Who is a Stronger Leader: Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid?

Great comments. Reid is useless as tits on a boar hog. Nevadans should vote him out even if a repug wins. It looks like Durbin is running the dems in the Senate anyway. I am still pissed with Pelosi for taking impeachment off the table, but I do understand her reasoning. I just don't agree with it. There is really no comparison here, because Reid hasn't demonstated any leadership ability whatsoever. Obama needs to stand up and take a stronger leadership position on health care reform & not leave it completely to Congress, particularly, the gang of Six in the Senate and the seven blue mutts from mostly southern states who only represent a fraction of the U.S. The following is a personal opinion: Before there can be health care reform, there needs to be comprehensive campaign finance reform; in other words, no more welfare for our elected officials from the corporate nazis. The most worrisome aspect of this whole 'reform' is mandating health care coverage. I'm sure that the health insurance industry is about to have a stroke at the thought of 47 million people being forced to buy their useless insurance. I simply don't make enough, but I also rarely get sick. Three trips to the doctor in 11 years for two asthma attacks and kidney stones. And no, I didn't miss work when one of these events occurred although I was very nervous. I can't remember the last day I missed work for illness; maybe, 1972 or 1973. My greatest fear is that if I don't stay healthy for the rest of my life, I will lose my house and end up on the street.

They are both totally feckless as far as I'm concerned.

Nancy Pelosi is the better leader. But only because her competition is so weak!

Pelosi lost my respect when she refused to allow discussion of the Bush crimes on the House floor. Reid is useless. The Senate needs soemone else to step up--maybe Durbin?

They despise Nancy Pelosi, but I never even hear Reid mentioned. That tells me she's more effective and threatening to them. Which makes me vote for her.

...Toast. The Corporations and their lobbyists own this country and damn near everyone in it. They own pretty much the rest of the planet as well. Nothing and no one going to or coming from D.C. can stop this now. What may yet save us is collapse or revolution, neither of which seem too terribly far off at this point. Thanks, Barack, it was good to feel a little hope there, for awhile.

Harry Reid is one of the weakest human beings ever to hold a position of authority. Not only can he not keep the Senate in line, he can't even keep his own opinions in line. Nancy Pelosi is no Mother Jones, but she has a spine of titanium compared to that noodle running down Harry's back. If I was a citizen of Nevada I would vote against Reid in the Primary obviously, but would also vote against him in the general. It would be better for the country to have Reid out of his position even if it meant having an (R) in his seat. I have heard Dick Durbin's name floated around as the replacement leader and it would be a dramatic improvment if it were to happen.

Why do we, who should know better, keep talking about two-major parties when there is but one-The American Corporate Party. It has two-wings: A wholly corporate owned wing(GOP) & a mostly corporate owned wing(Dems). This is the reality. Bill Moyers explained it some time ago with, "Money ruined democracy". A corrupted political system would approve the invasion of Iraq, continue to finanace it for years, destroy the Constutution, torture at will, spy at will, allow Wall St. to pillage the American middle class, destroy the environment, ship out our jobs & fail to give the people the fundamental right to health care. All of this happened & continues regardless of which wing is in power. It isn't going to get better...it's going to get much worse for all but the richest of Americans. Which are you?

Kevin O'Morrison: Pelosi, by a mile. Reid is limp as a wet rag

Reid is like Roland Burris or Harriet Meirs: completely ill-equipped for the difficulty of their intended positions, but too much of a crony happily basking in the artificial glory created by others to ever admit how useless they really are..

I've become a big fan of Pelosis'. Her willingness to buck the President or the CIA and Steny Hoyer or Harry Reid on behalf of We the People is as honorable a leader as the Dems could ever hope for.

Sheldon Whitehouse is my new hero in the Senate. Feingold was, but he's kind of given up the fight.

Nationalism is not terrorism. And an adversary is not an enemy.

Druthers Strong is hardly a word that one would associate with either one of these sold out Party leaders. If Nancy "impeachment off the table," and Reid "Let's compromise with Republicans" are the best the Democratic Party has to offer we might has well have kept King George...The one before the Revolution.

Neither! If either of these people did us any good we wouldn't still be waiting to end two wars, we wouldn't be waiting for healthcare for all and we wouldn't be wondering why on earth the last administration got away with ALL of the crimes they committed! They don't care about we the people because they have jobs and healthcare and get pay checks every week no matter what! So why should they NOT take their recess and sit back and relax!!! They have NOTHING to worry about! They all have really clear heads! They just sit up there in their ivory tower looking down on us while we the people struggle every day to keep what little we have! There has been NO CHANGE since the new administration has taken over! Just more of the same bullshit! I guess I was duped into thinking that someone would come along and put the Republicans in their place and tell them to, SHUT THE HELL UP!! No, instead we have the likes of Sarah Palin and Rush Lumbar spewing crap out of their mouths everyday! Boy I must have been dreaming about that change!!!!

Reid or Pelosi? That's like cancer or a benign tumor. Nanci Pelosi turned me off with her off the table impeachment. She has done somewhat better that Reid but neither has done what needs to be done for the populace, what we, the voters gave them in the presidency and both houses, a super majority. Yet for some mysteriou$ rea$on,they can't get it done without the repug$ vote$. Reid claimed for two years since the Dem's gained a majority in the house that the senate can't do anything without that mystical 60 votes. Now he has his 60 but he still can't do what needs to be done, what nearly three quarter of the nation demands, what the rest of the world has found works better, cheaper and with superior results, a non profit health care system. Reid just doesn't want to upset his good friends on the other side of the aisle. To hell with what we want or need. Ted Kennedy is ill and seldom present so Baucus leads the charge for health care donations with nearly $4,000,000 in campaign donations from big medicine and insurance. Harry Reid allows this corruption and even encourages him to be bipartisan. This fund raising total seems outrageous enough but the Dem leader in donations in the senate from the profit over death insurance lobby is the Dem's one time presidential candidate John Kerry with nearly $10,000,000 in donations from the insurance and medical industry. What all this amounts to is legalized bribery and we,the poor saps trying to make ends meet week in and week out are paying the price with our very lives. If Pelosi can't get Dem's to do what is beneficial to their constituents, those who elected them for this specific purpose,these neocon Dem's need to be unelected and run out of town on a rail. We were duped by many of the freshmen Dem's. In Ohio where I live, Zack Space, who was elected with the donations and support of labor, has been a solid republican vote. He just doesn't see the need for changing our failed system. Charlie Wilson also devotes too much authority to his minority conservative constituents. Pelosi just can't seem to get them in line to do what they were elected to do, therefore she is failing in her duties as majority leader. What will happen in the end,if any bill comes to a vote it will be so watered down it will be the same situation we have today, profitable and lucrative for insurance and big pharma, a farce and a crime of epic proportions for the recipients of this lack of health care,denial of benefits and massive profits for the industry.This is basically what is wrong in government today. What should be a service becomes a for profit industry. During the reigning years of the neocons, there was no bipartisanship. If they wanted something they jammed it down the throats of Dem's and the nation without a care. Remember how they completely shut out the Dem's in the give away to big pharma with Medicare,creating the massively profitable donut hole and making it illegal to negotiate for lower prices? How about in 2003,the Dem's were shut out in the energy conference. From then house leader Steney Hoyer: The House is expected to consider the Energy Conference Report on the Floor next week. Democrats have been completely shut out of negotiations on this conference report despite the fact that poll after poll shows that the United States is a fifty-fifty nation, and Democrats control nearly half the seats in both the House and Senate. Today's announcement that a deal has been reached on energy legislation is a perfect example of an arrogant Republican leadership once again shutting Democrats - and the 130 million Americans we represent - out of deliberations on the most important issues facing our nation. Republicans didn't give a shit then but now the poor maligned republi-cons are crying foul,for less than the same thing they did to Dem's, and the rest of the country, for years. Today they refuse to participate if they can't protect the money train and claim isolation. In essence, America has been sold out on issue after issue by both the Dem's, and naturally if it would be considered a benefit,the republicans. It's all for them and nothing for us. The Democratic representatives we sent to do the business of the people are doing the business of big business instead with the cadre of blue dog republican sympathizers are destroying the fabric of our nation, sadly for the rest of us, aided by incompetent leaders in both houses. We must find true progressives to promote the cause of social justice or we are doomed to die for the profit of corporations, aided by both parties.

Randi Rhodes pointed out that Harry Reid had been elected to the US Senate from Nevada and therefore knows first-hand how to deal with organized crime. Neither body of the Congress should be handled like the Republicans under Gingrich or DeLay ran it. A little bit of Speaker Sam doesn't hurt, but it is still full of two-year term representatives. The Senate was deliberately planned to be slow and deliberative. It is, in effect, a brake upon popular opinion. It is often agonizingly slow and counter-productive much of the time; at other times it seemingly acts rapidly, such as when passing the so-called Patriot Act. An argument could be made that when it acts quickly it is more often wrong than not, perhaps. Either way, neither the Democratic Party nor the USA will benefit solely from a "strong leader." If there is nothing to lead, leading won't help. For example, here in Texas we are unably represented by two Republican senators. They have no more votes than any other Senators, but they leave the majority of Texans who, despite our recent voting record, favor Democratic policies over Republican ones without a voice in the Senate. That means that the second most populous and second largest state has no one in the Senate speaking for the majority (at best, or gigantic minority at worst) of us. So the Senate majority leader is leading a group of people who do not include most viewpoints, for better or worse, and keeping the worst from happening may not be the best, but it is not at all an easy task. Our enemies are vast and well-funded. I am grateful for having Democratic leaders in both Houses of the US Congress.

She stands up more for the people. She can be irritating, but she has accomplished promises she made in 2006.

Peter Newcome Harry Reid is a limp biscuit. He is a total disgrace as a major Democratic leader. He is totally inadequate as the Senate Majority Leader and has time and again caved into the whims and caprices of the Repugnants. Let someone else take over for Harry Reid. The Obama Administration can't afford such mediocre and tepid leadership as demonstrated by Harry Reid.

...We need to be asking here is what to do about a Government which has lost the capacity to act in service of the American people. Every single branch of government is failing ordinary Americans now. We have a Fascist Right, slavishly corporatist, openly hostile to civil liberties, the Constitution and perfectly willing to inflict any amount of pain and suffering on the population to advance its totalitarian agenda. The democratic party could overcome this joyful obstructionism if it weren't fatally riven by moneyed interests and the same right wing ideologies that have tried to hold it back for generations. The government we have operates now to advance and protect the interests of the rich and privileged, and can't do anything but make token gestures for the rest. This magnitude of failure indicates to me an accelerating collapse of our society. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are just symptomatic.

mark karlin you win this argument if there is one hands down ! As a supporter of reid since the late 1960's when he was one of the gold dust twins I have never been so disappointed ! Most of the folks I talk to are equally disappointed in reid and "O" ! They are letting the crazy religious terrorists like ensign continue to turn our country into some kind of religious freak toilet !

Neither of them. He is spineless and I don't trust her. In future, could you give us more intelligent choices? Neither Pelosi or Reid should be in the positions they hold. In my view, they have done their jobs very poorly.

Would you rather get shot in the head with a 32 or 45?

Would you rather jump off a cliff or a tall building?

Would you rather vote for a Democrat or a Republican? Either way, democracy is off the table. Right K Street lobbyists representing the upper 1% plutocracy?

Pelosi's 'impeachment off the table' dictum has up till now defined her legacy as Speaker, wanting to join the club without upsetting any of its opposition members. Preferring appeasement to leadership, she furthered the Bush agenda particularly on the war. Her role was more of an acquiescent partner in government than of that even of devil's advocate. However, when it comes to Harry Reid, there is no contest whatsoever. He has defined a new low standard for the most spineless majority leader in history. While Tom Daschle certainly disappointed me by his post Senate conversion to health industry lobbyist, he had at least voiced loud & vigorous opposition to the Bush agenda. Targeted for defeat by the Republicans, the post fell to Reid who would never have had a chance in an open competition. He is just one more default office holder who has left us stuck with his timid rhetoric - all from someone who had previously been more of a right leaning blue dog than a Democratic centrist, not 'left' in the least. At a time when the nation was desperate for a bold and progressive voice, we were saddled with a milksop more comfortable in opposing Obama than GW. It is laughable that Republicans assail these two as 'liberal extremists'.

What's to discuss? Reid is a spineless coward, and Pelosi is all talk no action. None of them belong in the place they occupy. They're both purchased by corporate evil, whom they faithfully serve. I've been disappointed so many times in a row, that I don't even get my hopes up for any of them to act on behalf of the sheeple. They will NOT bite the hands that feed them.

the question is irrelevant and a distraction. for chrissakes, Tom Daschle was going to be Obama's man on healthcare and he was in the pay of that racket. was he weak? these folks have not a progressive bone in their bodies so whether or not they have spines doesnt really matter.

bobert Harry Reid is a joke. Enough said. Pelosi? I can't get past her "impeachment is off the table" stance. Neither one is enough of a pit bull to take on the Republicans and shove their rhetoric back down their throats.

