It Ain't The Notes, It's The Lyrics - & The Singer

But House Democrats will never accept that, despite receiving sixty-five irrefutable reasons why they should.

It's like Rush Limbaugh has always said about libs: When they're in power, they're more dangerous than al Qaeda; but when they're out of power, they're more fun than a squadron of flying monkeys:

In a letter sent to fellow Democratic lawmakers Saturday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California expresses confidence that she will be elected minority leader and calls for the party to “further modernize” and “communicate” the message that helped them win the House in 2006.

Yeah, you remember the Dems' winning message from 2006, don't you?  "We're New New Democrats, committed to fiscal responsibility and NO NEW DEFICIT SPENDING and running the most OPEN, HONEST, ETHICAL Congress EVER!  And we ABSOLUTELY WON'T be led by a hard-left extremist gangsteress who will run the House with an iron authoritarian fist!"  How'd that one work out for 'em?

Her focus on message implies that Democrats lost at least sixty seats and the House because of a failure to communicate effectively about the agenda the party delivered rather than public disapproval of the policies. It’s an argument that may resonate well with House Democrats who blame the White House for not putting enough energy into honing and promoting public relations campaigns in support of major legislative items.

"In addition, we must build the capacity for effectively communicating our message of job creation and opportunity for all, while supporting our signature achievements of health care, Wall Street reform, and Social Security and Medicare," she wrote. "In the 2006 election with our ‘New Direction’ and ‘6 for 06’ message, we spoke with great clarity and unity — and we won. Now, we must further modernize not only that message but the way in which we communicate with constituents."

Or Republicans had crapped the public fiscal bed and the War on Terror had passed its historical expiration date and the Dems were the default alternative.  But how can you not like messaging that touts objectives her party never sought while supporting achievements that deliberately make them unattainable - annnnnnnnd which the voters never wanted?  And keeping the face of that contemptuous cognitive dissonance front and center for two more years?

The New York Times managed to find a way:

But is she really the best the Democrats can come up with as their leader as they slip into the minority?

Mrs. Pelosi announced on Friday that she would seek the post of House minority leader. That job is not a good match for her abilities in maneuvering legislation and trading votes, since Democrats will no longer be passing bills in the House. What they need is what Mrs. Pelosi has been unable to provide: a clear and convincing voice to help Americans understand that Democratic policies are not bankrupting the country, advancing socialism or destroying freedom.

If Mrs. Pelosi had been a more persuasive communicator, she could have batted away the ludicrous caricature of her painted by Republicans across the country as some kind of fur-hatted commissar jamming her diktats down the public’s throat.

Translation: Bill Clinton for House Minority Leader!  Seriously, who else could convince Americans to deny the blinding, deafening, inescapable evidence of national bankruptcy, socialism, and freedom destruction Crazy Nancy has spent so much time and effort shoving into our lying eyes?

There's an old saying: Actions speak louder than words.  Nancy Pelosi's actions, particularly in the 111th Congress, are every bit what the Times wants to sweep away as "ludicrous" because they know it as well as we do, and they know even more acutely that Granny will never shed that politically lethal perception.  And as long as she remains at the top of the House Donk ladder, every Jackass on every rung beneath her will be tainted with that obnoxious, extremist stink.

The only way back from last Tuesday's debacle is to rebuild the towering fiction of the "moderate/centrist/New/Blue Dog" Democrat.  The masks have to go back on for the foreseeable future, and that cannot even begin until San Fran Nan is banished to the outer darkness.  Or, put more bluntly, she herself is what's wrong with her party's "messaging".

But, again, House Dems will never accept that:

Says the man who may well end up doing the Capitol valet parking for the House minority caucus because Wrinkly McFunbags's arthritic claws can't be pried off of whatever power to which she can cling.  And with such bootlicking sychophantic enablers dominating the Donk rump the Teanami left behind, why WOULD she be persuaded to do anything else but what she's doing?

Clearly Hoyer or Clyburn don't have the balls to have the "facts of life/handwriting on the wall" conversation with Pelosi that Barry Goldwater once had with President Nixon at the nadir of Watergate.  I guess they must be hoping that the confirmation of the '10 GOP gains next time will be enough to persuade her that this time was no fluke.  Not something I would count on.

Neither are a lot of Donk congressional staffers, from the looks of things: 

A staffer for a congressional Democrat who came up short on Tuesday reports that a team of about five people stopped by their offices this morning to talk about payroll, benefits, writing a résumé, and so forth, with staffers who are now job hunting.

But one of the staffers was described as a “counselor” to help with the emotional aspect of the loss — and a section in the packet each staffer was given dealt with the stages of grief (for instance, Stage One being anger, and so on).

“It was like it was about death,” the staffer said. “It was bizarre.” The staffer did say the portions about the benefits and résumé writing were instructive.

Exit question: If by "job-hunting" they mean in the bright, wonderful, vibrant, booming private sector economy Obamanomics has given us, can you blame them?