As Election Day draws closer, spooked House Democrats are getting farther away — from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, that is.
Case in point: freshman Scott Murphy in upstate’s 20th district. Elected in March 2009 to fill appointed Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s House seat, Murphy faces a tough Republican challenger — Army vet Chris Gibson.
In his first race for the office, Murphy sold himself as a moderate.
But he certainly hasn’t voted that way, providing Pelosi with a critical vote on final passage of ObamaCare — after voting against it the first time around.
Now, speaking to an upstate newspaper, he wouldn’t even commit to backing Pelosi’s re-election as House speaker:
“We’ll see. We’ll see what happens when the election’s over, and we’ll look at the leadership. I have not been involved in a leadership election or that process.”
Let’s translate that into non-politician-speak: Pelosi’s big spending, big govern ment, deficit-increasing agenda is poison in my district — and so is she.
Obviously, he’s keeping his distance.
But, given that he’s already switched once — ultimately voting with Pelosi on ObamaCare — why should anyone believe Murphy won’t be there for her after the election?
Of course he will be.
If he’s re-elected, that is.
There’s only one way to ensure that there’s one less vote for Nancy Pelosi continuing as speaker in January: Vote for Democrat Murphy’s opponent, Chris Gibson, on Nov. 2.