



I bet if Pelosi held her town hall back in her San Francisco district instead of on a CNN set with Chris Cuomo, it would have been a very different event. I suspect she would have faced a similar response from activists that other members of Congress have gotten from their constituents. First of all, all Cuomo's questions about the day's Trump infotainment crap would not have dominated an opportunity to find out what Pelosi stands for and where she wants to take her party and our country. Sixteen minutes in and they were still jibber-jabbering about the details of Trump's revelations to the Russian spies-- great for breathless CNN coverage but mostly a waste of time in terms of what Pelosi's constituents-- both in San Francisco and even nationally-- are really interested in. Yes, "loose lips can sink ships," thank you Nancy and Chris.





Washington Post assertions about Trump's oafish behavior with Putin. She didn't say anything wrong, but Cuomo used her as a news commentator on the popping news story of the day. She should have known better and steered towards a positive message. Even the first message Cuomo pre-arranged, was more of this Trump/Russia stuff. And then Cuomo brought up impeachment-- specifically If she's trying to get out a message that inspires midterm voters, she failed by using a third of her time to talk about theassertions about Trump's oafish behavior with Putin. She didn't say anything wrong, but Cuomo used her as a news commentator on the popping news story of the day. She should have known better and steered towards a positive message. Even the first message Cuomo pre-arranged, was more of this Trump/Russia stuff. And then Cuomo brought up impeachment-- specifically Rep. Al Green's call the other day to start the process. According to new polling a plurality of Americans now want to impeach Trump-- 48%, as opposed to 41% who oppose impeachment. And among people who supported Hillary last year, 81% want to impeach Trump.

But not Leader Pelosi, who once, as Speaker, took impeachment "off the table" in regard to Bush. Remember? In regard to impeaching Trump: "They [her caucus] know I don't subscribe to that... We owe the American people some stability in all of this. This is the time he's supposed to be having his honeymoon." Her criticism of Trump seems to be that he's "sloppy."





Second question CNN set up-- more Putin crap. This was so obviously about CNN infotainment rather than about what people are asking in town halls. Finally-- 30 minutes in-- CNN managed to figure out a way to bring up health care by inviting a 26-year old college student, an orphan from Arkansas who had given Tom Cotten a rough time at his town hall earlier this year. She's has a horrifying personal health story and feels that the Affordable Care Act is all that stands between her and certain death. Her question, precisely, was "what will you do to inspire lower out-of-pocket expenses, not higher, with the same or better benefits, regardless of age, income or preexisting condition, and sustaining Medicare and Medicaid expansion... What will you do, congresswoman, to save my life and the lives of Americans like myself?"





Finally the kind of question real people-- rather than CNN hosts-- actually want to get some answers to! Yesterday the number of congressmembers co-sponsoring John Conyers' Medicare-For-All bill jumped to 110-- all of them Democrats-- when Albio Sires (NJ) and Ted Deutch (FL) signed on. Pelosi is one of the increasingly smaller number of Democrats who opposes single payer. All she could talk about is defeating TrumpCare and did nothing to move the ball forward or present a progressive alternative vision or present anything that makes the very flawed Affordable Care Act any better (i.e.- single payer). She repeated all the talking points-- all true-- about what's wrong with the Republican approach, how it's a "death panel bill" and a "tax bill disguised as a healthcare bill." She's right but what about giving us an alternative, the way Conyers has or the way Bernie has ? Maybe she should start talking like this: