Progress Illinois

Contrary to what conservative blowhards like Glenn Beck might have you believe, President Obama is still very popular 100 days into his first term. The latest Pew Center for the People and Press survey gives Obama above a 60 percent approval rating nationally and the Patchwork Nation community type profile shows the Democrat earning above 50 percent in every one of the 11 community types identified, including conservative communities home to rural Americans and evangelicals.

As a result, National Republicans are diverting their attention from the president, choosing instead to link 43 vulnerable Democrats -- including 11th District Rep. Debbie Halvorson -- with their favorite target: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Roll Call has more:

The National Republican Congressional Committee is set to launch a recess ad offensive today, hitting Democrats in 43 districts for helping to “rubber stamp” spending bills for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). [...]

NRCC spokesman Paul Lindsay said Friday that the new ad campaign is an effort to hold Democratic Members accountable for their votes in favor of the stimulus package and budget.

“The Democrats who rubber-stamped these bills with Nancy Pelosi need to be held accountable for burdening middle-class families and inflicting further damage on an already fragile economy,” he said.

The choice to include Halvorson as one of nine Democrats targeted with NRCC radio ads is an interesting one. After all, Halvorson backed Obama's budget at the last minute, only after she and other members of the House Committee on Agriculture negotiated out a cap on direct payment farm subsides. In other words, Halvorson did not sign on to the budget enthusiastically. 

But the NRCC's attempt to seperate the budget from the president makes little sense. The spending plan both chambers passed closely mirrors the spending package Obama proposed. In fact, Roll Call reported last week that it was Pelosi who "emerged as the chief defender of President Barack Obama’s priorities against a more reluctant Senate." Trying to argue that the White House had no influence over what was included in the spending bill -- which included many of his campaign promises -- is ridiculous.

But we shouldn't be surprised.  When in a pinch, Republicans love to blame Nancy. It was Rep. Judy Biggert who called the California congresswoman a "dictator" last August after she adjourned the House before a vote on offshore oil drilling, a common procedure the Republicans repeatedly attempted in the weeks prior. And just last month, Rep. Peter Roskam revived a two-year old myth about the Speaker requesting large airplanes for private travel. There is no substance to these critiques -- only cheap political games. 

Indeed, even the GOP's own consultants question the targeting of Pelosi, as Glenn Thrush recently reported:

“She’s a woman, and she’s of a certain age level, and that’s a demographic both parties are trying to court. She just doesn’t evoke that same kind of visceral reaction [as Limbaugh]. She’s not a big, bellowing heavyset guy who is prone to controversial statements.”

Asked to gauge the impact of dozens of anti-Pelosi ads and mailings created by the GOP in the past three election cycles, the consultant replied, “Bleh. Nothing.”