Tag: nancy pelosi

@NancyPelosi is being FAR too modest about her protection of FISA.

I admit, Nancy Pelosi talks a good game about how she hates FISA on general principles:

When contacted, a Pelosi aide did not dispute the minority leader’s assertive role in influencing Democrats, but passed along a letter Pelosi sent to the president today raising skepticism about the NSA’s surveillance powers.

“Dear Mr. President,” reads the letter. “Although the amendment was defeated 205-217, it is clear that concerns remain about the continued implementation of the program in its current form. Although some of us voted for and others against the amendment, we all agree that there are lingering questions and concerns about the current 215 collection program.”

The letter goes on to question whether the bulk metadata collection program sufficiently protects the privacy of Americans, whether it could be tailored more narrowly and whether the law is being implemented in a manner consistent with Congress’s intent. An aide later emphasized that Pelosi did note declare an official leadership position against the amendment, meaning there was no whip or count established to see how Democrats would vote.

The amendment was, of course, Rep. Justin Amash’s amendment to alter NSA/FISA procedures: and as the above shows, it failed by a razor-thin margin. Foreign Policy pretty much summed up what happened in the title of the first linked article (“How Nancy Pelosi Saved the NSA Surveillance Program”), but perhaps we need to be a bit more explicit about things, here.  God forbid that Nancy Pelosi avoid credit for being such a tireless defender of FISA; we wouldn’t want her light to remain under a bushel.
Continue reading @NancyPelosi is being FAR too modest about her protection of FISA.

Nancy Pelosi’s (@nancypelosi) former colleague Bob Filner.

Apparently Nancy Pelosi doesn’t like it when people point out that fellow CPC founder Bob Filner is a former colleague:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) may have worked alongside former Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.) for 10 years in Congress, but now that he’s facing a string of sexual harassment allegations, she isn’t exactly rising to his defense.

During a Thursday roundtable with reporters, Pelosi was touting a new Democratic push on women’s economic success when a reporter mentioned the allegations against Filner, now the mayor of San Diego, describing him as someone who Pelosi used to work with. Indeed, he and Pelosi were founding members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

“Don’t identify him as my former colleague,” Pelosi shot back with an agitated look.

Because then awful people might point out that Nancy Pelosi’s former colleague Bob Filner was somebody that Pelosi had worked with; and those same people might even mention that Nancy Pelosi has no intention of raking her former colleague Bob Filner over the coals for all that widespread – nay, rampant – sexual harassment.  Because awful people don’t understand that principles are all very well, but Nancy Pelosi’s former colleague Bob Filner is still a white, progressive male, and as such is apparently entitled to whatever protection Nancy Pelosi* can muster for her former colleague Bob Filner. Continue reading Nancy Pelosi’s (@nancypelosi) former colleague Bob Filner.

Nancy Pelosi: my Roman Catholicism requires me to be pro-choice!

What…

What does this even MEAN?

At a Thursday press conference, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi condemned a bill that would prohibit abortions during the final four months of pregnancy with exceptions for when the life or physical health of the mother was at stake.

Asked what the moral difference is between what Dr. Kermit Gosnell did to babies born alive and aborting those same infants moments before birth, Pelosi refused to answer.

“As a practicing and respectful Catholic, this is sacred ground to me when we talk about this,” Pelosi said. “This shouldn’t have anything to do with politics.”

Continue reading Nancy Pelosi: my Roman Catholicism requires me to be pro-choice!

PPP: Nancy Pelosi is a horrible, dream-crushing albatross! …I paraphrase.

This is the most important point to note from PPP’s gulping report of a double-digit collapse of Elizabeth Colbert Busch’s chances in SC-01 (Mark Sanford went from -9 to +1 over Busch in two weeks, and the more Republican the likely voter electorate gets in the next two days, the better it looks for Sanford):

If SC-1 voters went to the polls on Tuesday and voted for the candidate they personally liked better, Colbert Busch would be the definite winner. That’s why Sanford’s campaign has tried to shift the focus toward national Democrats who are unpopular in the district, and that’s been a key in helping him to make this race competitive again. Nancy Pelosi has a 24/61 approval rating in SC-1 and although voters don’t like Sanford, they do like him better than Pelosi by a 53/37 margin. President Obama doesn’t fare a whole lot better in the district. His approval is 39/54, and voters say they have a higher opinion of Sanford than him by a 48/44 spread.

Continue reading PPP: Nancy Pelosi is a horrible, dream-crushing albatross! …I paraphrase.

Why John Boehner’s middle name is not ‘Albatross.’

Surely the National Journal is asking a rhetorical question here, yes?

When Mark Sanford debated a cardboard cutout of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi in his South Carolina race last week, it was a replay of a tried-and-true Republican strategy: Demonize Pelosi and wrap her like a stone around your opponent’s neck.

The tactic can be effective, torn from a well-worn playbook that dates from nearly a decade ago. But it does beg a question: Why isn’t Speaker John Boehner targeted in the same way by Democrats?

Continue reading Why John Boehner’s middle name is not ‘Albatross.’

Aww, Obama feels HAMPERED by not having Nancy Pelosi as Speaker.

Barack Obama (H/T: Hot Air Headlines):

“Realistically, I could get a whole lot more done if Nancy Pelosi is Speaker of the House,” he said as the [Calfiornian] crowd applauded.

Moe Lane:

…Which is why Nancy Pelosi is no longer Speaker of the House.

[pause]

That’s it.

Moe Lane

Anthony Weiner looking to avenge himself upon Nancy Pelosi for some reason.

I admit it, I admit it: I’m kind of conflicted, here.

Disgraced pol Anthony Weiner is potentially climbing back into politics after recently spending more than $100,000 on campaign consulting and polling — and sources tell Page Six that one person he’s looking to prove wrong about him is House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who urged him to resign in 2011. “Weiner is still fuming over his downfall, and he blames Nancy Pelosi,” said a source. After Weiner’s sexting scandal, he announced he was going to get psychological treatment and take a leave from the House, but Pelosi released a statement calling for him to resign after he’d informed her of his plan to deal with the situation.

(Via JMF & Instapundit)

On the one hand, I don’t want to encourage anybody to think that they should be allowed to avoid responsibility for their own actions, which is what Anthony Weiner is trying to do here. On the other hand, pretty much everything can be ‘blamed’ on Nancy Pelosi, from why the Democrats didn’t take the House back to why FISA was reauthorized.  On the gripping hand, Nancy Pelosi was right.  If Weiner had tried to brazen it out he’d have lost anyway.

So I dunno.

Moe Lane

PS: The NY Post does so love its headlines.

Nancy Pelosi loathes the antiwar movement even more than I do!

That’s the only possible explanation for her making this statement.

[House MINORITY Leader Nancy] Pelosi appeared conflicted over whether it was acceptable for the administration to simply disappear American citizens, a term that had previously been used as a verb only outside the United States.

“It depends on the situation,” she said. “Maybe it depends on the timing, because that’s right — it’s all about timing, imminence. What is it that could be in jeopardy if people know that happened at this time? I just don’t know.”

Oh, she knows.  She totally knows.  But there’s a limit to Nancy Pelosi’s sadism, after all.  Or at least Pelosi understands that the antiwar movement will be useful to the Democrats again once the GOP wins the White House.  Even a whipped dog can serve its master. Continue reading Nancy Pelosi loathes the antiwar movement even more than I do!

Nancy Pelosi thinks a pay cut is below her ‘dignity.’

And this is why Nancy Pelosi will STAY House Minority Leader.

It’s because of incredibly tin-eared statements like this.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that she opposes a cut in congressional pay because it would diminish the dignity of lawmakers’ jobs.

“I don’t think we should do it; I think we should respect the work we do,” Pelosi told reporters in the Capitol. “I think it’s necessary for us to have the dignity of the job that we have rewarded.”

Now, put aside for the moment the fact that the woman who said this had been making money hand over fist via legal insider trading when she was Speaker of the House, back in the day.  What makes Nancy Pelosi think that anybody – anybody – is really concerned about whether or not Members of Congress (or the people who work for them) have any dignity?  People hate Congress, and the people who work for Congress: currently, cockroaches tie Congress for popularity.  And a lot of this is due to, hey, Nancy Pelosi! – Because four years of running the House into the ground can do that to public perceptions.

Continue reading Nancy Pelosi thinks a pay cut is below her ‘dignity.’