Pelosi - Enemy of the People
Pelosi's comments that there is no room for Obama's health care reform is beyond acceptable.
Obama's health care plan was a significant part of the reason I spent much of the last year volunteering and advocating for Obama. And now Pelosi steps in, before all the votes are even counted, to announce that it won't be pursued in the house. Is she for real? Why in the world does she want to try to force Obama to break his promise to us? Some of my friends speculate that because it doesn't include free Botox she doesn't see anything in it for herself. But I think the real reason is she wants to try to move quickly to try to put Obama in his place and flex a little muscle. It's despicable she would do this with people's health and lives. But she does have a reputation of being purely cynical, so maybe this really doesn't matter to her. And my guess is she is clueless of the level of anger her actions will release.
I'd love to see Pelosi's real words and not your version of her comments.
link?
November 6, 2008 11:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Transcript:
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000002983425
Read it and see if you don't agree that she's proposing a few small "discrete pieces" (such as SCHIP and stem cell research) for the short term, and saying that Obama's proposed comprehensive plan doesn't fit with our "diminished options" so the big plans will have to wait for the "long term long term".
I hope Obama ignores her on this.
November 7, 2008 3:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
And that makes her an "enemy of the people"? Noting that a financial meltdown makes it harder to spend money? Even the 2006 projection that we would have a balanced budget by 2012 was completely delusional - why would she have thought that? That Republicans would turn around and show fiscal restraint?
Sorry, we really will have to add up the cost of programs before approving them. The magical years of 2001-2008 have passed.
November 7, 2008 5:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Nothing of the sort. I was just responding to TS77's comment only.
I think it makes her pragmatic in a certain way, reflecting one set of priorities. Obama has to face the "diminished options" but IMO health care should be a higher priority than Pelosi wants to make it.
November 7, 2008 4:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yep, everything should be on the table in that regard.
November 7, 2008 4:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
I didn't hear the speech you are referring to. I would like a link too. However I think the significant thing to remember is that President Elect Obama 'has us' a coalition of americans that he can address to campaign on behalf of his policies.
I think it was a very smart move to ask Emmanuel to be his chief of staff. President Elect Obama has consistently said change comes from the bottom up. He will make his case to the american people, not just to congress. Congress works for us and we need to participate in our ownership of the country. This is why he says he needs for us to stay involved.
I would not worry in the least. President Elect Obama is a very Intelligent, very skilled leader.
November 6, 2008 11:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
I haven't seen this either. But if Pelosi wants a war with Obama she will lose and lose big. The more I know Pelosi, the more I dislike her style. But again, I also would love to see a link.
November 7, 2008 12:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yup, I'd like to see a link, too.
But as the low-level Night of the Long Knives is happening in the Rep House leadership, I'd love to have seen a high-level Night of the Long Knives here, too. Emanuel would make a better leader than Pelosi, in my humble o. Since her elevation 2 years ago she has accomplished exactly nothing. And Reid has been even worse, if that is possible.
As much as I'd hate to see a massacre of the Congressional leadership at this time, it simply Needed To Be Done.
Too late, now, dammit. We muddle on.
November 7, 2008 1:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
Edit: Emanuel would have made a better speaker, in my humble o.
November 7, 2008 1:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
This does seem a bit odd that Pelosi would've made such a definitive comment about the President-elect from her own party.
If you can't provide a link to a direct quote that isn't taken out of context and not loosely interpreted (much less grossly misinterpreted) then your credibility on this site is over for me. I'm tired of the imposters and the haters, aka trolls and the like. Pathetic person with nothing better to do?
My thoughts on what she may have meant if she made any such comment is to lower expectations due to the constraints from the current economic crisis Obama's inherited.
November 7, 2008 1:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
The botox comment is insulting and unnecessary to boot.
I have enough problems with Pelosi, but if you're going to complain, provide a link or a quote and save the personal comments about politicians and their appearance (botox) for your home or for gatherings of Republican partisans.
(Note - Nancy Pelosi is 68 and in politics - from California no less. In a country that discriminates against old people, women, and people in general based on looks rather than wisdom, she would be stupid not to do whatever she can to maintain her edge - and she's now Speaker of the House. Fred Thompson didn't look too hot himself, but because he was a man, the papers raved about him being "sexy". That doesn't happen to women - once they hit 40 the criticisms start rolling in.)
November 7, 2008 2:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Who was it said the 44-years-old-plus Palin is "good looking" and "attractive"?
Right: No one ranted or raved about that.
Still whining about the "Sexism" that defeated Hillary, despite the fact that Obama had to contend with racism, but won nonetheless on his merits?
Get over the divisive sulking.
November 7, 2008 3:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Whining" you stupid bastard? No, I'm pointing out sexism. So shove it. More than half the population is female. Continually using language and taking positions that demean them is anti-progressive. And I noted that this is ageist as well - get a wrinkle and people want to start replacing you with a "young, fresh candidate".
So why don't you go find a kiddie blog where you can do Beavis and Butthead all day long if that's your pleasure? It's the internet, there are plenty of good places for you to find the immaturity and lack of serious thought that you seek.
