All your Favorite Woke Liberal Journalists spent most of the last three weeks decrying the opposition to Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House, because, after all, there’s absolutely no reason anyone would object to a 78-year-old multimillionaire whose stated objectives are to compromise with Trump and to gut Congress’ ability to pass social programs, other than ageism and sexism.
(Granted, it didn’t help that the actual organized opposition to Pelosi was challenging her from the right.)
Many of the people critical of Pelosi from the left supported Barbara Lee for Speaker; Lee is one of the few Representatives to consistently demonstrate moral courage and conviction in her time in the House. She is probably most well known for her vote against the blanket Authorized Use of Military Force after 9/11, being the sole member of the House to vote against it; it’s a vote that got her death threats at the time.
Lee, however, elected to run for the position of Democratic Caucus Chair, a decision she announced back in July. It seemed like a great fit if she didn’t want the Speaker position.
However, today it was announced that Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, part of the New York Democratic machine that’s kept people like Andrew Cuomo and Joe Crowley in power for so long, narrowly defeated Lee for the position, after announcing his intentions three weeks ago.
It is utterly ridiculous that Barbara Lee does not have a leadership role in the House. She has been an anti-poverty and anti-war champion for many years. She understood that the AUMF would be a “blank check” for POTUS to make war anywhere, and was the lone dissenting vote 420-1.
— Donté Stallworth (@DonteStallworth) November 28, 2018
reminder that Lee's only opposition dropped out a few days after the election. Lee announced she was running for this job in July. Jeffries announced he was running less than three weeks ago
— Paul Blest (@pblest) November 28, 2018
Pretty close race between Hakeem Jeffries and Barbara Lee for Dem Caucus Chair.
Jeffries won, in part, by arguing for a younger Democratic leadership.
(Jeffries is also a guy to watch to one day — sooner or later — be Speaker.)https://t.co/z59L02VLjh
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) November 28, 2018
Strange that this worked; Lee is 72, but calls to replace Pelosi with younger leadership are consistently met with charges of ageism.
It is utterly ridiculous that Barbara Lee does not have a leadership role in the House. She has been an anti-poverty and anti-war champion for many years. She understood that the AUMF would be a “blank check” for POTUS to make war anywhere, and was the lone dissenting vote 420-1.
— Donté Stallworth (@DonteStallworth) November 28, 2018
Isn't it funny how Dems clutch their pearls when people mention Pelosi's age, but they're more than willing to invoke age against Barbara Lee?
I'm sure the fact that every one of these inconsistencies ends up keeping corrupt neolibs in power is just an innocent coincidence. https://t.co/S9yFlQj2H8
— "Angry Jon Snow" Graziano (@jvgraz) November 28, 2018
So who is Hakeem Jeffries, exactly?
Jeffries is a big money Democrat and a member in good standing of Andrew Cuomo's New York machine. There is no way to spin his victory over Barbara Lee as a sign the party is moving in a progressive direction. https://t.co/639XkN8P3Z
— Zach Carter (@zachdcarter) November 28, 2018
Reminder: the guy running against progressive champion @RepBarbaraLee for House Democratic Caucus Chair is @RepJeffries — who has spent much of the last two years publicly demonizing progressives, while he rakes in corporate PAC money. pic.twitter.com/00Ly03Y0qh
— David Sirota (@davidsirota) November 28, 2018
Oh Hakeem. I remember back in the early 90s when you were just a young, passionate defender of your controversial uncle, Prof. Leonard Jeffries of CUNY, noted for his “ice people/sun people” race theories.
Now you’ve gone all corporate mainstream ‘n sh*t.
— Norm Erosion (@KenJones707) November 28, 2018
Oh. Swell.
Strangely, the most vocal people regarding the challenges to Pelosi, the most vocal water-carriers for the Democratic Party’s version of rich-white-lady feminism, have been entirely silent about the late-rising challenge to and defeat of Lee:
Here are some Twitter feeds where you will find absolutely nothing about Barbara Lee being defeated by the money machine for Caucus Chairhttps://t.co/Y6Ph6KeSVzhttps://t.co/p7hm4cUJEdhttps://t.co/yKosk1GbaYhttps://t.co/3MLm7WIDJV
— Ruckasaurus: The Movie starring Marlon Brando as (@RuckCohlchez) November 28, 2018
It’s almost like the Democratic Party and its enablers don’t actually care about women, especially black women. It’s almost like their calls of sexism are cynical. It’s almost like their version of feminism only cares about the Three Whites: white women, white collar, and white wine.