Translate, please: Is that some sort of threat?

So what do you think this other former speaker is saying about Newt Gingrich when she says, “There is something I know.”

Taegan Goddard over at Political Wire says, “It doesn’t seem like Pelosi is bluffing” when she says that.

But it seems to me it could be read two ways:

  1. She’s saying there’s a deep, dark secret, yet unknown except by her, that will do in Newt in a fall campaign.
  2. She’s simply emphasizing that, based on what is already widely known — especially among those who served with him — she knows that he won’t be president.

Which do you think it is? Or is it something else? Or nothing?

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney says he sure wishes he knew what that secret was. I’ll be he does.

And Gingrich’s reaction is pure Newt:

She lives in a San Francisco environment of very strange fantasies and very strange understandings of reality. I have no idea what’s in Nancy Pelosi’s head. If she knows something, I have a simple challenge: Spit it out.

28 thoughts on “Translate, please: Is that some sort of threat?

  1. Karen McLeod

    That is Nancy Pelosi being silly, again, I hope. I’m pretty sure that she is simply banking on a) the general American public’s ability to see how utterly inappropriate he would be as president, and/or b) the certainly devestating campaign the Democratic party could and would launch against him if he were to win the nomination. But if she’s party to some dark plot to put an end to Mr. Gingrich in a more sinister way, someone needs to warn her fellow plotters; this woman has a hard time keeping her mouth shut. I’m not really worried, because Ms. Pelosi likes being the center of attention, and she likes pretending to more than she knows.

  2. `Kathryn Fenner

    Hard to say–at first, she seemed to just be speaking generally, but when she said “there’s something I know” it seems very specific. It almost seemed like she was goaded into saying it, unfortunately and perhaps unintentionally tipping that she has a card in her hand, without actually tipping it. Of course there is no reason for the Dems to diss Gingrich before he’s the nominee. They don’t call it an October Surprise because you say something in January.

    Y’all who have drunk the sweet tea of South Carolina politics may dismiss Rep. Pelosi all you want, but in the wider world of national politics, where “liberal” isn’t the rough equivalent of “babykiller” she obviously has a lot of cred, or she wouldn’t be the House Dem leader.

    How much worse can it be than resigned in disgrace over ethics violations? Took money for “historical consulting” from Freddie Mac, which he previously maligned, “colorful” personal life, crazy statements–it’s like the GOP voters wouldn’t care if it were revealed that he’s actually Jimmy Hoffa….

  3. Doug Ross

    She said “There is something I know” not “something we know”. It’s a threat – a threat that should be expounded upon NOW versus later if she truly feels Newt would be bad for the country.

    But she won’t. She’s as bad as Newt when it comes to megalomaniacal corrupt behavior. Newt’s response should be “takes one to know one”.

  4. bud

    Nacny’s a chick? Does that explain Brad’s obsession with Nikki Haley bashing. Or his disdain for Hillary Clinton? Hmmm. Does anyone see a pattern?

  5. Juan Caruso

    ” … she obviously has a lot of cred, or she wouldn’t be the House Dem leader.” -KF

    I beg to differ with some of your
    cgeneralizations.

    California’s 8th Congressional District is not representative of our nation. Not only is it the smallest land area congressional district outside NYC borroughs,
    the U.S. Census reflects it boasts the highest number of same-sex couples per capita in the nation.

    Secondly, as Speaker of the House, Pelosi became the highest-ranking female politician in American history, a DNC token.

    Nancy does not have a law degree. Had she a law degree, the Democrat leaders of both the Senate and House would all be lawyers. Next in line for her position is a male lawyer – – – Steny Hoyer.

    The DNC will NEVER allow all of its congressional leadership to be lawyers; that might be too obvious for the dumbest voters. Instead, someone would be asked to resign.

    Bye, bye, Steny Hoyer!

  6. Brad

    Aw, Kathryn’s just defending Nancy because Jim Leventis is in our Rotary Club, and Jim is Nancy’s youngest child’s godfather.

    No, really.

    Personally, I’ve never been able to take Nancy very seriously. And before you get on a high horse, it’s not because she’s a liberal. And it’s not because she’s from San Francisco.(Dirty Harry is from San Francisco, and nobody would say HE isn’t a real American — despite his being fictional.)

    It’s none of that. It’s just because she’s a chick. 🙂

  7. Juan Caruso

    As I had hinted on Jan 20th in an earlier of Brad’s posts, the DNC has identified a secretary who will claim in late October-November that she was one of his bimbos during his current marriage. The timing makes it suspect to almost all except some Nineteenth Amendment voters.

    The fact that Nancy almost spoiled the DNC lawyers’ contingency plan may attest to Pelosi’s senescence.

  8. Steven Davis

    “she obviously has a lot of cred, or she wouldn’t be the House Dem leader.”

    Keep in mind Clyburn is the Jr. Managing Asst. Democratic Leader-In-Training, and how much “cred” does he have?

  9. Kathy Duffy Thomas

    I kind of wish she’d just say it, because right now I’ve got a mental picture that’s creeping me out.

  10. Mab

    Woman’s intuition wins again!

    The things she knows are likely the same things the crooks enabling/endorsing/coaching him know.

    There is obviously pro-forma incriminating dirt on him. Control purposes only, mind you.

  11. Steven Davis

    Newt has already called her bluff. I bet he’s got at least as much on her as she has on him and she knows it.

  12. Scout

    I think It’s totally your #2 option. If she knew a secret, she probably wouldn’t be able to help herself from telling it. She’s just saying she knows he is too wacky to make it to president – and maybe even to get the nomination. The way she went so quickly into the next sentence like it was the same thought makes me feel like that that is what she was talking about with that phrase – she was just emphasizing that she doesn’t think even the nomination will happen. That’s what I think.

  13. Bart

    When the House Leader makes a comment like this one, credibility is out the window – period. “But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”

    Words cannot adequately describe the idiocy of Pelosi’s comment. So, why should anyone pay attention to anything she has to say after that one?

    Juan Caruso is on point. She comes from one of the smallest districts in the country, one of the wealthiest in the country, and one of the most out-of-touch in the country.

    I don’t like Newt but if she has something, bring it out in the open. Be honest enough to give the American people the opportunity to decide for themselves.

    The problem we have is represented by the Nancy Pelosi’s and Newt Gingrich’s of this world. Instead of demanding the very best candidates, we allow ourselves to be insulted by the least qualified and partisan candidates.

    Sometimes we need to refer to the classics to find an adequate explanation for what is going on in this election cycle, especially among Republicans. Perhaps the people who support Newt have come under the spell of the witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

    “Double, double toil and trouble;
    Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

    Filet of a fenny snake,
    In the cauldron boil and bake;
    Eye of “Newt”, and toe of frog,
    Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
    Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
    Lizard’s leg, and howlet’s wing,
    For a charm of powerful trouble,
    Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.”

    In my small corner of the world, this pretty well sums up my opinion of “Newt” and if I allow ancient fears to surface and superstitions of past civilizations creep into my consciousness; this would be my explanation for his sudden popularity. Otherwise, maybe mass hysteria?

  14. `Kathryn Fenner

    If San Francisco is so out of touch with the rest of the country, how come the candidate it voted for for President is in office, while South Carolina’s is not? How come it’s the wealthiest, and no doubt at the top of all the good list and bottom of the bad ones, unlike another place near and dear to my heart–nearer than dearer these days?

    I saw no signs of senescence. Seriously!

  15. Brad

    I was there once. It was cold. In June. I’ve never wanted to go back.

    Come on, Kathryn… everybody in the country (except for a statistically insignificant number) voted one of two ways in the presidential election. Meaning that most people in S.F. voted one of two ways. In elections when the person of the party that S.F. favors wins, that means S.F. voted for the victor. That doesn’t mean S.F. isn’t extreme, or out of step. Any more than it proved the community WAS extreme, or out of step, when it did not vote for W.

    Similarly — just because Dennis Kucinich and I agree on single-payer doesn’t mean I don’t think Dennis Kucinich is way OUT THERE.

  16. Doug Ross

    San Francisco is great. They love to show you how many homeless people they will allow to sleep in the doorways of businesses.

    I love to visit SF… been there many times (including the only time I’ve ever almost been robbed).

  17. Brad

    I like that bit about “almost been robbed.”

    It leaves us to picture the incident with Doug saying, “Go ahead, punk… make my day…”

  18. Doug Ross

    Actually it was my wife screaming as a guy tried to enter our hotel room via a fire escape in the middle of the night. Can’t say I did anything heroic… except check out of the hotel and move into a safer Marriott Courtyard and then watch The Notebook til 3 am with my frazzled wife. THAT took a lot of courage,

  19. Steven Davis

    Last time I was there, which was several years ago, this fairly attractive 6 foot tall “woman” was trying desperately to walk across the street to talk to me. With “women” like that, I wonder why more straight men don’t live there… “women” are literally running through traffic to meet you.

  20. Brad

    Oh, and I thought “Bullitt” was awesome. I own the Blu-Ray. That doesn’t mean I want to go drive on those streets.

    I don’t ever want to go there.

    Part of this aversion, of course, arises from the fact that in those waning days of Knight Ridder that I wrote about here, the HQ was in San Jose, and I was forced to go there that once… For me, California will always be tied up with how I felt about KR in its decline, and McClatchy (based in Sacramento) after it bought KR…

  21. bud

    I saw Bullitt recently. The chase scene was terrific. The rest of the movie so-so. They just don’t make cool-looking cars like those anymore.

  22. `Kathryn Fenner

    Yeah, Burl–people don’t have to be persuaded to visit San Francisco or Hawaii. Other than Myrtle Beach (a consolation prize kind of place) and Charleston/Low Country beach resorts, the rest of the state needs some ‘splainin’ to folks to get them to come here….

  23. Bart

    The last time I checked, people were not visiting Myrtle Beach because they had to be persuaded or under threat of bodily harm.

    No, Obama didn’t carry South Carolina but he did carry California. So what is your point? Bush, Sr. was the last Republican to carry the state. The fact that McCain got more than a dozen votes was a surprise.

    As for San Francisco, after travelling over most of this country, it is the last place I would voluntarily visit. Hawaii is another matter altogether. Would love to visit there to see some old friends. Just let me know when Burl is on the mainland. 🙂

    I guess it goes against the grain to live in “a consolidation prize kind of state”, (just exchanging place for state) doesn’t it?

    I am truly sorry for the fact that you are forced to live among the idiocy, ignorance, pettiness, illiterate, and uninformed citizens of South Carolina, I truly am. And there is no smiley face accompanying this one.

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