Pelosi galore

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has always been an easy target for her critics in the GOP, particularly Republicans in Georgia.  There have been some election years, in fact, when I would have sworn that Pelosi was listed on the Georgia ballot because I heard her name pop up so much.

The latest Georgia pol to jump on the anti-Nancy bandwagon is

Mike Evans, the former legislator and DOT board chairman who is running

for Nathan Deal’s 9th District congressional seat.

Evans

released a statement recently demanding Pelosi’s resignation as speaker

because of what he called her “grossly irresponsible behavior” in

accusing the CIA of not being truthful about what was said during a

security briefing back in 2002.

“It’s unbelievable that a leader

trusted with so much power would attack the integrity of the

intelligence community for petty political posturing,” Evans said.

“Someone this irresponsible does not deserve to serve in a role that

makes her second in line to the presidency.”

Evans added:  “Some

things are more important than politics and our national security is

one of them.  I agree with Newt Gingrich when he said Pelosi continuing

as speaker is ‘very dangerous’ for our country and ‘America can’t

afford it.’ If the voters of north Georgia trust me to be their voice

in Congress, I will not sit idly by while radical liberals endanger our

country and our families to cover up their hypocrisy.”

Former

speaker Newt Gingrich is among the many Republican voices that have

been calling for Pelosi’s ouster after she accused the CIA of lying to

Congress about the security briefing.

Gingrich’s argument has

been somewhat undercut, however, by disclosures that Republican leaders

in Congress, including Rep. John Boehner and Rep. Pete Hoekstra, have

made similar accusations of CIA lying in the past.  During an intense

interview with Diane Sawyer, Gingrich was asked several times to

explain why Pelosi was wrong when the GOP leaders have also called out

the CIA for the agency’s purported lies.  He did not have a convincing

answer.

The criticisms of Pelosi from Evans and Gingrich are the

latest attempts by Georgia Republicans to gain an advantage by invoking

the name of the prototypical “San Francisco Democrat.”  But how

successful have these criticisms been when it comes to actually winning

elections?

In 2006, when Rep. Jim Marshall of Macon was

challenged by former Republican congressman Mac Collins, the issue of

Marshall’s upcoming vote on the election of Pelosi as House speaker was

raised countless times in debates and on the campaign trail.

Marshall

was body-slammed about his alleged ties to Pelosi again in 2008 when he

was opposed by retired Air Force general Rick Goddard.

Marshall

survived the attacks and won both of those elections:  he edged Collins

by 1,752 votes and trounced Goddard by 39,795 votes.

Marshall’s

middle Georgia district is very conservative but also includes a

sizeable contingent of African American residents.  That helps cushion

him against the Pelosi attacks.

The 9th District, where Evans

will be running, is even more Republican-leaning than Marshall’s

district and has a much smaller percentage of black voters – so the

anti-Pelosi statements may have more resonance there.  All of the

controversy about her CIA comments appears to have hurt Pelosi’s

numbers in national polls, so maybe Evans will finally get some

political traction by invoking her name.