Yeah- that's where we differ. Trying to run to the left of San Francisco is pretty useless at the national level, until the rest of the country gets somewhere in that vicinity. What I care about is delivering the goods, and Pelosi has been effective nationally. She rallied progressive Democrats against Gephardt on the Iraq resolution and won. She's worked to elect progressives across the country. She votes well on almost every issue.
Pelosi as leader of the House Dems reflects not her own views but the success of progressives across the country in electing Congresspeople who in turn will vote for her. For those who yearn for a more liberal Democratic Party in the past, you need only look at the movement from Sam Rayburn in the 50s to Tip O'Neill in the 70s and 80s to Nancy Pelosi to see that the evolution has been decidely from more conservative to more liberal leadership of the Democrats.
-- Nathan Newman