If you want to see why the Dems lose elections, just read some of the quotes from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi appearing in a column by the Boston Globe's Derrick Z. Jackson, who writes that Pelosi, while speaking to a group of African-American newspaper columnists, "bared fangs to show that the Democratic Party no longer has toothless gums."

Jackson writes:

On national security, [Pelosi] said, "When you think of women and defense and security, think of a lioness. You come anywhere near our cubs, you're dead."

On mid term election strategy, she sounded like she was warming up for the old World Wrestling Federation. "You cannot go head to head with the president until you take him down. Take him down, make him pay, and then we can have a conversation."

What??!

On national security, "think of a lioness," who will kill anyone who comes "near our cubs." (Some folks on Chicago's North Side might want some tips.)

On political strategy, Pelosi is apparently going to "take [the president] down ... [and] make him pay"?

Pelosi is going to take him down??! With what -- a head lock ... a full nelson .. some noogies?

She's kidding, right? I mean she's just screwing around with us, right?

She continues:

"The way they've come at us in the past has been gays, guns, and God: abortion, gay marriage, and guns, and they've had some success with that with people whose personal interests are served by voting Democratic," Pelosi said. "I maintain that's because they've not heard a Democratic economic message that addresses their needs."

Honestly, it's like the Monty Python skit on The Spanish Inquisition:

"There are three ways in which the Republicans beat the Democrats: Gays, guns, and God ... and abortion ... no wait ... there are four ways in which the Republicans beat the Democrats..."

Jackson continues:

[Pelosi] added that there were parts of the country in 2004 where voters did not "know anything about the Democrats except Kerry and windsurfing." She said, "In the absence of a strong Democratic message, they [gays, guns, and God] play bigger. You're down in Appalachia [Kerry lost Kentucky, West Virginia, and Indiana by between 13 and 21 percentage points], you don't hear anything about how you're going to get a job, how your kids are going to get a better education, or how you're going to get health care. So the Republicans come in and say [the Democrats] are going to take your gun away, take their Bibles away. What they did was clever."

Someone needs to explain to the Boston Globe columnist (and presumably his editors) that Indiana is not in Appalachia. It's, um, in the Midwest. I know, it must be hard for a big-time Boston columnist to tell one rube in the middle of the country from another, but trust me, it's a distinction worth noting.

Jackson continues:

Pelosi admits that the Democrats do not yet have a soundbite as "alliterative" as gays, guns, and God. Somehow the party's congressional candidates "must own August" with variations of a still-muddy, six-point theme called "A New Direction for America." The six points center around healthcare, gasoline prices, college costs, the minimum wage, Social Security, and the deficit. "We think economic issues can trump values issues when there's a message."

This kind of mindless rhetoric, ladies and gentlemen, is why the Democrats lose.

The fact that columnist Jackson was apparently impressed by some of this rhetoric is a whole different topic.

If the Democrats simply chose to dress Pelosi in a military uniform, and had her march backwards, they might actually be better off politically than in having her speak.

At least it's more honest -- and probably smarter.