rssDreaming of an Anti-Pelosi Coup
Monday, May 18, 2009 at 11:00 am
- 16 Comments
John Feehery’s “top five ways to determine whether there will be an anti-Nancy Pelosi coup” story is a curious case of media narrative-setting. There’s really little indication that the Republican focus on what the speaker of the House knew about torture is endangering her career; I’ve only seen one poll that shows her approval rating dropping, and it was a modest drop. Nonetheless, Politico nabbed the Republican strategist to dish out the party’s talking points. Feehery also includes a minor but telling factual error:
Her base is angry because she made promises she couldn’t keep. In fact, she has faced primary opposition from Cindy Sheehan because she hasn’t been left-wing enough.
Sheehan ran against Pelosi in the general election, not the primary, and got a fairly impressive 16 percent of the vote, forcing the GOP into third place with 10 percent. Also, Sheehan’s challenge was not explicitly about whether Pelosi had been “left-wing,” but about how she had not initiated impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush.
The rest of the article is just sort of self-refuting.
The Pelosi name is toxic in many of the districts that make the Democratic majority. In some parts of Blue Dog country, she is simply not invited to help members raise money or do campaign events. The same thing happened to Newt Gingrich.
That cuts against what Glenn Thrush found for an early March story in … Politico.
“Pelosi’s a particularly tough demographic to demonize,” says a senior Republican strategist who has okayed several anti-Pelosi ads during the 2006 campaign.
“She’s a woman, and she’s of a certain age level, and that’s a demographic both parties are trying to court. She just doesn’t evoke that same kind of visceral reaction [as Limbaugh]. She’s not a big, bellowing heavyset guy who is prone to controversial statements.”
Asked to gauge the impact of dozens of anti-Pelosi ads and mailings created by the GOP in the past three election cycles, the consultant replied, “Bleh. Nothing.”
Politico reporters have found that Pelosi is not a controversial figure whose gavel is in danger. They open their pages to a Republican strategist who argues that the opposite is true. Gee, which take is going to be on cable news today? (Feehery’s column is actually promoted on Thrush’s blog.)
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16 Comments
Comment posted May 18, 2009 @ 11:32 am
STOP! The Attacks On Speaker Pelosi
Last time they tried to attack Speaker Pelosi ( second in line to the President of the United States) it was about her alleged abuse of military transportation. This attack as expected turned out to be bogus. It turned out that the previous Speaker (Hastert – a Republican) made far more use of military transportation. It turned out that Speaker Pelosi was possibly overly prudent and too self-restrained in her use of military transportation.
Now Republicans are trying to attack her about allegedly having been told by the Bush administration about things she was not told about, like water boarding. Republicans are attacking her because she is being so effective at getting the peoples work done in congress, like healthcare. And Republicans want to stop her. Don't put up with that. Every time they attack Speaker Pelosi they are attacking you and the rest of the American people. If they go after her, go after them even harder.
They are trying to con Speaker Pelosi and the American people. And here is how it works. Approximately 6 years ago CIA had a briefing with Pelosi and congress, but DID NOT tell congress and Pelosi that the Bush administration was using torture ( water boarding ) on detainees. Then the Bush administration sent in Porter Goss to head the CIA and to destroy, and doctor records in part to make it look like Pelosi, and the Democrats in congress were onboard with the illegal torture of detainees by the Bush administration.
See, apparently at these intelligence briefings members of congress are not allowed to take notes. And if they do, they are not allowed to keep them. Apparently the CIA makes notes, but the members of congress are not allowed to see those notes either. And they can't tell anybody about what was said at the briefings. But the CIA can come back six years later and claim they told members of congress something six years ago that they did not tell them at that time. And they can use falsified notes to substantiate their claim. Planting disinformation was the type of thing the CIA became very good at during the time Porter Goss was a young CIA agent. Just gotta love it. :-)
If you will remember, their was a mass exodus of senior CIA officials after Porter Goss took over. And the complaint at the time was that longtime, highly experienced agents were being replaced by other people based mostly on their political loyalties to the Bush administration and their extreme right-wing ideologies. Which is just exactly what you need if you want people who will be willing to break the law under orders. Sound familiar? I don't think you can trust any CIA records after Goss took over.
I have nothing but the utmost respect, and admiration for the dedicated and patriotic members of OUR! Central Intelligence Agency. When the Bush administration betrayed one of OUR! agents (Mrs. Wilson) it made me boiling MAD! I think our new Director Pennetta has got some internal investigation and agency house cleaning to do. If you backtrack on the individuals that have been making the false attacks on Speaker Pelosi, and trace who they have had contact and conversations with, you should be able to connect the dots and catch your conspirators.
The key that the CIA records are falsified is Sen. Bob Graham and his journal, and common sense. :-) By the way, I think Mr. Pennetta is an excellent choice to head the CIA and fix it.
They are trying to kill healthcare reform. And continue our healthcare crisis. Don't put up with that.
PASS THE WORD.
To The Congress Of The United States:
If it is true that you are not allowed to have or make any permanent records of your intelligence briefings for later clarifications, and protection, that is ridiculous. That leaves all of you vulnerable to just this type of scam that is being perpetrated on Speaker Pelosi. So here is what you can do about it to protect your-selves in the future.
Members should be able to make notes and other recordings of these briefings. Then these briefings and recordings can be reduced to a computer file that can then be encrypted and digitally signed with a detached digital signature using key encryption. Then each of you can encrypt, and sign each others copy of the record that can only be unlocked with the other parties key. And both parties copies can be verified with each others copy of the files detached digital signature.
Very easy. Very secure. No more exposure to falsified records down the road. :-)
You see, it almost doesn't really matter what CIA allegedly did or didn't tell Speaker Pelosi, and congress. Because the briefing format is so deficient of any checks, balances, or verification that all we know is that all external briefing accounts support Speaker Pelosi's version of events. Pelosi and congress should have been given every benefit of the doubt. And that should have been it.
There are many other booby traps out there set for you congress. Be careful.
God Bless You
jacksmith — WORKING CLASS
p.s. I still think the timing of Sen. Bob Graham's ruptured cerebral aneurism was suspicious. More so now, than before.
Comment posted May 18, 2009 @ 12:07 pm
Your Speaker of the House does use a military jet every time she flies home. She wanted the big plane because she did not want to stop to refuel. That would certainly be inconvenient.
Pelosi was briefed on waterboarding in 2002 and she said so. End of story.
Apparently you are the yellow-dog Demoncrat that I keep hearing about.
Pelosi sucks. 89% of the people agree with me. Get off your high horse and look at the facts.
No encrypted disks allowed. How about Barney and Waters in front of the Fannie and Freddie Oversight hearing where they refuse to acknowledge the findings or did I just fabricate that too. FH! LMAO!
Comment posted May 18, 2009 @ 12:10 pm
Great catch. I was reading elsewhere that much of this false bravado are GOP strategists looking for an angle to play to whip up public fury at Congressional Dems. As long as Pelosi stands firm on her call to relaese the documents and memos related to the briefings, I don;t think her opponents have a leg to stand on.
Pingback posted May 18, 2009 @ 4:38 pm
[...] David Weigel at the Washington Independent calls the Feehery piece a “curious case of media narrative-setting.” Whatever. Feehery is reason itself compared to Mike Huckabee: Here’s a story about a lady named Nancy A ruthless politician, but dressed very fancy Very ambitious, she got herself elected Speaker But as for keeping secrets, she proved quite a “leaker.” [...]
Comment posted May 18, 2009 @ 9:30 pm
Wrong.
http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/did_nancy…
“The Democratic House speaker normally flies in a 12-seat Air Force jet, just as her Republican predecessor did. This rumor stems FROM A REQUEST BY THE HOUSE SERGEANT-AT-ARMS, not Pelosi, for a jet large enough to reach California without refueling…
When Pelosi became speaker, House Sergeant at Arms Bill Livingood, according to his own account, worried that the small craft would be unable to travel to her home district of San Francisco without stopping to refuel. Livingood, WHO WAS FIRST ELECTED BY A NEWT GINGRICH-LED HOUSE in 1995, asked the Air Force and the Department of Defense about getting a bigger plane.
Spokespeople for Pelosi AND ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE say that the speaker has used the big Air Force jet once, but she normally uses a much smaller plane, the same one used by the previous speaker of the House, Republican Dennis Hastert.…
But the plane Pelosi uses MOST OFTEN is the C-20B [the same plane Dennis Hastert used], and she has occasionally used even smaller planes.
Factcheck.org is one of the most reliable nonpartisan sources out there. Question: why are you lying about this when it's so easy to disprove?
Comment posted May 19, 2009 @ 4:30 am
Wrong.
http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/did_nancy…
“The Democratic House speaker normally flies in a 12-seat Air Force jet, just as her Republican predecessor did. This rumor stems FROM A REQUEST BY THE HOUSE SERGEANT-AT-ARMS, not Pelosi, for a jet large enough to reach California without refueling…
When Pelosi became speaker, House Sergeant at Arms Bill Livingood, according to his own account, worried that the small craft would be unable to travel to her home district of San Francisco without stopping to refuel. Livingood, WHO WAS FIRST ELECTED BY A NEWT GINGRICH-LED HOUSE in 1995, asked the Air Force and the Department of Defense about getting a bigger plane.
Spokespeople for Pelosi AND ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE say that the speaker has used the big Air Force jet once, but she normally uses a much smaller plane, the same one used by the previous speaker of the House, Republican Dennis Hastert.…
But the plane Pelosi uses MOST OFTEN is the C-20B [the same plane Dennis Hastert used], and she has occasionally used even smaller planes.
Factcheck.org is one of the most reliable nonpartisan sources out there. Question: why are you lying about this when it's so easy to disprove?
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