Speaker turns to centrists

[babylonsister]

So this is basically, does ANYONE have any other bright ideas, Nancy? Don't tell me you don't have a strategery ironed out!

Speaker turns to centrists
By Mike Soraghan
September 25, 2007

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) leadership team has charged a band of mostly centrist members with recommending a House Iraq strategy, pushing for the lower chamber to be the source of bipartisan action on the war.

The decision came shortly after the Senate last week nixed, for the second time, a proposal that would have required more rest time for troops. The measure, by Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), had been seen as a bipartisan compromise to change the course of the war in a limited way. But it failed to muster the 60 votes needed for passage.

At a meeting a few hours later, Pelosi’s lieutenant for Iraq policy, Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) asked a group of lawmakers to come up with ideas for what legislation the House should take up next. They are to report back Tuesday.

Key members of the ad hoc group include Reps. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) and John Tanner (D-Tenn.), the authors of a centrist Iraq withdrawal proposal that has drawn intense criticism from more liberal members and become a symbol of the division within the Democratic Caucus.

“We have to change tactics now,” said Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), a member of the group who was once targeted by liberals but who now takes a hard line against the war. “We’re supporting leadership by bringing products forward.”

The ad hoc group does include members of the Out of Iraq caucus, such as Abercrombie and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.). It does not, however, include the three vocal leaders of that caucus: California Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters and Lynn Woolsey. Abercrombie and Schakowsky voted for the Iraq supplemental spending bill that the California troika opposed.

more...

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/speaker-turns-to-centrists-2007-09-25.html

[madfloridian]

1. She did the same thing on the trade deal...

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1314

She did not include labor voices before the press conference.

She did not ask labor voices to speak to the freshman, only Robert Rubin types.

If this is the way they are going, they are going to lose oh so many votes.

[AndyTiedye]

2. "Changing Tactics" = Every Time We Lose, Move Further to the Right

[depakid]

3. And deservedly so

It's basically date rape.

[Rageneau]

4. I'm begining to think that being the first woman Speaker ain't so much after all.

I was sure Pelosi was going to go down in history as one of the shining ones. But now it looks as if she's just going to go down.

[Freddie Stubbs]

5. Would you prefer Boehner ?

:shrug: