Pelosi Lied, the Left Sighed
There is a a certain poetic justice in the travails of the Democratic Speaker of the House. She joined her partisan colleagues in the zeal to prosecute Bush Administration officials for what the MSM has labeled “torture memos.” And now it seems her grandstanding may cost her her job, possibly hurting her party’s standing with the general public.
No one seems to believe Nancy Pelosi.
Having promised “the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history,” Mrs. Pelosi now becomes emblematic of an institutions in which the Democratic culture of corruption (to borrow an expression of which she was once so fond) rivals (and perhaps exceeds) that of the last Republican Congress.
You know a Democrat’s in trouble when the editorialist of the Washington Post question her credibility: ”Ms. Pelosi’s shifting accounts and faltering performance at her news conference were far from reassuring.”
As she begins to lose the trust of a number in the MSM who would normally be sympathetic to her, she does what most Democrats do when the spotlight is turned on them: blame Bush. ”Pelosi issued a statement late Friday shifting her criticism to the Bush administration – hours after CIA Director Leon Panetta defended his agency against Pelosi’s charges.“
Part of that criticism was to accuse Bush and his team of lying us into war in Iraq. Never mind that those who leveled the charge could not point to a single statement that then-President made that he knew was wrong at the time he made it. Now, we have an example of a claim Pelosi made with ample evidence indicating that she knew it was false at the time she made.
(In her defense, maybe she had forgotten what she learned during those CIA briefings in 2002-03. But, instead of faulting her memory, she has accused the CIA of misleading Congress.)
It will be interesting to see if the same left-wing bloggers who repeated the mantra that Bush lied (without providing any actual evidence that he did) will similarly criticize the Democratic Speaker for her dishonesty (with substantial evidence that she lied).
Instapundit Reader Doug Welsh finds a similarity between “Nancy Pelosi’s current circumstances [and] Democrats’ accusations that Bush lied us into the Iraq war“:
They saw the same intelligence that Bush (and Clinton before him) saw, indicating that Saddam had WMD. Few if any questioned the validity of the information. Most voted for the war. But when the war became unpopular they turned and claimed they had been misled by Bush. This was all a lie and political posturing, but it was effective then.
Pelosi’s penchant for political posturing, her eagerness to go after the Bush Administration even after W left town, has now cost her credibility. It may even cost her her job — and even threaten her party’s majority.
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It may even cost her her job — and even threaten her party’s majority.
I wouldn’t bet on it. Aside from the complete absence of shame and honor, most of the Dems on Congress see power as their only purpose.
An unnatural immunity to cognitive dissonance is fundamental to the liberal mindset. For thinking people, the contradictions built into leftism would drive them crazy.
Comment by SoCalRobert — May 16, 2009 @ 7:33 pm - May 16, 2009
I agree that her performance was terrible and I’ll admit that I’m not 100% confident in her truthfulness (which is a nice way of saying I think it is possible she lied). That said, don’t you have any concerns that these allegations, which have been levied largely by those who have opposed anything like a truth commission or congressional investigation, may backfire and result in a full-blown investigation of who knew what and when they knew it? I’m not that sure of Pelosi’s honesty myself but I also don’t quite believe everything the CIA says either. I also don’t think you should be tossing stones at the Speaker of the House, regardless of party, unless you’re prepared to face the brunt of a congressional investigation. (Now, if she backs down and no investigation of any sort is launched, well… then Pelosi’s honesty is even more in question.)
Comment by CR — May 17, 2009 @ 11:29 am - May 17, 2009
CR,
I’ve no qualms about questioning her honesty or lack of. She’s already backed down and gone back to the ‘Bush lied’ mantra.
This was started by the left with the release of the memos. It’s a bridge too far, and I’ve no qualms about dropping it under them.
Since Waterboarding != torture, there’s nothing to fear.
Comment by The_Livewire — May 17, 2009 @ 11:52 am - May 17, 2009
Livewire… To my mind, it’s not about whether one has qualms about challenging Pelosi’s honesty — either she lied or the CIA did. That’s pretty clear cut. I assume Boehner and others honestly believe that she is lying, but regardless of the honesty of that believe there is also a political calculation behind making so much hey out of this. (This is, after all, Washington DC and nothing is made public without consideration of the political consequences.) So, I’m just wondering if there is a risk that calculation may backfire. Don’t forget, this whole discussion is following on the heels of Cheney’s talk show tour over the last month culminating with his own request that certain memos be declassified. I think Cheney, Boehner and others are walking a fine line between deflection attention back on the Democrats (with some success) and triggering the investigation or truth commission they’ve said they don’t want.
Comment by CR — May 17, 2009 @ 12:10 pm - May 17, 2009
I misunderstood the intent of your post then CR.
I don’t really see a conflict about the not wanting a ‘truth commission’. IF you know it’s not torture, then why investigate it?
I also remember when it was released that we had all the Nazi groups on the east coast infiltrated/under survalence but didn’t have the penetration of groups on the west coast in WW II. This info was released in the 1990’s, 50 years after the fact.
You and I won’t know (assuming you’re in your late 20’s or older) but my godkids will know how many near misses we’ve had in the past decade. The partial leaking of info for partisan gain hurts us, but I have to admire Dick Cheney’s counter assault of ‘let it all out.’
Comment by The_Livewire — May 17, 2009 @ 7:12 pm - May 17, 2009
Well, maybe the only way to find out if San Fran Nan has been lying is to subject her to waterboarding. Then we can also see if botox really does float.
Regards,
Peter H.
Comment by Peter Hughes — May 18, 2009 @ 12:21 pm - May 18, 2009
[...] Crossposted at GayPatriot. [...]
Pingback by When Falls the Coliseum » Pelosi lied; The left-wing sighed — May 19, 2009 @ 2:02 pm - May 19, 2009