The Steep Price Of CROSSING Nancy Pelosi

[Segami]

:smoke:





" Officially, Jane Harman's career in Congress will come to a close in the next few weeks, when the California Democrat steps down in the middle of her ninth term to become the new president of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington. In reality, though, it's been over for years now -- ever since Harman crossed Nancy Pelosi and Pelosi responded by shutting down Harman's power center in the House (and her vehicle for national television exposure).


The break had its roots in the Iraq war, and Harman's role as the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee when it was launched, and as the occupation turned sour. A "select" panel, Intelligence is unique from other House committees in that it's composed of an equal number of Democrats and Republicans; members are privy to sensitive documents and top-level security briefings, and the idea is that their work on the committee is above partisan politics.


The problem, from Pelosi's standpoint, is that Harman's status as the No. 1 Democrat on Intelligence essentially made her the highest-profile House Democrat in the middle of the last decade. At the time, don't forget, Republicans had been running the House for a decade, and they also controlled the White House and Senate. To the national media, Pelosi, who was elected the Democrats' House leader in 2002, was a bit player, especially on matters of national security and foreign policy. Her caucus had little clout, and the press mostly tuned her out. When television news producers needed a congressional Democrat to discuss Iraq, they gravitated toward Harman; at least she (theoretically) spoke with the benefit of intelligence information few others had access to. On one stretch in 2006, as the war spiraled out of control, Harman was on a Sunday morning news show four times in a six-month stretch; Pelosi's total: zero.


"Maybe it's my 15 minutes of fame, maybe it's longer," Harman said as her exposure increased. "This is why I came here."


But Harman didn't used her platform the way Pelosi wanted her to. Instead of aggressively challenging the Bush administration over Iraq and its intelligence-gathering operations, she developed a reputation for cooperative work with the panel's Republicans and, in the eyes of many war critics, acquiescence to the White House's position. By 2005, Pelosi indicated that she would force Harman out as ranking member after the 2006 elections. Technically, Pelosi cited term limits; members had traditionally rotated off the committee after four terms, but that unofficial limit was easy to get around. Harman, one of the wealthiest members of Congress who enjoys personal relationships with many elite party donors, responded by enlisting her friends and allies in a pressure campaign. That only irritated Pelosi, who dug in her heels, insisting that Harman would be forced to leave the committee.


con't

http://www.salon.com/news/nancy_pelosi/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/02/07/harman_pelosi_congress


.

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[aquart]

2. I do like Nancy more and more.

[ixion]

3. Only if you happen to have less power than Nancy. She's a lapdog, otherwise, as evidenced by:

"impeachment is off the table," as was investigating BushCo for war crimes.

[BeFree]

5. A deal was cut, imo

Pelosi took it off the table in return for bush being reigned in, keeping him from nuking Iran and making sure he didn't try to steal office again.

Remember that she had to deal everyday with bushco - the most criminal set of politicians to ever be in office. We'll never know in totality the crap she had to deal with. But we have a good idea, eh?

[mopinko]

4. i always wondered why that committee was silent.

jan schakowsky was another member. i know that she really wanted to do something about the things that that committee learned. she assured me that pelosi did, too. sounds like jane has some blood on her hands.