Nancy Pelosi Reacts To Election Loss In Sit-Down With Diane Sawyer
Last night’s election results were probably more painful to her than anyone else, even the President, but Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi put her best foot forward for a sit-down interview with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer today, insisting that her sadness was for the American people, not herself, and that she still had hope in her colleagues and in the possibility of President Obama having a second term.
“It was a tough loss,” Speaker Pelosi confessed to Sawyer, emphasizing the “sadness over the loss of the members who would not be returning” and for the people that voted for them. She insisted none of the personal attacks got to her– on the contrary, she told Sawyer that she took the GOP “Fire Pelosi” campaign “as a compliment” because “they have used me as a personification of health care and the rest,” something she is proud of. What was said about her, she answered to a later question, was “less important to me… than my colleagues not coming back,” but that “what’s important is getting the job done, not keeping the job.”
Sawyer also asked Speaker Pelosi a few questions she described as “high school questions”: “Do you like [Rep. John Boehner]?” Pelosi testified to their “good rapport,” answering that “of course” she does and that he is a very “amiable” person, expressing hope that he would be able to use the “many friends” he had made and “continue to have those relationships as he goes forward” and use them to do the best job he could as Speaker of the House, should he be elected.
Speaker Pelosi also reflected on being the first woman to hold the job, sending a message to other women who may aspire to the same:
I don’t want women to say, “There’s no way I’m putting up with that.” I have plenty of good options in my life, and after all, Congress is a place for people with options. And they– I want them to say– whatever it is, it’s worth the results for the American people. If you have that commitment, and that conviction, and that– it takes courage. It’s not for the faint of heart. Then– that really is important. If there’s any example I would want to set is– believe in what you’re doing, and if you do, the rest of it doesn’t matter.
The full interview via ABC News below:
