Heartbroken Liberal Columnist: Imperial Pelosi Needs to Listen To Five-Year-Olds or Something

As the sun sets on the Imperial Speakership, the left is beginning to realize what a pompous, elitist, arrogant Nancy Pelosi has done to her party. This piece is a bit incoherent and anecdotal, but the point is the deposed House Speaker needs to get in touch with the common man.

Uh, too late.

As an unreformed liberal, I should be devastated that Nancy Pelosi will cease to be speaker of the House.

But I keep thinking back to what a friend told me about the afternoon of Sept. 22, on the tarmac at Kennedy Airport.

Pelosi flew into New York aboard Air Force One with President Obama, who was to address the United Nations and then head for a fund-raiser at the Roosevelt Hotel.

Pelosi was going straight to the fund-raiser, so she opted for a motorcade rather than hitch a ride on the presidential helicopter.

She climbed into a limousine expecting to be whisked away with a police escort, only to be informed the area was frozen until Obama had safely flown away.

Pelosi decided that the freeze could not apply to her. She sent her security detail over to inform the Secret Service and the Port Authority police that she desired to depart immediately.

The Pelosi detail came over with a look that said they had to ask because their boss was insisting. The reply was what they knew it would be.

"No."

After 10 minutes at the very most, Obama departed and Pelosi's motorcade was immediately allowed to proceed.

She would have done well to retain the perspective her 5-year-old grandson showed while riding with her in her first motorcade the day she became speaker.

"This is great! This is what I want to be when I grow up," the boy said, by her account.

"You want to be speaker of the House?" she asked.

"No, I want to be a motorcycle policeman," the boy said.

As a motorcycle cop the kid will be far more in touch with reality, as was one that day.

Whatever happens now, Pelosi is not likely ever to be kept waiting in a motorcade until the President is safely away.

"She won't have to worry about that anymore," said a cop, the kind her grandson would admire.

In other heartbreaking news, the folks in the Bay Area suddenly are concerned Queen Nancy won't be bringing home the pork. Oh well.

'We're in a Period of Know-Nothingism in the Country'

Ah, taste the bitter fruit of impending defeat, courtesy of the man living off his second wife's first husband's trust fund. And what better time to bust out this photo than Halloween. It might be six years old, but it never gets old. A great way to rally the troops five days out of the impending tsunami--by insulting your own constituents.

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry unleashed a broadside Thursday against Republican "obstructionism," saying the GOP and its talk-show allies have created a "period of know-nothingism" in the country.

With his party braced for defeats in the midterm elections, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee told the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce that a Republican machine -- fueled by talk show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck -- has undermined progress and misled the public into believing Democrats created the country's current economic problems.

Kerry singled out attacks on an energy deal he was negotiating with Republicans, which fell apart amid criticism of an emissions-trading program. Some 20 Senate candidates are now opposing the proposed deal in their campaigns.

"It's absurd. We've lost our minds," said a clearly exasperated Kerry. "We're in a period of know-nothingism in the country, where truth and science and facts don't weigh in. It's all short-order, lowest common denominator, cheap-seat politics."

To underscore his claim, he said statistics show Republicans had blocked Senate business with filibuster tactics more during the past 18 months than the period between the end of World War I and the Apollo moon landing in 1969.

"The obstructionism is stunning," Kerry said, noting the country still lacks an assistant treasury secretary. "I think America really needs to know more of this kind of tactic and how it's shortchanging us."

Limbaugh and Beck did not immediately respond to e-mails sent to the public addresses on their websites. The Republican National Committee also did not immediately respond to an e-mail or phone message left at its national media office.

I trust Limbaugh and Beck will respond in kind to their massive national audiences.

Party Chairwoman Jennifer Nassour added in a statement: "Instead of listening to the concerns of voters upset about the reckless spending that has pushed our national debt to an all-time high; the failed stimulus that has not created jobs and the unpopular government takeover of our health care system that hurts our seniors, Senator Kerry chooses to insult the intelligence of Americans who believe that our country is headed down the wrong path."

During his 45-minute speech, Kerry urged business leaders to support thoughtful candidates. And he urged voters to reject the ones who ignore facts.

Methinks Lerch ought to take a nice long cruise on his $7 million yacht (check that--his wife's $7 million yacht) post-election. Let's just hope he's paid his state taxes on it by now.

Considering Barney Frank is now possibly facing an enormous loss Tuesday, energizing the voters Massachusetts in such a fashion is more than welcome. Thanks, Lerch.

H/T Spitfire Murphy.

Pelosi's Favorability Hits New Low

Memo to the Democrats: Make sure she does plenty of campaigning the next couple of weeks.

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's favorable rating is down seven percentage points since May to 29%, a new low for her since assuming the top congressional post.

Pelosi's ratings were 2-to-1 positive, 44% to 22%, when she first assumed the speakership in January 2007, but they became closely divided by March of that year and remained so in November 2008. Views became more negative than positive for the first time in the first half of 2009, possibly because of Pelosi's public stance against the CIA's use of "enhanced interrogation" of terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay prison, and her dispute with the CIA over whether she had been briefed on the matter. Spanning the period these issues were in the news, her favorable rating fell from 42% to 32%. Pelosi's favorable rating recovered slightly in the first half of 2010 to 36%, but it has since tumbled to the new low.

Nice try by Gallup to rationalize it, but it's her supreme arrogance, smugness and condescension toward the America people that explains why she's in the gutter. There isn't a voter alive today that is voting against the Democrats because of her stance on Club Gitmo. Here's a clue to help them figure it out. There was an event six months ago that enraged the public.

Pelosi's image has gone from bad to worse in recent months, with independents, in particular, growing more critical of her. Her resulting 2-to-1 negative to positive image presents a challenge for congressional Democrats as they try to convince voters to send them back to Washington for another term. While President Obama may be of some benefit on the campaign trail in terms of firing up the Democratic base to turn out, Pelosi's subdued favorability among Democrats and highly negative image among independents suggest she is a far riskier person for Democratic candidates to be associated with -- something Republicans who are using her in ads against their opponents have already concluded.

'But the Reason We're Going to Keep the Majority Will Be Because of Their Crazies'

I love the smell of desperation in the morning. Whenever the Democrats start offering advice to the GOP you know their in full panic mode. If some GOP contenders in the Senate are so crazy, why not step back and let them implode?

Sarah Palin's revenge may be sweet - for Democrats.

With a Palin-backed insurgent on the brink of toppling Alaskan Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Democrats on Wednesday pointed to her home-state triumph as proof the Tea Party is brewing up trouble for the GOP.

Murkowski, whose father lost the governorship to Palin in 2006, trailed lawyer Joe Miller by about 2,000 votes on Wednesday after outspending him by about 10 to one, with some 8,000 absentee ballots to be counted.

And many were pointing to Palin's endorsement of the little-known attorney over a scion of a political family Palin has feuded with for years - and who was named to the Senate by her dad over Palin.

"I think Palin had a big impact," said veteran GOP consultant Ed Rollins. "There's still a little of that bad blood there." But Rollins said the big problem was Murkowski underestimated her opponent and the Tea Party.

"Basically, she didn't run a very good campaign," he said.

It leaves the GOP establishment with a little-known nominee it did not support. But Democrats still face a tough time winning, since their pick, Mayor Scott McAdams of tiny Sitka, Alaska, has little cash and isn't much better known.

So the "GOP establishment" in Alaska is in trouble. Um, hate to break it to you folks, but the "GOP establishment" in Alaska is Sarah Palin, and now Joe Miller and the Republicans who voted for him.

It's incredible the lengths the media will go to to deride Palin and when her candidates win it's supposed to be bad news? Do they think people are as stupid as they are?

But at least it gives them a chance, just like in six other states including Kentucky and Nevada where Tea Party darlings have knocked established party leaders by running far to the right.

"I'm not naive - some of these guys are going to win," said one Democrat. "But the reason we're going to keep the majority will be because of their crazies."

Republicans think "crazy" is ignoring Tea Party energy. In fact, 3.5 million more Republicans have voted in primaries this year than Democrats - a flip from 2006 when Dems swept to power.

Gee, that's a lot of crazy people out there.

Back in Alaska, meanwhile, the desperate Democrats already are calling Miller a dangerous enemy.

Oooh. He's so scary!

Assorted links and roundup on Alaska here.

Memo to Patrick Kennedy: You're Next

This punk has the nerve to trash Scott Brown as a "joke" after taking his father's seat in Massachusetts. Well, he better keep his head up because his own seat in Rhode Island may well be in jeopardy.

John J. Loughlin II, a three-term state representative from Tiverton, has formally launched his Republican bid to unseat the only remaining member of the storied Kennedy clan in national elective office.

Though he has been raising money for months, Loughlin, 50, officially entered the race against U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, an eight-term Democrat representing the First District, with an announcement Thursday morning outside the office park where his Lincoln grade school used to be.

Touting himself as a “new voice for Rhode Island,” Loughlin denounced Kennedy as “a guy who is out of touch,” who is vulnerable to the same “sentiments” of voter-dissatisfaction that carried Republican Scott Brown to victory in Massachusetts last month, in a contest for the U.S. Senate seat that Kennedy’s father — the late Ted Kennedy — held for nearly five decades.

“People are tired of government not being responsive, of government not listening,” Loughlin, who describes himself as both a fiscal and social conservative, told a small, but enthusiastic group of supporters. On abortion, for example, Loughlin said he is “pro-life.” A retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, he said, he sees no reason to repeal the military’s “don’t ask-don’t tell” policy for gay servicemen because “service in the military is about defending our country … it is not necessarily about open sexuality of any kind.”

He leveled this broadside at the Democrats controlling Congress: “In Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s world, there is no problem that can’t be solved by more government. But Washington today is not the solution, it’s part of the problem ... Our national debt is an unthinkable $12 trillion. ... and the president’s new budget forecasts trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see.”

“And what,” he asks, “has all [this] spending gotten the people of Rhode Island? Nothing. Not one job.”

If Patches doesn't realize he's vulnerable, he may want to sober up and have a look at these numbers.

Talking at length about his 26-year military career, Loughlin, who now runs Media-Rite, a television, radio and film production company, said: “We must treat our adversary for what they are — not as ordinary criminals, but as enemies in wartime. That means military justice,” he said, “not civilian court trials where they are granted the right to remain silent and the right through the legal process to obtain sensitive information.”

His announcement coincided with the release of a Channel 12 poll that found 59 percent of those surveyed said they would vote to replace Kennedy (28 percent) or at least consider another candidate (31 percent). Only 35 percent said they’d vote to reelect him.

Thank to Ed Morrissey for the link.

'This Is Their Hajj'

It's bad enough we have to endure the rantings of some anti-capitalist thugs in Copenhagen, but now you're picking up the tab to fly planeloads of more anti-capitalist thugs to Copenhagen.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is leading a large delegation on at least two Air Force jets to Copenhagen for the climate summit -- where participants harshly condemn the use of jet airplanes for the high amounts of CO2 they emit.

"This may be the largest congressional delegation I have ever heard of," said a source at the 89th Air Wing stationed at Andrews Air Force Base of the trip to the UN summit, which is increasingly being criticized as a farce.

Using her authority as speaker, Pelosi reserved at least two jets based at Andrews AFB to fly her and her delegation to Denmark for the final days of the two-week conference.

But Republicans on Capitol Hill and the 89th Air Wing source said Pelosi actually reserved five planes to carry a delegation that includes as many as 24 Democrats and six Republicans.

At a time when Democrats are grappling with a host of major issues from health-care reform to the financial crisis, Pelosi planned yesterday to clip short the workweek to make the climate summit.

"Climate change is a religion for them, so there was no way they were going to miss this," said one top GOP aide. "This is their Hajj."

A Democratic source insisted that the delegation would be using just two planes but would not specify further.

While the final manifest remained in flux late yesterday, it was said to include more than two dozen members of Congress, several spouses and committee staffers.

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Harlem) was among those planning to go because of his duties as chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, a staffer told The Post.

"We all know that Charlie Rangel is a big fan of subsidizing his vacation with taxpayer money, but the truly offensive aspect of this is Nancy Pelosi's decision to bring the corrupt Harlem Democrat along for the ride," said Republican spokesman Ken Spain.

The 89th Air Wing's biggest planes are the military versions of the Boeing 757 and the Boeing 737.

The 757 carries 45 passengers and costs more than $10,000 per hour to fly, according to Air Force figures.

The roundtrip cost to Copenhagen and back for the C-32A would cost taxpayers $160,000.

The 737 carries 26 passengers and costs about $7,500 per hour of flight time, bringing the costs of a Copenhagen jaunt to $120,000.

Exactly what is the purpose of these people showing up there other than to go shopping and eat lavishly?

All this while their approval ratings continue to crater, more people than ever are skeptical of this mythical climate change, and for good reason, spending is out of control and Democrats face massive losses in 2010. The sheer arrogance of these people is absolutely breathtaking. Talk about rubbing it in our faces.

Instapundit links. Thanks!

Update: Here are the Republicans attending this fiasco.

So now we hear from Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner, who sends word via a press release that in Copenhagen, "I look forward to seeing these negotiations progress and will pay close attention to make sure any deal struck is a good deal for the United States." Sensenbrenner, who led a congressional delegation to the last big global warming summit back in 1997, adds that, "We should not repeat the mistakes made in Kyoto."

Sensenbrenner's office says he will "closely follow" several issues at the Copenhagen conference, including "the developing world's demands for wealth transfers, the levels of commitment from developing countries [and] the feasibility of greenhouse gas reduction targets." With him are Republican Reps. Joe Barton, Fred Upton, Shelley Moore Capito, John Sullivan, and Marsha Blackburn. Fourteen Democrats are on the trip, including the Speaker.

Thanks also to Hot Air for the link.

Elevating the Debate: Pelosi and Hoyer Call Protests Un-American

I'm not sure who wrote this USA Today op-ed piece for Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, but by the end of the day expect them to clarify "their" statements, because this one is going to blow up in their faces. Just breathtaking arrogance and smug sanctimony wrapped in lies and deceit.

However, it is now evident that an ugly campaign is underway not merely to misrepresent the health insurance reform legislation, but to disrupt public meetings and prevent members of Congress and constituents from conducting a civil dialogue. These tactics have included hanging in effigy one Democratic member of Congress in Maryland and protesters holding a sign displaying a tombstone with the name of another congressman in Texas, where protesters also shouted "Just say no!" drowning out those who wanted to hold a substantive discussion.

These disruptions are occurring because opponents are afraid not just of differing views — but of the facts themselves. Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American. Drowning out the facts is how we failed at this task for decades.
...
This month, despite the disruptions, members of Congress will listen to their constituents back home and explain reform legislation. We are confident that our principles of affordable, quality health care will stand up to any and all critics.

Now — with Americans strongly supporting health insurance reform, with Congress reaching consensus on a plan, and with a president who ran and won on this specific promise of change — America is closer than ever to this century-deferred goal.

First of all, Americans are not in support of ramming this legislation down our throats and in fact a mere 25% agree with Pelosi's view that insurance companies are to blame for high costs. Pelosi and Hoyer may also want to clue themselves in to the fact their approval rating stands at a rock-bottom 14%, and this snide condescension sure won't help.

Furthermore, who is it that's waging an ugly campaign? It sure isn't the right.

Recall several weeks ago when Team Obama got their panties ina knot after Senator Jim DeMint called healthcare Obama's Waterloo.

Well today Pelosi and Hoyer will be "celebrating" their own Waterloo, and it's not going to be pretty.

Calling honest debate un-American is about as low as it gets. Democrats piss and moan when their patriotism is questioned, so they better be prepared for massive blowback for calling citizens un-American.

This will not stand.

Used to be dissent was the highest form of patriotism. Apparently not in Nancy Pelosi's America.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls the "Tea Party" protesters Nazis, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman --forgetting the events above -- claims that left-leaning groups never engaged in disruptive tactics against Social Security reform, and various other administration-supporting pundits are trying to spin the whole thing as a deadly move toward "mob rule" and – somewhat contradictorily -- as a phony "astroturf" movement.

Remember: When lefties do it, it's called "community organizing." When conservatives and libertarians do it, it's "astroturf."

But some people are noticing the truth. As Mickey Kaus notes, "If an 'astroturfing' campaign gets real people to show up at events stating their real views, isn't it ... community organizing?" Why yes, yes it is.

Jim Hoft, on the front lines in St. Louis, weighs in and a well-earned Fisking is at Founding Bloggers.

Stange, but just the other day Pelosi claimed she'd be carefully listening to the people. What happened, Nancy?

I guess these two out-of-touch Democrats have forgotten what one of their own had to say about the right to debate and disagree.

Freefall: Obama Now Below 50% Approval

Chalk this up to hubris, arrogance, snide condescension and the desire to force Americans into a health care scam few want any part of.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 30% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-eight percent (38%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -8.

Just 25% believe that the economic stimulus package has helped the economy.

The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve. It is updated daily at 9:30 a.m. Eastern. Updates also available on Twitter.

Overall, 49% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. Today marks the first time his overall approval rating has ever fallen below 50% among Likely Voters nationwide. Fifty-one percent (51%) disapprove.

Eighty-three percent (83%) of Democrats continue to approve of the President’s performance while 80% of Republicans disapprove. Among those not affiliated with either major party, 37% offer a positive assessment. The President earns approval from 51% of women and 47% of men.

The result of this will probably be another media poll sampling 97% Democrats and 3% Republicans in order to boost up Bambi.

Meanwhile, Obama's thugs seem intent of ramming his health care sham through as soon as possible.

The Bitch Is Back

She never left, actually. The past few weeks of Hillary-nice has been nothing more than the usual Clinton smoke and mirrors.

Oops, there goes Hillary’s Latino vote?
Another bit of Clinton campaign madness, courtesy of Newsday’s Glenn Thrush (who, coincidentally, had a bit part in the Mandy Grunwald debate debacle the other day). The Mariachi Divas, an all-female pan-Hispanic music ensemble, appeared before a Hillary rally at Cal State Los Angeles. But when their performance was over, they were kicked out with the words: “Thank you! You were awesome!...There's no room. You can listen outside. Thank you!" Read the full account here.

Now I can’t think of any other campaign where this kind of thing would happen. Just as I can’t think of any other campaign in which a senior adviser would spend more time refusing to talk to a British journalist than it would to answer his question (in front of a gaggle of American reporters who would, presumably, have benefited from the sublime wisdom of her answer in any case). So why is the Clinton campaign like this?

Each campaign has its own personality – usually (though not always) a reflection of the candidate. Mitt Romney’s is highly efficient and buttoned-down – everything is like a business transaction. John McCain’s is anarchic and seat-of the-pants. Rudy Giuliani’s was tough and no-nonsense (though the candidate was friendly and chatty once you got to him).

Barack Obama’s campaign is super friendly and relaxed. In Iowa, Obama volunteers were given the instruction: "While canvassing for the campaign, you are acting as a representative of Senator Obama. It's absolutely imperative that at all times we remain respectful, polite and overly nice to the people we encounter."

This ethos feels like a version of the “practice random acts of kindness” philosophy – it leaves you feeling good, makes the world a better place and who knows when it will have some practical value.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign, however, is – with the occasional exception - arrogant, uptight and myopic. And this seems to flow right from the top.

Kicking the Mariachi Divas out into the cold was unkind and just plain stupid. Each one of those girls will have gone home upset and feeling anything but positive about Hillary Clinton.

Replicate that kind of attitude a hundred or a thousand times and you begin to alienate a lot of voters.

Toby Harnden

Via The Telegraph

Heh. This wouldn't have happened if BJ Bill had been there. No way in Hell.

