by Ben Bullard
While Democrats hope to topple the Republican grip on the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2014 Presidential midterm elections, former majority leader (and current minority leader) Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has indicated she isn’t interested in returning to a gavel position if her party regains control.
At least that’s what she told National Journal’s Ben Terris in a Q&A interview published last Thursday.
“No, that’s not my thing. I did that,” she said when asked whether she wanted the job again.
While that might come as a mild shock to Pelosi detractors who watched her tell Congress — following her own ascendance to the role in 2006 — that she was making history and breaking the “marble ceiling” for all women everywhere, what happened after last week’s interview went public is no shock at all.
National Journal became the target of a walkback effort from the Pelosi camp, which angrily disputed the publication’s stated wording of the question Terris had asked — “Do you want to be speaker again?” — as well as the way in which it may have influenced her response.
Pelosi’s office sent out an emailed press release in an effort to secure for the 73-year-old Congresswoman a seat at whatever table may be set by the 2014 elections:
“The Leader fully intends to be a Member of a Democratic Majority in the 114th Congress,” offered spokesman Drew Hammill. “The rest is up to her colleagues, as the Leader has long stated publicly.”
A day after the Q&A article posted, this addendum had appeared on the piece’s webpage:
UPDATE: 1:10 p.m., Friday, August 30
Speaker Pelosi’s office blasted a press release this afternoon contesting the wording of NJ’s question and asking for a correction. In fact, the recorded audio file supports the edited transcript above. Here is the question and answer, from the tape:
National Journal: Do you wish for the chance for the speaker position again?
Pelosi: No, that’s not my thing. I did that.
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