Third

How does Nancy Pelosi stay on as Speaker of the House? She's a pit bull partisan politico, schooled in old school urban machine politics. That extraordinary dedication to partisanship was obviously useful as House Minority Leader, making plans for her party to recapture control of the House of Representatives. But the Speaker of the House, isn't she at least nominally supposed to be for American interests, and not just the interests of the Democrats Party?

Last year, in passing the $700 billion bank bailout legislation, she had a chance to reach across the aisle and get bipartisan support. Whether you thought the bank bailout was a good idea or not, members of both parties thought it was a necessary action for the time. It was considered important to get bipartisan support for the commitment of so much money, so suddenly. So Speaker Nancy showed up to make a speech on the House floor in support of the legislation.

Now, I'm no speech writer, but if I was I would have put together a message somewhere along these lines:
"Ladies and gentlemen of the House. I have come before you today to speak in support of the legislation on the floor today. $700 billion dollars is a lot of money, but we are in the middle of an unprecedented economic crisis. Our banking system has seized up, and is in danger of collapsing. The experts we have consulted have agreed that if we do not do something to turn the situation around, our economy will undergo a calamity which will hurt all Americans.

"That is why I am asking all of you, both Republican and Democrat, to support this bill. As members of opposing political parties, we can have very real differences, both practical and philosophical, on a range of issues. But as Americans, we can put those differences aside, and work together when the chips are down to find solutions for the critical issues that this country faces. In this time of crisis, let us show a united face to the world."

She could have made a speech like that. Instead, we got this:


Now, after inveighing against the evil Republican Party for allowing war criminals to torture innocent civilians, it turns out that Speaker Pelosi had been repeatedly briefed by the CIA on what interrogation tchniques were planned for use, as well as what was actually being done to terrorists that had been captured. At the time, she never raised a note of protest.

When this information came to light, first she denied ever having this information. Then she agreed, yes, she did have the information, but only because a staffer had attended the briefing and had told her. Then, she said the CIA had lied about briefing her. Then she said the CIA misleads Congress all the time. She's got more twists and turns then a snake. Here's a news story on her press conference:


After watching this story, you have to believe that Nancy Pelosi has no commitment to the truth at all, only what she can spin to her political advantage. You know what the scary part of that is? She is third in line for the Presidency, right after Joe "Don't fly on airplanes, they're deathtraps!" Biden.

I really hope President Obama's stop smoking program is working.