Not with all of that strange runnnin' around lookin' for a good time.


UPDATE: NoisyRoom.net links. Thanks!

NY Times to Shamnesty Critics: You're All Racist Know-Nothings

They don't come right out and say it in such graphic terms, but you don't have to sift too far through this cliche-ridden dreck to get the messsage.

The immigration compromise collapsed on the floor of the Senate Thursday night. Many of its hard-line foes are celebrating, but their glee is vindictive and hollow. They have blocked one avenue to an immigration overhaul while offering nothing better, thwarting bipartisanship to satisfy their reflexive loathing for amnesty, which they define as anything that helps illegal immigrants get right with the law.

Actually, it's a bit of a shock to see them call this what it is: amnesty; for that matter, how did the word illegal slip through their sophisticated layers of editors?

The tragedy is that the compromise bill was written to bring these restrictionists along, with punitive, detestable provisions that many supporters of comprehensive reform agreed to endorse for the sake of a “grand bargain.” The bill was badly flawed but fixable, as long as there was the possibility of leadership and courage in Congress.

What was so punitive? The thought that someone here illegally would have to cough up $5000? Please.

The bill was badly flawed, they say. That alone is enough to kill any legislation. Or would they prefer badly flawed legislation with a little lipstick on it be allowed to pass?

The anti-immigrant hard-core — no amnesty today, no amnesty tomorrow, no amnesty ever — must not be allowed to hold the nation hostage. Like nativists of generations past, they think the country is being Latinized, and they fear it. The country is changing, but the way it always has, absorbing newcomers, shaping and being shaped by them, inexorably turning them, their children and grandchildren into Americans. Globalization has accelerated and complicated that upheaval, and decades of federal dithering have made things messy and chaotic.

OK, for the last time, we are no anti-immigrant, you idiots. We're anti-illegal aliens. Get it? We're not holding anyone hostage. We are trying to preserve the greatness of America.

Though you ivory tower elitists somehow fail to realize it, there are many groups in this country who are not becoming Americans. Or have you not heard of a radical group named La Raza? Take a look at their home page and see how many times you find the word America.

Impeach Pelosi

Since she's declared herself acting President and Secretary of State, perhaps the case could be made for impeaching Nancy Pelosi.

Now that the pre-eminent constitutional scholar and sometime speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has determined that she is by fiat the commander in chief of our armed forces and secretary of state as well, it is time to consider the consequences of her actions by the same rules. If she commits "high crimes and misdemeanors" within those parameters indicated by the Constitution, would she be liable for removal from office by impeachment?

As luck would have it, the impeachment process begins in her own House, and since she has proclaimed herself virtually the entire executive branch of government, it follows that she might no longer have the constitutional protection of members of Congress who can be removed from office only by a vote of their colleagues in their own legislative body.

On the other hand, if the House would vote a bill of impeachment of Mrs. Pelosi, would that, by reason of the aforementioned rule, automatically remove Mrs. Pelosi from office, thus making the impeachment moot? Oh, these fiats make everything so complicated.

So filled with herself by her elevation to high legislative office as a result of the elections of November last, she embarked on a state visit to the Middle East contrary to the policy of the president of the United States, and appeared to be negotiating with nations hostile (read as "enemies") to our country against the interests, and without any authority, of her own country.

Read the rest.

Meanwhile, it seems the message has gotten through the thick skulls of the unpatriotic Democrat party that meeting with leaders of terrorist states but refusing to meet with the Commander-in-Chief of the country you live in isn't selling too well with the public. So the morons have decided to meet with President Bush after all. Of course, they'll be dictating to the man elected by the people.

"We will be at the White House on Wednesday to talk with the president," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in a joint statement released last night.

"We will listen to his position, but in return we will insist that he listen to concerns of the American people that his policies in Iraq have failed and we need to change course," they said.

When these clowns are booted from office, they can look back on their smug hubris as a main reason why the people have rejected them.

UPDATE: I think I'm going to be ill. From LGF: Dems Invite Muslim Brotherhood to Speak to Congress.