November 7, 2008 5:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Look, Pelosi's use of botox, while perhaps not approaching the levels of George Hamilton (eek), has become so excessive she can barely move her facial muscles anymore and instead increasingly wears a permanent cheshire grin. Was it gratuitous for me to point that out? Sure. But that Cheshire grin appears to be hiding someone who plans on fighting Obama tooth and nail (uh-oh, is that a sexist phrase too?) to preserve the status quo way of doing business and to once again leave significant health care reform on the scrap heap. That and her trying to pre-empt Obama on dealing with the auto-industry yesterday (money for that but not for health care) leaves me thinking she is going to be one of our biggest hurdles and an enemy to real reform of Washington. And I think Obama's pick of Emmanual, who has the goods to take Pelosi on, shows that he too recognizes he needs to be ready to view her as an enemy of his goals. An enemy he will talk and negotiate with, but an enemy nonetheless.
November 7, 2008 7:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, the botox bit is gratuitous. Leave it out.
Nancy Pelosi has her own responsibilities. Her job is not just to rubber stamp Obama's intiatives, even though I would like them to work together efficiently and get important things done.
Dems in Congress just gained a huge number of seats, and that is Pelosi's power center. As head of the House, she has every right to push what she sees as the important legislative initiatives from her view (after all, the two houses form the *LEGISLATIVE* branch). Part of that viewpoint might even include keeping the deficit in check. If other members of Congress and various constituents dislike her priorities, I'm sure they'll let her know in various unsubtle ways.
I don't think she's pledging to fight "tooth and nail", but politics is a game of elbows and fighting for the boards, not just fancy dribbling and 3-pointers swish shots. If Obama needs Emanuel to take on the ladies, so be it. ;-)
November 7, 2008 9:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
i dont think we need a self-appointed cop to police how people express themselves here on a public forum. funny how they always show up anyways, and attempt to manage the tone of a site open to all. tell it how you feel it, thats what this is for. des speaks for des, and we all get to hear him plenty. if he gets offended he can just do the cartmann like SillyMad and wander off muttering to anonymity at blogspot, where he can decide for himself who gets to comment on the posts that nobody reads.
November 7, 2008 7:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
If you want to use sexist or ageist language and descriptions, I can call it for what it is. If you persist on using it then, that says more about you, not about me.
See, one of the clever things about blogs is they allow posters to critique each other. Need an echo chamber? Go rent a room in a spa.
November 7, 2008 9:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
Those pesky blacks, they're always trying to police how people talk about them.
November 7, 2008 12:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
First of all, you misquote Speaker Pelosi. Second of all, you volunteered your time for Obama, and that's great, but that doesn't mean that you have any idea about the specifics of the agenda the the president-elect is about to pursue. Welcome to politics. I have no doubt that healthcare reform is an absolute priority of both the president-elect and the Democratic Congress. But that doesn't mean that it will or that it is even likely to turn out as you anticipated when you decided, to your credit, to work hard for the new president.
November 7, 2008 8:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think the whole weight of the transcript provided above is in the final paragraphs. The economic situation is going to exert heavy constraints on what initiatives the government can take.
I am not sure that some kind of triage program isn't already being planned that might not absorb most of the monies available.
Obama is inheriting a bankrupted government as it currently is set up. He may need to do some massive cuts in the DoD to free up monies for other purposes, but that will set off the entire redstate legislative contingent in a fury of protest.
November 7, 2008 8:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
I just don't see how you can parse what Pelosi said in the provided transcript as "there is no room for Obama's health care reform" or that "it won't be pursued in the house." Surely what she said is true, that the financial crisis is going to require some prioritization. Obama himself said as much in the debates.
You are creating a conflict where there is none.
November 7, 2008 10:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
There's a huge concern that there is simply too much to fix and there will be too much pressure. Ms. Pelosi has been Speaker for less than two years; the other side ran things for 12 years -- including 6 with no check. Yet, mere months after she took the chair, the criticism from the left was almost as vicious as the criticism from the right. Sorry, but we do have to pick our battles; we cannot deploy our figurative armies all over the map and expect them to fight well. That's the challenge the Dem leadership is going to face in both branches. It may be that there is a coordinated effort and Speaker Pelosi is being used as the "bad cop." It would be really, really nice if we waited a little while before we ate our young this time around.
November 7, 2008 10:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
And actually Pelosi supported Murtha over Hoyer, which I think was a better choice, but she lost that battle even before assuming speaker. Hoyer hasn't been very good in confrontations with the administration.
November 7, 2008 10:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm waiting for word from Barack himself. It's been clear for some time that Pelosi intends to follow Barack. And the new website makes it clear Health Care is a priority.
Right now hospitals are suffering with the downturn in the economy. We need heath care. And we need the jobs that will bring. We need to do this while things are dire, in order to crush the insurance lobbies while they're already down. This time the people get the legislation, not the corporations.
November 7, 2008 2:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Pelosi and Reid do not know how to lead a majority or even a minority. They are refugees from a republican wasteland. If they block any progressive moves they should be thrown out on their asses ASAP.
They are taking posturing and hesitation to new levels.
November 7, 2008 4:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd say Nancy Pelosi is one of the primary reasons Obama chose Rahm Emanuel as his Chief of Staff. She needs to be horsewhipped.
November 7, 2008 5:16 PM | Reply | Permalink