Using his best attempt at a football analogy, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) tried to explain Wednesday that Speaker Pelosi is the best choice for the Democrat House leadership even though she is unpopular with the American voters -- or in football, the home fans.
"What the Republicans and others in these campaigns are asking us to do is to say 'Well, because the Jets fans are booing Eli Manning, take him off the field'," the congressman explained.
Republicans will ultimately be "unhappy" about Pelosi's stay at the top of the party leadership next term, Miller concluded on MSNBC's "The Daily Rundown." He reaffirmed that the Speaker was an effective leader the past two years, and will still lead in the coming term.
"[Republicans] can boo all they want. We're going to leave the most effective people on our playing field leading this caucus," he stated. "If I was the Republicans, I'd be unhappy about the fact that she's going to stay, too."
A transcript of the segment, which aired on November 10 at 9:22 a.m. EDT, is as follows:
CHUCK TODD: Do you buy into Marcy Kaptur, Pete DeFazio – want to delay the leadership elections a couple of days, maybe a week – what do you say?
Rep. GEORGE MILLER: I don't really think that makes any sense. We all know what time means. You're in – you're going to be in the middle of a lame duck, you've got to have some certainty there. I think overwhelmingly the caucus knows that they want and they need the leadership and the talents and the skills of Nancy Pelosi. And we all recognize that 60 million dollars were spent to demonize her. The last thing [Republicans] want is her on the playing field.
You know, what they're asking us to do – what the Republicans and others in these campaigns are asking us to do is to say "Well because the Jets fans are booing Eli Manning, take him off the field." They can boo all they want. We're going to leave the most effective people on our playing field leading this caucus. Remember, these receipts that we had won – we had won them in every circumstances, in rural America, in urban America, in suburban America, in Republican districts, Democratic districts, special elections, general elections – this is a woman of great talent. If I was the Republicans, I'd be unhappy about the fact that she's going to stay, too.
