Pelosi-palooza

San Francisco Rep. Nancy Pelosi was elected leader of the Democratic delegation in the House today. Apparently they didn't read yesterday's Washington Post...Three excellent opinion columns highlighted the question marks surrounding the future of the D.O.P. (Dead Old Party?). One by Rep. Harold Ford, who ran against Pelosi; one on the wishful thinking of the DOP; and one looking forward from this election to next year's jockeying for position before the primaries.

But the best was yet to come: today's George F. Will column is a great critique of the Pelosi ascendancy:

"When a supporter gushed to Adlai Stevenson, the Democratic presidential nominee in 1952 and 1956, that all thinking people supported him, Stevenson replied, "Yes, but I need to win a majority." Michael Barone, the most astute student of modern politics, considers it inconceivable that FDR would have thought, let alone said, such a thing. In the 1950s, when liberals were "madly for Adlai," the country liked Ike, which deepened liberals' disdain for the majority -- Eisenhower's smile was just the sort of thing that would unhinge the masses. It was "the bland leading the bland." Then came liberal contempt for Ronald Reagan, a contempt now reprised regarding George W. Bush. For the first time since 1952 -- Eisenhower's first election -- Republicans hold a majority of state legislative seats. It is back to the 1950s for both parties... After Britain's Labor Party was demolished by Margaret Thatcher in the 1983 general election, an undaunted Laborite vowed, "No compromise with the electorate." That can be the rallying cry of Pelosi Democrats.

Thanks to the Washington Post for their excellent coverage.