Jill Biden expresses disappointment with Pelosi: 'We were friends for 50 years'

[Polybius]

Source: CNN

First lady Jill Biden expressed her disappointment with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a new interview with The Washington Post, providing rare public comments about the fractured relationship between her husband, Joe Biden, and Pelosi following the president’s departure from the 2024 race.

“We were friends for 50 years,” the first lady said in an interview with The Washington Post published Wednesday. “It was disappointing.”

Pelosi was among the top Democrats to express reservations about Joe Biden’s ability to defeat Donald Trump in November after the president’s halting debate performance in June. As Biden remained adamant he would stay in the race, Pelosi made waves in an interview as she opened the door to the possibility he should end his campaign.

“It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We’re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short,” Pelosi said on MSNBC in July.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/15/politics/jill-biden-nancy-pelosi/index.html

[andym]

1. If Joe had brought his A game to the debate, he would have been the candidate

It was one of the most consequential debates in US history. The other being Reagan-Carter where "there you go again Jimmy" Reagan normalized himself enough in the public's eye to win. If Carter had just denied Reagan that debate, Carter still might have won.

[ananda]

5. I and everyone I know also think this.

The debate lost it.

[LisaL]

36. People would have forgotten all about the stupid debate,

if the press didn't go crazy about it, and democrats didn't throw Biden under the bus. Meanwhile, Trump just does whatever the hell he wants.

[dem4decades]

42. I heard the debate, that was enough. The press sucks, but

What were supposed to do, report a victory for Biden?

[Martin Eden]

54. In a rational world, the alarming headlines after the June debate

Would have been all about the bold-faced LIES spewed by one of the candidates.

[Jack Valentino]

61. They could have moved on, as in their usual 24-hour news cycle---

Instead, they latched onto it like pit-bulls for a month---
while ignoring every shred of evidence which suggested
that Trump was in much worse mental shape than Biden--

because "Trump has always been crazy", or some such excuse.

[Butterflylady]

69. YES, if that's what it took

But no, that's not what happened.

Look what magas did when dump debated Kamala. Oh, they praised dump to no end and repeated his words over and over. I know we don't lie about things but sometimes we have to sacrifice some things. If he was to lose we would be in the same situation today as we are now. I think Jill Biden is correct.

[ananda]

50. Good point. I was always going to support Biden...

no matter what.

[JI7]

10. Harris brought her A Game and kicked Trump's ass in the debate

[andym]

11. She did and it helped her so much that Trump declined a second debate

If Trump had debated her a second time closer to the election, she would have likely won the election. The GOP spent all of their effort painting her in a negative light-- but that doesn't work as well when you see the person live on TV making points and kicking Trump's ass.

[MyOwnPeace]

15. And THIS is why I am STILL so sick.......

she made an ASS of him at the first debate (well, OK, an ever BIGGER ASS of him!) - he opted NOT to debate again - and a majority of 'Americans' (sic) thought he was the better candidate.

We have problems - SERIOUS problems........................

God help us all.

[GreenWave]

12. He should have said shut up man, again.

And too doped up to answer a simple question?

[mainer]

13. Completely agree.

When the Biden - Trump debate ended, I said to my husband: "that's it. We've lost."

After the Kamala - Trump debate, I started feeling optimistic again.

[Emile]

17. I think he was drugged.

[DENVERPOPS]

18. If HW and Cheney

hadn't committed TREASON by conspiring with IRAN, our foreign enemy, Carter would have won...........

I am thoroughly convinced that HW was one, if not THE person, hiding in the Republican's Deep State shadows, starting in the Reagan Era, and continuing to operate in the back ground for decades, all the way through the WBush years......

Reagan, and WBush were mere puppets, put up as a distraction, while the RepubliCONs did their dirty work in the shadows, and utilized smoke and mirrors to block the view.......Trump did the same thing, utilizing himself to detract attention daily, while the Republican Senators, Uber rich Republicans went to work, in addition, the Republican owned media, RW think tanks and Putin were assisting in every single way possible.....

Carter's debate prep team failed to prepare him about *Gish Gallop*......... a technique THEY SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT TRUMP WOULD USE......
It is an age old, well known technique in debating that literally just stuns the debate opponent, to where they can't say a single retort...

re: Nancy Pelosi, and many many many other Dem Politicians, don't get me started......................

[GoreWon2000]

26. HW?

BTW, in 2000 W created the election stealing roadmap that tRump used in 2020 and continues to use.

[DENVERPOPS]

49. WBushie's Daddie

HWBush when he was VP under Reagan.....

Many of HWBush's CABAL ended up in WBush's administration.....

[msfiddlestix]

70. aka Poppy Bush

[DENVERPOPS]

74. I don't think

that people have ever put together the most common thread and theme, hiding in the back ground of the Republican Party for two plus DECADES was HW and his CABAL........Cheney/Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz/Pearle/ et al

The corruptly got Reagan in there, then HW was put in and pardoned over a hundred of his CABAL from the Reagan Administration were indicted, then his side kick Cheney appointed himself W's VP and had W mindlessly wander around creating a diversion...

[msfiddlestix]

75. Absolutely correct. I think it's because people here may not be old enough to remember how this shit show got started

either they were wee bairns are not even a glint in their mother's eye when this happened.
And we don't have an educational system, or the media to remind the next generation what came before it. And of course, the media actually played a mighty important role in that coup.

[GoreWon2000]

58. No tRump without Bush 2000 election theft

It was the Bush brothers who killed American democracy in 2000 in broad daylight and got away with it. This created tRump's election stealing 2020 road map. In addition, it was W's terrible economic policies that tanked the economy in favor of the rich and caused the layoffs of so many white, anglo working class men. On top of that, people were horrified to watch their votes get thrown out in 2000 and have decided that democracy no longer works for them. Certainly Cheney played a role in helping W steal the 2000 election which is why I think is daughter Liz is now the biggest hypocrite in D.C. Our country would not be in the mess it's in today without the Bush 2000 election theft.

[travelingthrulife]

20. How shallow people are if one debate costs us a great President.

Do these types go deeper than optics?

[3catwoman3]

21. Pretty fucking shallow, unfortunately.

[lostnfound]

48. If Joe had neutered Trump the first year, Kamala could have won...

Trump should have been incommunicado, internet removed, locked up or threatened into silence by friendly neighborhood black ops guys — if not prosecuted right away, something else that took him off of the podium.

Any “the buck stops here” kind of president would have done so, in my opinion.

[Hope22]

52. Do you remember that he was sick directly after that?

He probably had Covid after coming back from his travels and was actually sick during the debate. Not an excuse. If you watch the debate again you will see that Biden answered every question. He may have had a dazed look from time to time but he did answer the questions even when the moderators were managing poorly! You will see that TSF answered none of the question but followed with lies and raised voice. My guess is Biden did the best he could. Canceling the day before would also have been a losing venture! It is always lose lose for Biden against the TSF.

[andym]

66. I think he was or had been sick at the debate

His voice was so reedy and weak. Probably affected him in some of his answers where he didn't say what he wanted to.

[Hope22]

67. Agree!

My mom is 80ish and she really gets hit hard by Covid. In assisted living so she has had it multiple times. Recovery is really something. President Biden has done an amazing job bouncing back from that vicious virus. I may have said this in this topic already but when I went back and rewatched the debate as off as the president was he did answer the questions while the other guy did not add anything of substance as usual. First time around I was so nervous about what was going to come next I really didn’t hear the answers. He just looked so out of it. Watching his interview with Lawrence O’Donnell last night it really struck me how he is still kicking on all cylinders. It’s pretty amazing really. Total admiration here.

[DeepWinter]

2. I suspect

there was an awefull lot of wheeling and dealing behind the scenes and behind Bidens back than we'll ever know. Politics being politics. Jill probably got an unfirunate and dissapointing glimpse into that.

[3catwoman3]

3. Jill is not alone in her disappointment.

I will probably never get over feeling like the party threw Joe away like a used Kleenex, and if those in charge of messaging been able to do a better job of it during the whole term, maybe the poor debate wouldn't have mattered so much.

All the praise for Joe's long list of accomplishments after he decided to step aside rang very hollow to me.

Remember what her daughter said about her - "She'll cut your head off and you won't even know you're bleeding."

[jvill]

8. And what if when you picked up that kleanex, it was full of holes..?

If Joe had done well in the debate, it wouldn't have been a discussion.

The Bidens are blaming everyone else for something that fell squarely on Joe's shoulders: his performance in the most important debate of his career. And he shit the bed. And that's the fault of the messaging?

And now the Bidens are saying we should have all just shut up and gotten in that shit-covered bed with him..?

That's nuts.

[LisaL]

35. Republicans would have.

Nobody would even remember that stupid debate if not for the press yapping about it, and democrats throwing Biden under the bus.

[GoreWon2000]

27. The party threw Al Gore and we the people's votes away in 2000.

That soured millions of Americans on democracy and resulted in tRump.

