, she said, “"First of all, I know NBC has been on a jag, this is one of their priorities to undermine my prospects as speaker." (full video embedded below)
Andrew Kugle of the Free Beacon describes the conversation:
Capehart asked Pelosi about the growing number of Democrats who are running for Congress who've publicly stated they wouldn't support Pelosi becoming speaker. NBC News reported that over 50 Democratic candidates are opposing Pelosi, including nine incumbents.
While reporting on Democrats opposing Pelosi doesn’t require bias, because it is a major story, I think that she is actually correct, but in a way that she would never admit. NBC would like to step aside because they see that she is harmful to Democrat candidates and incumbents in many House districts. They may well believe that if she were to step aside as a candidate for Dem leader, and potentially speaker, it would deprive the GOP of an effective argument for their House candidates. Consider this graphic posted during the interiew:
Pelosi moved from the possibly correct assertion that NBC is not helping her out into outright dementia:
"I do not think our opponents should select the leaders of our party. The Republicans are spending millions, tens of millions of dollars against me because they're afraid of me," Pelosi said. "Because I out-raise them in the political arena, because I outsmart them at the negotiating table, and because I'm a woman who is going to be a seat at that table.
The Republicans are running ads because Pelosi is repellant to many voters. They much prefer her as the House Dem leader. I consider it an open question whether or not she believes the GOP is afraid of her.
Watch the whole thing below: