Dear Nancy Pelosi, Please come back to earth
I attribute much of the negative opinion about Congress to Nancy Pelosi’s leadership, who has moments of brilliance shaded by some that are really dark and unnecessary. While I understand that politics is a constant struggle between principle and compromise, knowing where to stand and where to fall, Pelosi seems to constantly operate from a position of expedience with regard to little else.
Today’s dark moment:
But what looks like intraparty tension on the surface is part of an intentional strategy in which Pelosi takes the heat on energy policy, while behind the scenes she’s encouraging vulnerable Democrats to express their independence if it helps them politically, according to Democratic aides on and off Capitol Hill.
Decoded, what this means is that Pelosi is opposing any offshore drilling initiatives while encouraging her fellow Democrats to to support offshore drilling.
Talk about cynical. Is there anything political that actually turns back to a principle? Is there anything in this country worth actually fighting for? Even Barack Obama, who I also don’t agree with, clearly is fundamentally opposed to offshore drilling but is entertaining the possibility of some limited drilling offshore. I do think that he’d try and fight behind the scenes for a different compromise with regard to energy policy if at all possible.
But damn, Pelosi is a Californian. These shores are HER shores. She’s a northern Californian, even. If you think our shores down here are beautiful, you should see theirs. And offshore drilling initiatives would indeed wreak havoc on many areas, even California’s if no limits are placed on what leases are up for grabs.
Nancy Pelosi, what are you thinking? Please, take a meeting with Barbara Boxer and figure this out. This Californian is not amused, nor is she willing to sacrifice a lifelong love of the California coast for Big Oil and Republican paranoia.
Sphere: Related ContentFISA: Democrats Capitulate to the GOP – Where’s Obama?
Silent, that’s where. On a day where he announces (wisely) that he will decline public funding, the Democrats in Congress bow backwards to the GOP and say ‘put it right here’. Not only that, but they ‘compromise’ on FISA in such a way that telecoms will receive their immunity according to the bought-and-paid for agreement.
The agreement would settle one of the thorniest issues in dispute by providing immunity to the phone companies in the Sept. 11 program as long as a federal district court determines that they received legitimate requests from the government directing their participation in the warrantless wiretapping operation.
With some AT&T and other telecommunications companies now facing some 40 lawsuits over their reported participation in the wiretapping program, Republican leaders described this narrow court review on the immunity question as a mere “formality.”
“The lawsuits will be dismissed,” Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri, the No. 2 Republican in the House, predicted with confidence.
The proposal — particularly the immunity provision — represents a major victory for the White House after months of dispute. “I think the White House got a better deal than they even they had hoped to get,” said Senator Christopher Bond, the Missouri Republican who led the negotiations.
The White House immediately endorsed the proposal, which is likely to be voted on in the House on Friday and in the Senate next week.
They’re going to let impeachment die, they bow low and scrape before Lord Bush while selling us down the river for the price of a few lawsuits and the 4th amendment.
And Obama says…nothing? Time for some leadership. Especially if you want those grassroots contributors to keep contributing.
Is this a case of moving to the center? Triangulation? What happened to CHANGE?
I am perfectly willing to retract everything I’ve just written if someone — anyone — can offer me a reasonable explanation for this. I see several other alternatives including renewing the Protect America Act, not allowing telecom immunity, or tightening the provisions for requesting warrants, since it’s been PROVEN over and over again that there is a complete abuse of discretion in how these are requested.
C’mon, let’s have some transparency. Tell us why you feel compelled to subvert the US Constitution.
I’m waiting.
Sphere: Related Content
