You have to hand it to Nancy Pelosi. When emblem of establishment media nepotism Luke Russert asked if she shouldn't clear the way for younger leadership, being all old and stuff, she managed to both convey her disdain for the question (helped by cries of "discrimination" from some of the women of her caucus) and give a substantive answer that should make plenty of people, if not Baby Russert, think a little.

Pelosi began by pointing to the men who are not asked if they are old and standing in the way of younger members—Mitch McConnell and Steny Hoyer alike. No, she's the one who gets the question. But: "Let's for the moment honor it as a legitimate question although it's quite offensive but you don't realize it I guess." She then went on to offer a lesson in what fighting your way to the top looks like as a mother of five born in 1940:



The fact is that everything that I have done in my almost decade now of leadership is to elect younger and newer people to the Congress. In my own personal experience it was very important for me to elect young women. I came to Congress when my youngest child Alexandra was a senior in high school and practically on her way to college. I knew that my male colleagues had come when they were 30. They had a jump on me because they didn't have to, children to stay home. Now, I did what I wanted to do, I was blessed to have that opportunity to sequentially raise my family and then come to Congress. But I wanted women to be here in greater numbers at an earlier age so that their seniority would start to account much sooner. And it wasn't confined to women, though. [...] You've got to take off of that 14 years for me because I was home raising a family, getting the best experience of all in diplomacy, interpersonal skills. No, the answer is no.



@emptywheel via TweetDeck Has anyone asked @LukeRussert whether he has thought of stepping aside to make way for someone who actually earned the job?

Of course, in Luke Russert's world, network television jobs get handed to you right after you graduate from college.Silly question! He's notor a woman, so why worry about the more qualified people who didn't get the job he was just handed because of who his father was?