Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi sounds determined to fight off retirement for as long as she can. Pelosi appeared on two Sunday morning political shows to get out her message – she’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

Pelosi was interviewed on ABC News’ This Week and on CNN’s State of the Union, both very friendly territory for the speaker. Her interview on CNN with host Dana Bash was the usual kind of interview with taking whatever Pelosi said at face value and no pushback. One particular answer stood out, however, to me, anyway. When the subject of the violent attack on Paul Pelosi came up, Nancy appeared to tear up a bit but that didn’t stop her from blaming the response of Republicans to her husband’s attack as a reason the red wave didn’t come to pass. She called the Republican response as a “horrible response.”

The vast majority of people on both sides of the aisle condemned the attack and wished the Pelosi family well – but fringe voices on the right attempted to cast doubt on the incident and even circulated conspiracy theories about Paul Pelosi’s supposed relationship with the intruder, who he had never met.

Party leaders like House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy also condemned the attack, but earned criticism for staying silent as members of his caucus pushed the harmful conspiracies.

Asked if it had an effect on voters just days before the November 8 Election Day, Pelosi responded: ‘It is a trend in what I’m hearing.’

‘But it wasn’t just the attack. It was the Republican reaction to it, which was disgraceful,’ the Speaker said.

‘The attack is horrible. I mean, imagine what – how I feel, as was the one who was the target, and my husband paying the price, and the traumatic effect on our family.’

She continued, ‘But that trauma is intensified by the ridiculous, disrespectful attitude that the Republicans – and there’s nobody disassociating themselves from the horrible response that they gave to it.’

The good news is that Paul Pelosi is “closer to recovery” every day but it will be “a long haul”, she said. That makes sense as Paul Pelosi is 82-years-old and suffered a skull fracture when the attacker hit him on the head with a hammer.

The question is why does Nancy Pelosi feel that Republicans behaved badly after his attack? Republicans from all over the country expressed their disapproval of political violence and wished him a speedy and full recovery. Apparently she feels that Republican leaders should have been in the media blasting the small group of wackos on social media who said bad things. That is what happens whenever something bad happens to a politician in one party or the other. Fringe elements of that party jump ugly on social media. Pelosi knows this and yet she took the opportunity to garner some extra sympathy from the CNN audience. Dana Bash did not bother to push back on Pelosi’s absurd premise.

"There's nobody disassociating themselves from the horrible response that they gave to it."@DanaBashCNN asks House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) whether she thinks the attack on her husband and the GOP response impacted voter turnout in the midterm elections. @CNNSotu #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/UGYnNutRsy

— CNN (@CNN) November 13, 2022

I didn’t watch the interview on ABC.

Also during the CNN interview, Pelosi said she is not making any decisions about retirement just yet. She’s waiting to learn the results in all the House races, as we all are, and then will make her decision, after consulting with her family and colleagues. She said she has colleagues asking her not to retire.

‘My decision will then be rooted in what- the wishes of my family and the wishes of my caucus. But none of it will be very much considered until we see what the outcome of all of this is,’ the California Democrat said.

Suggesting she’d given relinquishing the gavel at least some thought, Pelosi added, ‘But there are all kinds of ways to exert influence…speaker has awesome power, but I will always have influence.’

“I will always have influence.” Her arrogance knows no boundaries.

Pelosi is in favor of Joe Biden running for re-election. She said he has a great record to run on and has been a great president. She credited him for getting out the votes necessary for victories in battleground states. That’s odd. Biden was going to really blue areas like California and New York and in solid blue areas of Pennsylvania. His handlers weren’t sending him to true battleground areas like Arizona or Ohio.

I’ll end with this clip from Pelosi’s interview on ABC. It’s typical Pelosi, inarticulately stumbling over her words and preening about her successes.

Asked by @GStephanopoulos about how she wants her speakerships to be remembered, Speaker Nancy Pelosi highlights her work on climate and health care.

“We're on a path to a brighter future for America." https://t.co/RBCVeTagX4 pic.twitter.com/xRKJVEnJ1L

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) November 13, 2022