Pelosi's first priority is to halt Iraq war

[bemildred]

Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told cheering supporters Saturday that Democrats would move the nation in "a new direction ... for all Americans, not just the chosen few,'' and pledged an ambitious agenda on subjects ranging from House ethics to foreign policy.

Speaking in San Francisco the day after adjournment of the Republican-controlled 2005-06 Congress, Pelosi declared -- as she had throughout her party's successful November election campaign -- that "my highest priority, immediately, is to stop the war in Iraq.''

In that effort, she added, "We extend a hand of friendship and cooperation to the president. We hope we can work together.''

But while promising a "spirit of civility and bipartisanship'' in the Congress that convenes on Jan. 4, Pelosi took a few partisan shots at Republicans, saying they catered to the very rich and fostered corruption.

SFGate

[ninkasi]

1. Sounds good to me

Stop the corruption and make laws that benefit citizens, not corporations and the ultra wealthy. Getting out of the disastrous occupation of Iraq is a priority. It'll only get worse if Bush isn't stopped.

[rodeodance]

it is a tall order when our Commander in chief is a child

[rodeodance]

4. "very aggressive measures to stop global warming''

She reviewed her plans for the first 100 hours: raising the minimum wage, cutting student loan interest rates in half, requiring Medicare to negotiate lower prices with prescription-drug makers, rolling back tax breaks for oil companies and passing legislation to promote stem cell research.

Also high on her agenda, Pelosi said, are "very aggressive measures to stop global warming'' and a labor-backed "card check'' proposal to require employers to negotiate with any union that signs up a majority of a company's employees.

Pelosi and Mayor Gavin Newsom, who also spoke, had ripostes for Republicans who warned during the campaign that electing a Democratic majority would foist "San Francisco values'' on the nation.

"While we are diverse, we speak with one voice when it comes to fairness and giving people hope in the city of St. Francis,'' Pelosi said.

[Nite Owl]

2. So now we know

God is a woman and her name is Nancy!

[Tellurian]

5. So now we know

God is and always has been a Goddess, whose priorities have been mankind and the health of the planet.

How do we know?
Because it's the only way things will work in harmony for eternity.

[VegasWolf]

18. Actually, my cat is God. He is telling me to attack Iraq. nt

[Tellurian]

20. A talking cat?

Is he telling you to run away and join the Circus too?

[VegasWolf]

21. No, but he says Saddam Hussein is a bad man and must go, that he is

getting yellow-cake uranium from Nigeria, and that Saddam Hussein doesn't believe in him.

[superconnected]

29. F*! you have a republican cat! You poor thing.

My cats are all liberals, the socialist kind.

I don't agree with a lot they say but at least they're against GW and the iraq war!

[arewenotdemo]

51. yeah, VegasWolf has some rotten luck there

My cat pukes but she's not a fucking REpuke!

[Tellurian]

39. Your cat is propagating lies.

Hardly God-like, even more-so, Goddess like.

[exlrrp]

40. Her cat should meet my pitbull

He's a rabid Democrat

[exlrrp]

41. Thank God Pelosi gets her priorities right

END THE WAR FIRST!! Then do everything else. Lives are more important than political points!

[Tellurian]

42. ABSOLUTELY...

Goddesses do everything with VIGOR..

(I forget who said that..)

But, Just DOIT!

[VegasWolf]

45. It is an unfortunate turn of the events. My cat is now almost 2,000 years old.

And, as we know, approx. a few thousand years is about as long as mankind will suffer any particular God and then a new one must arise. The poor little thing is getting Alzheimer's. When he is out walking the quantum foam, he sometimes forgets whether he is walking forward or backwards in time, or even which reality that he is observing. He solidly denies any Republican tendencies, except he demands fancy cat food.

[Irreverend IX]

3. Finally.

It looks like this year's Democratic voters are going to get a return on their investment. Thanks for showing some backbone, Nancy.

[Vidar]

6. "Friendship and cooperation????"

[mzmolly]

7. That's what you call a political statement.

*ehem*

[bemildred]

8. Saying "Nice doggie" while you look for a good size rock. nt

[leftchick]

17. lol!

