Will The Attack On Syria Destroy Pelosi's Legacy, The Same Way The Attack On Iraq Destroyed Gephardt's?

When I lived in San Francisco, Nancy Pelosi was my congressmember. A case could be made that she was Congress' best member. I was proud to have voted for her. That was a long, long time ago and Pelosi needs to retire before she further ruins her incredible legacy. Pelosi blasted onto the national stage in a big way in October, 2002, when she led the Democratic revolt against House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt and his connivance with Bush and the congressional Republicans to rush the U.S. into an unwarranted attack on Iraq. The Democrats split. 126 Democrats (plus Independent Bernie Sanders and 6 lone Republicans led by Ron Paul) sided with Pelosi. 81 Democrats sided with Bush and Gephardt. That pretty much killed Gephardt's dream of ever being Speaker (or president) and pretty much ended his career. Almost all the Blue Dogs and other Democratic conservative whores who sides with him that day went down to eventual defeat-- but not all. Congress is rid of worthless scum like Rod Blagojevich, Al Wynn, Harold Ford, Shelley Berkley, Jane Harman, Gene Taylor, Tim Holden and Anthony Weiner, who all backed Bush's war effort, but till lurking in the corridors of power and exercizing influence on behalf of the weapons manufacturers and Israel's Likud Party are warmongers Steny Hoyer, Steve Israel, Joe Crowley, Eliot Engel, Adam Schiff, Ron Kind, and Adam Smith. That was how Pelosi wound up as Minority Leader and then the first woman Speaker of the House. Thursday, Pelosi desgraced herself and her legacy by coming down on the side of illegitimate and pointless war.

Pelosi released a statement after a 90-minute conference call with top administration officials.

“It is clear that the American people are weary of war,” Pelosi said. “However, [Syrian President Bashar al-Assad] gassing his own people is an issue of our national security, regional stability and global security. We must be clear that the United States rejects the use of chemical weapons by Assad or any other regime.”

Pelosi added: “What Assad has done is outside the realm of basic human rights. On this evening’s call, I expressed my appreciation for the measured, targeted and limited approach the President may be considering.”

In November, 2011, Pelosi's daughter Alexandra, let it slip that her mom was pretty much burned out on piltics and wanted to retire. "She would retire right now, if the donors she has didn't want her to stay so badly. They know she wants to leave, though. They think she's destined for [greatness]," said Alexandra. "She has very few days left. She's 71, she wants to have a life, she's done. It's obligation, that's all I'm saying." General freakout ensued and Pelosi's office claimed it wasn't true, even though everyone knew it was. Since then some of the most craven and rotten elements in the Democratic Party-- particularly Steny Hoyer and Debbie Wasserman Schultz-- have been lining up votes to replace Pelosi as top dog when the inevitable happens. Is there a difference between Hoyer and Wasserman Schultz? Who do you root for, the shark or the crocodile?

On Thursday Pelosi finally admitted she's not interested in being Speaker again. Anyone paying attention could have surmised that when she appointed and then, despite a record of sordid, willful incompetence and failure, she reappointed Steve Israel to head the DCCC. There is no way-- mathametically speaking-- that the Democrats will ever take back the House with Steve Israel as DCCC chair. He isn't interested in winning, only in restocking the House Democratic caucus with reactionary corporate whores like himself-- Blue Dogs and New Dems who only care about bribes and leave the policy for the Establishment to set. Israel guarantees so many free reelection passes to vulnerable Republican cronies from his Center Aisle Caucus days-- that it is literally impossible for the Democrats to take back the House. So Pelosi doesn't have to worry about being Speaker again.

NJ: For a journalist covering Congress, it's starting to feel pretty repetitive. Does it feel that way on your end?

PELOSI: Oh, it's Groundhog Day Central. There's no question about that. It's not productive. It's a waste of the taxpayers' dollar. It's a waste of our time. And it's time that's not working [for] the American people. [The Republicans'] agenda is nothing, and their timetable is never. But having said that, hopefully there are some among them that realize we have a responsibility to govern.

NJ: Do you think it's a case of 20 or so Republicans dominating the conversation from the right?

PELOSI: I think it's more than 20. Here's what I have to say to my Republican friends out there: Take back your party. This isn't the Grand Old Party that used to have such great leadership. The name "Republican" in some ways has been hijacked by obstructionists. They are nowhere on the spectrum of trying to get the job done, and they claim the name without bringing to it the greatness, the leadership of the past.

NJ: Do you feel that a disjointed Republican Party gives you some leverage when it comes to their needing votes?

PELOSI: I only have leverage if the other side is willing to govern. If they are willing to govern, we can find compromise. Not if they are just going to hold their ideological position and say, "We can be irresponsible because the Democrats are going to be responsible."

NJ: It's become something of a pastime in D.C. for people to feel bad for Speaker John Boehner for having an unwieldy caucus. Do you feel for him?

PELOSI: I don't comment on their caucus, their leadership, or the rest of it. He's the speaker of the House. I respect the job. The position that he holds is a very exalted one. I wish his members would respect his position as much as I do. But if the purpose of your call is for me to get in sniping at the Republicans on how they do their business, I will talk about how it affects the American people.

NJ: Do you want to be speaker again?

PELOSI: No, that's not my thing. I did that.

Her office later demanded a correction but National Journal has her clearly on tape saying those exact, unambiguous and deliberate words.

Don't start celebrating Nancy's retirement yet