Pelosi: Things were going great for us until these outside groups started spending money

Uh huh. You can fact-check her on this yourself: Go here and scroll alllllll the way down to see how long ago it was that the generic ballot started to tilt towards Republicans. Even lefty pollsters like PPP were showing a lead for the GOP as far back as August 2009. If you want to throw that poll out because it was taken at the height of anti-ObamaCare townhall fever, no problem: Gallup found the GOP ahead in November 2009 and, as you’ll see, more pollsters started to follow suit shortly thereafter. (Rasmussen, which polls only likely voters, has had Republicans ahead for ages.) Which is to say, the big red wave has been building for a long, long time, first gathering strength during the ObamaCare debacle and then racing towards shore when Recovery Summer turned into Double-Dip-ish Fall. And yet here’s Madam Speaker, fooling exactly no one with the talking point du jour. Serious question: Is this just desperate eleventh-hour excuse-making or … is she actually starting to believe it? Between this and last week’s jawdropper that she’d rather be in the Democrats’ position right now than the GOP’s, she sounds less like a spin doctor coolly doing damage control than someone trying to convince herself.

Before introducing President Barack Obama at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraiser in Minneapolis on Saturday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi bemoaned the massive amount of money that shadowy conservative third-party groups have poured into this year’s election.

“Everything was going great and all of a sudden secret money from God knows where — because they won’t disclose it — is pouring in,” the California Democrat told about 100 donors at the fundraiser, according to a White House pool reporter in attendance.

The fundraiser, held at the 119-year-old Van Dusen Mansion on the National Register of Historic Places, was expected to raise $600,000, Democrats said. Guests dined and VIPs were greeted by Obama in a photo line for the cost of $50,000 per couple.

A Democratic strategist told Politico that conservative outside money could mean the difference between a 35-seat pick-up and a 60-seat pick-up, which nicely anticipates the liberal day-after spin to come. If the GOP nets, say, 70 seats, half of the gain will be blamed on the economy — pardon me, the “Bush-inherited” economy — and another 25 will be blamed on Karl Rove and the dirty, dirty foreigners who are bankrolling Republican PACs. And the other 10 seats? Why, that’ll be blamed on Fox News’s influence, of course. Damned Glenn Beck and his chalkboard.

Only one thing is certain, my friends: In no way will the stimulus or ObamaCare play any role in this election. Unless, of course, GOP gains are less than expected, in which case then they’ll be credited with having saved the Democrats’ majority. Speaking of which, below you’ll find another Pelosi bon mot to savor; click the image to watch and then choose the video clip titled “Pelosi on Voter Discontent.” Actual quote: “We haven’t really gotten the credit for what we have done.”

Blowback