If the Democrats had a leader in the Senate they could rule at 50-50 NOW. Harry Reid must have a lot of compromising photos to have kept his "leader" position this long. Leading is obviously a class that he has failed...repeatedly. Nancy Pelosi (my CongressCritter) is not much better. If she wasn't a person of the female persuasion I would declare that corporate America had her balls in a vice. Either way, we the people lose and the Corporate Party wins. It's time to retire BOTH of them and all of their corporate cronies.

You know you've lived too long when you get nostalgic for guys you grew up hating, even though I grew up in a Democratic household and am and always have been a registered Democrat, like Lyndon Johnson, Sam Rayburn and Tip O'Neill.

Those three guys certainly wouldn't let a bunch of posturing, hypocritical, fifth columnist clowns like the Blue Dogs get away with they type of crap we are now witnessing without some negative political payback heaped upon their sorry heads in the future.

But maybe it's the times in which we live? Certainly Senator Harry "Cap'n Milquetoast" Reid and House Speaker Pelosi can't offend any of the members of their respective and august caucuses. Surely if they should anger a leading Blue Dog...say an Evan Bayh or Mike "standing-in-the-hospital-door" Ross...they might just do a Joe Lieberman. Why does Reid let that GOP-mole continue to caucus with the Democrats?

But, O.K., back to the question at hand, Who is a Stronger Leader: Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid? Between those two I'd have to go with Pelosi. It's no contest really. Nancy's shows a bit of spine now and again, Harry's just a tap dancing jellyfish.

ET Spoon

It's obvious that Reid is a timid, ineffectual excuse for a leader who needs to be replaced. The last two elections proved that the people are ready for a robust progressive government, but Reid still appears to be spooked by George W. Bush's poll numbers from 7 years ago... Maybe it's time for the people of Nevada to cut him loose, even if that means electing a Republican in his seat. That may sound a little crazy, but I'm willing to gamble that Dick Durbin can do more with a 58-59 seat majority than Reid could even if he had a 98-set majority..It's not about breaking kneecaps, it's about not being pushed around by a shrinking and increasingly irrelevant Republican minority

Sharon NANCY PELOSI IS A GOOD AND STRONG LEADER!!! REPUKES HAVE NO ONE AS STRONG A LEADER AS NANCY!!!! HARRY NEEDS TO GET A SPINE!!!!! THANK YOU, NANCY FOR STANDING STRONG ON HEALTH CARE!!!!!!

Surely the author jests most cynically! Or waxes erotematically rhetorical! Reid could not lead a host of hungry hogs to a slop trough! Reid's Senate leadership capability as Senate Leader makes Dubya's leadership as commander-in-chief on a par with General George Patton.

Reid is to Democratic Senate Leadership as Custer's military exploits at Little big Horn.

When Reid walks into a room, someone always asks,

"Did someone just leave?"

Harry Reid's x-rays are nothing more than totally blank opacities.

A helium filled balloon has greater density than Reid's cranium.

Reid is the neutron bomb of fatuousness.

I mean this all in a nice way, you understand.

On the other hand Pelosi may not be a kneecapper, I believe she knows a few folks who can get
"things done"

The Skeptical Cynic hath spake!

It is truly written in the sands of time...
One must never spit in a man's face.
Unless, of course his mustache is on fire...

at this point in the healthcare debate is for the two of them to get together and crack the whip.

even when she's leading THE WRONG WAY. Obviously she led mightily in keeping IMPEACHMENT OFF THE TABLE. Reid is such an incredible milquetoast. He will have no legacy in such an upheaved time.

Harry reid has done little or no good compared to Namcy Pelosi and needs to either change course or get out of the way now that Al Franken is in the senate. We don't have time to cater to blue-dog and republican interests anymore!

you might as well be asking: who is more rabid, Bachmann or Coulter

As far as I am concerned, neither of the two qualifies as a leader, let alone a strong leader. It just reflects the sad state of affairs with the minority-minded MOR dems. Why aren't there more Dennis Kucinichs, Paul Wellstones, (hopefully Al Frankens) and the like in that group of distinguished sheep? Then we might actually have some leaders who would stand out from the current sad crowd.

scruffy1 No doubt that Pelosi is stronger leader, but she has a larger margin of votes than Reid. Reid does not seem to have even a strong influence much less reasonable control over his caucus. Compromise is good only when the principles involved remain intact.