Strictly business, Madam Speaker.

A pair of stories (HT: Hot Air Headlines, here and here) illustrate the sudden appearance of troubles for the Speaker of the House rather neatly. First, the general:

Democrats: CIA is out to get us

Democrats charged Tuesday that the CIA has released documents about congressional briefings on harsh interrogation techniques in order to deflect attention and blame away from itself.

and now, the specific:

Source: Aide told Pelosi waterboarding had been used

WASHINGTON (CNN) — A source close to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi now confirms that Pelosi was told in February 2003 by her intelligence aide, Michael Sheehy, that waterboarding was actually used on CIA detainee Abu Zubaydah.

This appears to contradict Pelosi’s account that she was never told waterboarding actually happened, only that the administration was considering using it.

Which is a nice way of putting it*.

Couple this with Steny Hoyer’s recent call for an investigation that includes the Speaker… well. I suppose that Ms. Pelosi can take some comfort in knowing that there’s nothing really personal about this, at least on the CIA’s part. They’d just rather have Hoyer in your spot; he’s the kind of Democrat that they like to be running things. It was generally OK to leave you there when Bush was in office, but with this new guy… yeah, better to have somebody that isn’t quite as ready to encourage the President’s enthusiasms.

So. “It’s not personal, Nancy. It’s strictly business.”

Moe Lane

*See below:

Nice weasel there, Speaker.

Crossposted to RedState.