The reknowned political satirist Tom Lehrer once declared that Henry Kissinger’s Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 made political satire redundant.  After reading about the DCCC’s new strategy to win back the House in 2012, I must admit that for the first time in my life I feel a bit of sympathy with the general sentiment.  Guess who Rep. Steve Israel, the DCCC chair, wants to make as his poster girl for 2012?

House Democrats’ goal is to make Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) the Speaker of the House again, their campaign chairman said Wednesday evening.

Rep. Steve Israel (N.Y.), the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), set his goal as nothing short of winning back control of the House in the 2012 elections.

“We’re all trying to win it back,” Israel said on MSNBC when asked if it was Democrats’ goal of winning back enough seats to make Pelosi, the former Speaker and new minority leader, the next Speaker.

Guy Benson can’t quite believe it:

The DCCC’s strategy unfolds as the percentage of Americans willing to identify themselves as members of the House minority party has ebbed to a 22-year low.  Exactly 19 Democrats seem to understand this reality.  As for the rest of them, it’s full steam ahead on the Speaker Pelosi Express.  Good work, guys.  Keep it up.

Heck, even Chris Matthews can’t quite believe it.  In this interview with Israel, Matthews twice asks him whether it’s smart to put Pelosi’s restoral as Speaker as their public strategy.  Matthews also notes that Israel never answers that question:

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Nancy Pelosi has some of worst approval ratings in national politics, with only a 29% in the last Gallup poll that measured it.  She led Congress to its lowest approval ratings ever. Nineteen of her fellow Democrats voted for Democrats rather than Pelosi yesterday, the worst level of defection in a Speaker vote in a century.  And yet Israel really believes that he can sell Pelosi as a reason to put Democrats in charge again?

Let’s hope Israel sticks to this plan, and the DCCC chair that replaces him when it bombs, and the next one after that …

Update: The Democrats who didn’t vote for Pelosi voted for other Democrats, not Boehner. I’ve corrected the paragraph. Thanks to Justin Higgins for the heads-up.