:hi:

[Zhade]

25. Heck, even cynical as I am I think it's just a throwaway statement.

What matters is delivering on these goals, NOW.

END THE WAR!

[Tom Joad]

27. I'm more cynical than you, and i agree. Action counts.

If we are merely guided by hate for Bush then i think we are on the wrong track anyway.

If she delivers on the goal of ending the war, that all is to the good. And not that there is some agreement to start bringing home the troops in a few years, but that ALL the troops are back real soon... in months, rather than years.

What i do NOT want is that what we see in the next few months is we find out she really meant cooperation with Bush (in ways that will subvert our goal of ending the war) and it turns out that ending the war was just a throw-away line.

[Vidar]

37. Not when it's coupled with Nancy's "no impeachment" crap, it isn't.

We have a rabid dog on the run. It's time to put W out of his misery, not "reach out to him".

[Occulus]

35. Heh. Wait and watch.

Do you think she doesn't know the pResident won't play nice?

:)

[otohara]

9. Bravo Madame Speaker

make the killing in our name stop!

[Greeby]

10. Madam Speaker, might I suggest you speak to a Mr McGovern

about a certain HR 4232?
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:h.r.04232:

[aquart]

11. Feels like one of those miracle nanny reality shows, doesn't it?

[Demeter]

12. Impeachment Is the ONLY Way to Stop War and Bush

Bush isn't going to stop this war until he's physically incapable of continuing. Unless Nancy is upping for a bit of assassination, she's going to have to impeach BushCo, get Harry Reid to convict, and throw both Bush and Cheney out of office and into jail. Then she can by her own personal powers as President stop the madness.

[AntiFascist]

13. I agree, the only way to deal with this president...

is by extending a hand to slap him silly.

[Vidar]

15. Exactly. There are some republicans Nancy can make nice with

& we might benefit, but W isn't one of them. If he won't listen to Poppy or Baker, he sure as hell isn't going to listen to her.

[partylessinOhio]

14. How fast is Pelosi willing to stop this insane war? How fast? January?

Is she willing to back Kucinich's call to stop the funding?

The money needed to bring the troops home is in the pipeline so Pelosi has no excuse. What will she do?

I will wait and see. Words or actions, which will it be?

[IndyOp]

22. Yeah! What PLIO says... is she going to stop the funding?

Last I heard -- I think in an interview on DemcracyNow! with Lynn Woolsey of the "Out of Iraq Caucus" -- Pelosi was saying that not funding the $160 Billion supplemental was OFF the table.

Maybe she'll surprise us and only pay the part that is supposed to cover what they already spent/stole from us to pay for their dirty little war. And THAT will be too much. Don't pay the damn racketeers!

:(

[diamidue]

23. is she going to stop the funding?

I want to know if she is going to go along with the Baker plan which demands privatization of Iraq's oil industry.

[puebloknot]

30. I heard her say in a television interview that there would be *no*...

...withholding of funds...support the troops...all that.

In a subsequent interview, I seem to remember her saying that they wouldn't stop funding, but that there would be greater *oversight* of the funding!

So what is the additional funding for, other than to continue this illegal war? Kucinich keeps saying there is enough money "in the pipeline right now" to begin a phased withdrawal (and a quick one, I think he means).

I'm talking from memory here, don't have links.

The three things that stand out in my mind that Ms. Pelosi has said they are *not* going to do are:

1. Impeach

2. Stop funding the war

3. Issue "a bunch" of subpoenas

Remember how excited we all were at the idea that we'd have subpoena power if we took over the House, not to mention the Senate?

[w4rma]

16. Perfect. (nt)

[krispos42]

19. And how do we do that, class?

Impeachment!

Article Two, Section Four;
We can't impeach if you resign before!

[Nutmegger]

24. Sounds good but Bush Inc will block every attempt.

He's not going to work with anybody, even his own.

All of a sudden, he'll find that dusty veto pen that made its way onto the floor.

[reprobate]

43. That MAY be a good thing.

From the rumblings I've heard from repuglican congress members there is greater and greater dissatisfaction with BoyGeorge. It just could be that his veto of popular legislation will bring over riding votes from congress. And THAT would pull poor Georgie's last tooth.

I do believe that we are watching the self destruction of an administration.

[Tom Joad]

26. I wish she mentioned HOW she intended to do that. She opposes

an end to funding the war. She does mention friendship with the President. This is not a good sign.

[superconnected]

28. She should stay out of planes.

There's too much money being diverted to contractors in iraq still to stop that war.

[Zorra]

31. "they catered to the very rich and fostered corruption. "

And that, in a nutshell, is exactly why the republican party even exists.

[chknltl]

32. Impeachment first.

Impeachment includes bringing to light ALL of the bushcon shenanigans. GWB$co have perpetrated crimes against humanity! We clean house here first I say. Once the world understands that WE ALSO understand this AND that we are doing something about it THEN resolving our problems will become easier. (Especially the middle east and global warming.) The world was with us after 9-11...why can't they be with us again? The world is aware of our plight brought on by Hurricane bushco... It would be nice to be one of the "Good Guys" again.
:patriot:

[NotGivingUp]

33. i'm liking this woman more and more!

[depakid]

34. Madame Speaker, you're dealing with a sociopath

along with a host of people like him in the corporate media.

There's only one thing that people like that understand...

[Vidar]

36. Only two ways to do that, Nancy: 1. "defund" the war, & 2. impeach

the SOB. I doubt you have the courage or integrity to do either.

[customerserviceguy]

38. It's politically

more possible to defund the war than to plunge the country into another impeachment debate for the second time in ten years. Attempted removal of Bill Clinton didn't do the Repugs any favors, it just made them look stupid. Bushco will be gone in two years, the important thing is to choose a worthy successor to that office. Nancy Pelosi's job is making sure that our President doesn't still have Iraq on his/her plate.

[reprobate]

44. I happen to believe that JUSTICE is paramount. That means removing

Bush/Cheney from office.

But the way to do that is not to jump right into it and bring charges. The way to do it so that it will stick is to investigate and use the power of the subpoena to bring the facts into public view. Once that is done there will be few who would dare oppose the public outcry for impeachment and removal , along with the public shame it would bring to these two dastardly people.

I believe that the one way to do this job is first to investigate, then bring charges (impeach), then try them, and finally find them guilty and remove them from office. It's the very minimum that they deserve, unless you include a life sentence at the Hague.

[customerserviceguy]

48. Justice is important

but bringing justice to our American troops assigned to fight in a meaningless cause is more important than "getting even" with Chimpy. Really, wouldn't the best way to "get even" with him be to tear down the war that he has built? His whole Presidency is built on a successful resolution of that, taking away his toys would be the best way to bring his fantasy to an end.

What says "vote Democratic" in 2008 more than seeing a loved one home from Iraq? Surely clutching a newspaper with "Bush Impeached" as its headline is a lousy way to salve the feelings of someone who loses a soldier this next two years.

[reprobate]

49. I don't see it as an either - or thing. And I don't care about 'getting even'

with the Imperial Chimp. I'm talking about 'Justice' in the more abstract sense. The 'Justice' that's so hard to find in our 'Justice' system. The concept that there must be a balance in the universe that will bring the pendulum back to center. This 'Justice' to me means that the Village Idiot from texas who resides in the People's House must meet the will of the people and be deposed as the people now demand in a majority. Bringing the troops home, of course, will happen. With or without the approval of the Imperious Simian. But I don't believe that one depends on the other.

[customerserviceguy]

50. Well, there's only one way I see it happening

In January, the Imperial Chimp announces that he's going to send 40-50K more troops to Iraq. Congress finally finds it has balls, and votes to cut off funding for the war. A Constitutional crisis takes place, and the way Congress fights it's side of the battle is to start investigations, perhaps leading to impeachment. But this happens ONLY if the people take Congress' side on bringing the troops home, and Chimpy gets indignant about sending more there.

It could go either way, he might just back down. But I don't blame anyone for doubting it.

[Vidar]

46. Bush is a traitor & Pelosi is abetting him. The hell with

complicity & collaboration in the name of politics as usual

[walk softly]

47. Haven't thought about

one of Pelosi's jobs for 2008 is to keep the war off the plate of Democratic candidate. Look what Swift boaters did to John Kerry. Ending our participation in the war in Iraq is a number one issue - for all the right reasons.