In case you didn’t know why being connected to Nancy Pelosi is toxic this year, here’s your answer. Madame Speaker is so outside the mainstream of America that simply being mentioned in the same sentence, unless it’s a discussion on how you stood up against her policies, can help destroy your career in Anytown, USA.

Let’s review. An overwhelming majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, oppose constructing a mosque near Ground Zero. Polls find an overwhelming majority of New York State and New York City residents taking the same position. Multiple Democrats in New York, as well as the Senate Majority Leader, have felt compelled to come out against the project. Governor David Patterson (D) has actually offered land to move the mosque elsewhere.

It’s pretty clear by now that the mainstream view amongst Americans is to oppose the mosque. In fact, it’s a newsworthy event when a prominent politician decides to side with the Islamic extremists building the mosque rather than the families of 9/11 victims and the majority of the American people.

So what does Nancy Pelosi do? She calls for an investigation into the opponents of the Ground Zero mosque. The opponents. Not the people who mysteriously found $100 million to finance the construction of a 13-story mosque at Ground Zero — a mosque to be lead by an imam known for supporting sharia law and saying we deserved the 9/11 attacks. No, she wants an investigation into opponents of the project.

Let’s be clear: The Speaker of the House finds herself outside the mainstream of not only Americans, of not only American Democrats, but of New York Democrats. She is so far outside of the mainstream that she would stick out as a radical leftist at a meeting of Democratic politicians in the deep-blue state of New York.

This is why Democrats in most areas of the country are doing everything possible to avoid being connected to Nancy Pelosi. And why Republicans will make sure to connect their Democratic counterparts to Madame Speaker as often as possible.

Update: Does this mean Nancy Pelosi wants to investigate Harry Reid? After all, he has come out against the mosque. So has Representative Michael Arcuria (D-NY), an ally of Pelosi’s in the House. The same goes for Representatives Mike McMahon, Steve Israel, and Tim Bishop — all allies of Pelosi on any ordinary day. Should they, too, be investigated?