[VBNMW]

40. Shhhhh

An Inconvenient truth.

[Prairie Gates]

4. Gleeful

Gross

[BeyondGeography]

6. Pelosi made it a race and saved us at least 3-4 Senate seats and more in the House

And you can see from both Bidens’ recent statements why she needed to push as hard as she did. They were in deep denial and remain there.

[LisaL]

33. I don't believe that it saved us any seats.

We lost everything, congress, senate and presidency.

[BeyondGeography]

38. We won four Senate races in states that Harris lost

And the margins of victory were very thin. It’s not scientific but assuming Biden lost by wider margins than Harris, which is a very safe assumption in my book, we don’t win those seats. More people would have stayed home. Many more. There was basically zero enthusiasm for Joe when he dropped out.

If you asked Baldwin, Slotkin, Rosen and and Gallegos if they were happier seeing Harris in the race instead of Biden I’m pretty sure what the answer would be.

[LisaL]

39. I don't think it's a safe assumption that Biden would have done worse than Harris.

NT

[Baitball Blogger]

7. The day after the election was lost I had never seen Nancy Pelosi so distraught.

I didn't watch news for a week afterwards.

[samsingh]

9. to me its disappointing that we allowed the republicans to win

by not winning over the voters.

i don't care about who's feelings are hurt, when trump could destroy out Democracy

[womanofthehills]

22. I think it was the genocide in Gaza

If you look at social media- most of the young were horrified by the daily images of dead and mutilated babies. The kids were protesting the war every weekend and they were condemned.

I think just enough young people didn’t vote to push it over to Republicans.

[C0RI0LANUS]

55. Spot on. 2024 was a repeat of 1968 when anti-war Democrats didn't support Hubert Humphrey.

Rather than vote for Nixon or Wallace in 1968, anti-war Democrats abstained. Anti-war Democrats angry with the Gaza War stayed home in 2024 rather than vote for Trumpf or Stein. That explains the difference between the overwhelming 2020 Biden/Harris numbers and the underwhelming 2024 Harris/Walz numbers.

Students at hundreds of college campuses protested the Gaza War throughout 2024, just like in 1968. We should have paid attention to them. These youngsters in 2024 were slandered as "useful idiots of Iran," "Hamas lovers," or incredibly, even "antisemites," the way the students in 1968 were maligned as "pinko lovers." Hmph.

1968



2024

[Jack Valentino]

62. Yes, even on THIS site...

"useful idiots of Iran," "Hamas lovers," or incredibly, even "antisemites,"

[LeftInTX]

71. Trump credits TikTok for his win. That's where he has 15 million followers.

[GoreWon2000]

24. W destroyed our democracy in 2000.

[maxsolomon]

14. Jill was too close to see the obvious physical decline, apparently.

It became starkly obvious at the debate. Biden became frail, NOT SENILE.

Biden never should have got to the debate. There should have been an open primary, and we'd be swearing in President Newsom next week instead of that fucking monster.

[GoreWon2000]

25. What about tRump's clear mental decline?

The pro repug media completely ignored tRump's mental decline and is still ignoring it.

[LisaL]

32. Apparently Trump walks on water.

Go figure.

[maxsolomon]

43. Don't know what that has to do with Jill Biden's feelings about Pelosi.

nt

[GoreWon2000]

59. There were other comments

referencing the media saying that Biden had declined mentally and the claim that both Bidens were in denial about it so I was countering that will the fact that the media had completely ignored tRump's mental decline. I totally get that the Bidens are unhappy with how he was treated by the dem leadership. I frankly think that they now know how Al Gore must feel about getting thrown under the bus along with we the voters in 2000.

[Jack Valentino]

63. The primaries were OVER at that point, and there was no conceivable method

by which there would have been any MORE primaries,
without throwing every law and party nominating rules under the bus.

The idea of having an "open primary" at that point
was a pipe dream advocated by a ship of fools. (James Carville near the top of that list).

Even if it had been made to happen, the idea that African-American women,
who are the backbone of the party, would have turned out to vote in the GE
for Newsom after Kamala had been thrown under the bus,
(in the same numbers which they turned out for Kamala)
is ANOTHER pipe-dream.



And I'm NOT so hot on Newsom after reading THIS----
https://democraticunderground.com/10143374154

[maxsolomon]

65. I know the primaries were over.

Harris was a Hail Mary.

I'm saying that Biden should have stood down in time for an open primary.

[truthisfreedom]

16. Jill, chill.

It is done. Everyone has a different opinion on exactly what happened. But being noisy about it now is just destructive to the party. Go make amends with Nancy, or not, as the case may be, but do it quietly.

