Nancy Pelosi's lioness metaphor

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is popularizing a weird metaphor to make Democratic women seem tougher on national security.

In the latest New Yorker, Pelosi is quoted as follows:

I'm a mom. I have five children, and I have five grandchildren. I always say to people, 'Think lioness.' This is how Democrats are. You threaten our children -- and that's American -- you threaten our country, you're dead. You're dead." (italics in original)

It's not the first time she's used this formulation. Here's Pelosi using two animal metaphors during an interview with Jim Lehrer on March 30:

I'm a mother of five. I have five grandchildren. And I always say: Think of a lioness. Think of a mother bear. You come anywhere near our cubs, you're dead. And so, in terms of any threat to our country, people have to know we'll be there to preemptively strike.

In fact, a look at the Nexis database shows that Pelosi has been using the lioness metaphor since 2003. And the term is apparently spreading -- a Hillary Clinton supporter is portrayed in a new campaign video using the same metaphor, saying "I think of Hillary as a lioness protecting children."

I'm hopeful that voters are ready to trust female leaders on national security issues, but are lioness metaphors the answer? They just seem silly to me...

Update 6/1 8:41 AM: The Hillary video is now online.