CNN "State of the Union" - Transcript: Interview With House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi
Interview
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
BASH: Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION.
A second group of House Democrats is now threatening to withhold support from Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi as she tries to retake the speaker's gavel. For my series, "BADASS WOMEN OF WASHINGTON," I talked to leader Pelosi about opposition from inside her own party and she had some advice as the first and only female speaker for other women.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: Hello, hello.
BASH (voice-over): When Nancy Pelosi first ran for House leadership 18 years ago, her male, Democratic colleagues didn't get it. PELOSI: When people said, oh, a lot of the women are supporting Nancy to run, and they said, well, why? Do the women have a list of things they want us to do? Why don't they just make us a list and give us the list?
This is the Democratic Party in the year 2000.
BASH: Some things haven't changed much.
(on camera): Generally speaking, when a woman is tough, she is called a bitch.
PELOSI: Yes.
BASH: When a man is tough, he's called effective.
PELOSI: I get some names called, because if you're effective as a woman, then they have to undermine you, because that's a real threat. So I'm probably the target -- more of a target than anybody except somebody who runs for president.
BASH (voice-over): Her thick political skin comes from growing up in a political family in Baltimore's little Italy. When she was six, her father, Thomas D'Alesandro Jr., was elected Baltimore's first Catholic mayor. Her female role model, her mother, was the one who helped make that happen.
PELOSI: There are two things about what I bring with me from my family in this regard. One is to know how to count. That's very important, count your votes to win the election, count your votes to win a vote on the floor. But the other is listen to the constituents.
BASH: That political savvy is essential right now in her fight to beat back a move by some fellow House Democrats to find a different house speaker.
PELOSI: I have a broad base of support in the country, financially, politically, and otherwise. None of us is indispensable.
[09:55:01]
But some of us are just better at our jobs than others.
BASH (on camera): For most women, frankly, you know, myself included, it is hard to say those words, I am uniquely qualified, I deserve this, I earned this, I can do this better than anyone else.
PELOSI: Dana, I do it because I want women to see that you do not get pushed around and you don't run away from the fight.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source