[Jose Garcia]

19. Pelosi did the right thing

It was abundantly obvious that President Biden had declined to the extent that the election was going to be a bloodbath. Biden never should have run.

[GoreWon2000]

23. Disenfranchising 14 million dem party primary voters wasn't a good look

for a political party claiming to be the party defending democracy from dictator tRump. This is on top of the dem leadership hiding in their cushy, ivory Washington towers while they let W steal the 2000 election. It's no wonder that dems stayed home in droves in 2024 or have given up entirely on democracy and supported tRump.

[LisaL]

31. But he did run, and at the time Nancy and Co forced him to step down,

it was too late to do that, and it accomplished nothing good.

[Shrek]

44. Read some of the threads from around that time

Not everyone thought it was abundantly obvious and Pelosi was hammered relentlessly by some.

[Think. Again.]

28. Well, that's certainly a divisive article...

...that doesn't matter at all.

[truthisfreedom]

57. Exactly.

[Wingus Dingus]

29. Family can't be objective and dispassionate about this, especially when their son's fate

might hang in the balance (prison). Needed non-family experts and professionals to speak up for what was best for the country, and it's good they did. Thanks Nancy.

[LisaL]

30. Thanks for what?

Nancy got Biden to step down and then when Harris lost the election, Nancy blamed Biden anyway.
So WTF did Nancy accomplish here?

[Wingus Dingus]

34. She accomplished doing the right thing for the portion of the nation

that aren't Bidens. But it was too late, he shouldn't have run again and the field should have been opened sooner.

[LisaL]

37. So, she accomplished nothing?

If there was a time to push, it should have been done before the primary.

[RobinA]

64. Well, Nancy Didn't Cover

herself in glory here, either. I have been a huge Biden fan for decades, but I feel he should not have run. I wondered early on if anybody had the guts to have a straight talk with him. Apparently not, because that came way too late. There should have been a full out primary minus Biden. Including Harris if she wanted a shot. The election was very close, which incidentally was reflected in most of the polls nobody wanted to believe. Had Dems had a candidate that they picked it could have made up the difference.

Yes, I voted for Harris, I thought she probably would have been a fine president. But I never thought she could win, if for no other reason than she is a female. Hilary, in my opinion, was a much better candidate than Harris or Trump, but she couldn't win either.

[Intractable]

41. I remember a few days before the election, Pelosi said on TV "We will win the house" sounding very certain of herself.

I believed her.

[Shrek]

45. In 2016 she said "Donald Trump will not be President. You can take that to the bank."

And sounded very certain of herself.

Her election predictions aren't the soundest.

[totodeinhere]

46. She and almost everybody else said that, including many Republicans. n/t

[HereForTheParty]

47. It's not about friendship, Jill

It's about the country.

[endgenocide]

51. I agree will Dr. Biden

Nancy's behavior was disappointing, if say what I really think I'm pretty sure my comment won't last more than a minute or two!

[donheld]

53. If President Biden was too old to run, so was Nancy.

It's time all of these 80+ year olds retire.

[iemanja]

56. She stepped down as Speaker

Did you forget? Biden was obviously too old and should never have sought reelection. We need age limits on the presidency. Trump is too old.

[Hope22]

68. She made the decision for herself....and for Biden. That is the difference.

He was pushed from behind by many Dems who quite frankly stepped over the line. Pelosi always counted her votes behind a closed door. Never bringing a vote she wasn’t sure of. This time she blew it. Everyone who went to the media bleating about the president “needing to decide” needs to take some responsibility. We weren’t prepared to rush a new candidate plain and simple and we certainly should have had a clear idea of exactly how secure this election was going to be or be prepared to recount those questionable T wins that surprised even him. It’s complicated and sad but we need to get some young blood in there to drive the bus. It could happen but I think we, especially women and minorities, are in for a very intense @$$ kicking unfortunately! May we live long enough to get through this disaster and turn this boat around!.

[iemanja]

72. He decided himself

Under pressure, yes, but he still decided himself. That he begrudges it now is his own failing. We are facing a disaster, and it might not have happened had Biden not chosen to run for reelection. Did you see today's article in the Times? https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/17/us/politics/biden-age.html

[Hope22]

73. I certainly am not going to continue down this line of discussion.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

60. This 👆👆👆

[kansasobama]

76. Pelosi did not do her job well

If Pelosi had done enough to get Kamala on the win column, she would have been vindicated. She did not. Hence, it is fair to say Pelosi failed.