'Wow. Just wow.': Pelosi won't let pregnant vet Duckworth vote by proxy, doesn't get the 'fuss'

Sarah D. | 7:01 PM on November 17, 2014

Nobody understands the struggles women face quite like Nancy Pelosi. Which is why she’s making sure that Iraq War vet and Illinois Dem Rep. Tammy Duckworth, who is eight months pregnant, won’t get to vote by proxy next week in the House Democratic Caucus leadership and committee member elections.

Pelosi on Duckworth not being able to vote for leadership by proxy: "I don't know why all this fuss was made about a vote in the caucus"

— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) November 17, 2014

Pelosi explains rules of caucus are the same as the rules of the House: No voting by proxy.

— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) November 17, 2014

Those are indeed the rules. But is it really necessary for Nancy to be such a stickler in this particular case?

How tone-deaf can you be. MT "@frankthorpNBC: Pelosi on Duckworth not being able to vote by proxy: "I don't know why all this fuss was made"

— Patrick Kennedy (@PLKDC) November 17, 2014

https://twitter.com/moderncomments/status/534471983489372160

@frankthorpNBC Really? @NancyPelosi can't cut an 8-mo-pregnant double amputee combat vet some slack? https://t.co/kto1kB6iJZ

— DCD (@DCDude1776) November 17, 2014

According to National Journal, Pelosi’s objection to allowing Duckworth to vote by proxy may have little to do with protocol and everything to do with petty politics:

But other Democratic aides, speaking on the condition they not be identified, said they believe the decision to block Duckworth, 46, from doing so is related more to the tight intra-party race for the party’s top seat next session on the Energy and Commerce Committee. The seat is being vacated by retiring Rep. Henry Waxman.

None of the caucus’s top leaders, including Pelosi, are being directly challenged in their bids to reclaim their posts. But both Rep. Anna Eshoo of California, who is backed by Pelosi for the Energy Committee ranking member’s seat, and Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, who is backed by Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, are battling to convince a majority of House Democrats to vote for them.

Duckworth is among those who have thrown her support behind Pallone—against Pelosi’s choice of Eshoo.