This won’t come as a shock to most readers but Nancy Pelosi is more supportive of single-payer than she lets on in public. That comes from Rep. Keith Ellison who revealed where Pelosi stands at a meeting last weekend but only after asking if anyone was taping what he was saying. From the Daily Caller:

“Is anybody taping me right now? OK, so, you may have heard that Nancy [Pelosi] is not for it, but that’s not really true,” Ellison said. “Nancy has to represent a very diverse caucus. She does not like getting out ahead of the caucus too fast. So she’s trying to get, she’s, you know, you know, she actually likes the concept.”

“She’s trying to get, you know, you know, she actually likes the concept. She says it’s the best way to do it. She says it’s the cheapest way to do it, but she’s got to make sure that she brings our Blue Dog friends along,” Ellison added. “And by the way, for any of us progressives who get mad at the Blue Dogs, if we didn’t have them, some of them would be replaced by Republicans.”

In June the NY Times reported that Pelosi was not onboard with a national single-payer plan like the one being promoted by Bernie Sanders:

At a briefing with reporters last month, the House minority leader, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, replied with a flat “no” when asked if Democrats should make single-payer a central theme in 2018. She said state-level action was more appropriate, though she said she supported the idea in concept.

“The comfort level with the broader base of the American people is not there yet,” Ms. Pelosi said.

So I guess the real news here is that Pelosi is just as far left as you imagine her to be. Her refusal to publicly endorse this is purely pragmatic.

You also have to wonder if some of the campaigns for a change of leadership in the House played a role here. Since last November, Pelosi’s leadership has been challenged by more moderate Democrats who believe the party needs to attract a broader base of people after several consecutive special election losses. Pelosi herself was made the face of the opposition in some of those losses. She may have been hesitant about endorsing another far left plan putting her further out of touch with the mainstream.

Here’s the video of Ellison revealing where Pelosi really stands. The Daily Caller, which first revealed the video, says it was shot in Minnesota last weekend.