Pelosi continued, "What we should be doing, and they're trying to do this more, but we should have been doing it more robust and sooner is to say to Iran "don't even think about having a weapon of mass destruction' and we're galvanizing world, international, global forces diplomatically, economically, culturally, financially, economically to pass sanctions to tighten and tighten and tighten if you proceed down this course."
"The President of Iran has said, "I have friends.' Well, if those friends want to be friends with Iran, then we can't have them be friends of ours because our foreign policy is that we cannot permit proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."
That statementwas hauntingly similar to one made by President George W. Bush in November 2001. "You're either with us or against us," the president announced as we entered the new "war on terror." Despite the harsh criticism the president received over that remark, Pelosi's fans nodded along with her more childish sounding "you can't be friends with me if you're friends with them" declaration.
She then shifted to Iraq and declared, "And, let me just say this war in Iraq has been a horrendous dilemna, a grotesque mistake." Cheers rose from the audience even though the Democratically controlled Congress continues to fund said grotesque mistake.
"They went into that war knowing full well there was no intelligence to support the imminent threat that this administration was contending. I was a senior Democrat on the Intelligence Committee at the time. It's called the "gang of four,' the top Democrats and the top Republicans in the House and in the Senate and we saw all of the intelligence and there was no intelligence to say that there was an imminent threat of weapons of mass destruction from Iraq. It was clear. I voted against the war. I had all the intelligence and I knew the threat wasn't there. So, this administration knew all this faulty intelligence stuff, they knew it wasn't there."
Yet, Rep. Pelosi's House floor statement on October 10, 2002, opposing the resolution authorizing military force against Iraq suggests her main reason for opposing was that unilateral use of force would harm the "War on Terrorism.' There was no concern voiced that Iraq was not an imminent threat or that there was no evidence to support the presence of weapons of mass destruction. In fact, she began her speech with, "I applaud the President's focusing on this issue, and on taking the lead to disarm Saddam Hussein." Also, in her speech she said when referring to Hussein, "Yes, he has chemical weapons, he has biological weapons, and he is trying to get nuclear weapons."
This raises the question if she was briefed as one of the "gang of four" and determined, as she stated Tuesday, that there was no imminent threat of WMDs, that the intelligence was faulty and she knew it and the President knew it, why did shecast a no vote urging her colleagues to follow suit, but on the grounds of other reasons? Did she not know her power?
Finally... the most anticipated question of the evening was clutched in the hand of Tamala Edwards. She began quietly in an almost muted voice, "I would imagine it's those feelings in Iraq that led to this next question. Are you going to allow a motion to impeach President Bush to come to the floor?" Loud cheers exploded in the auditorium and for the first time in the simulcast room.
Then, I'll be damned if she didn't do it again. Tamala Edwards gave Pelosi (and Bush for that matter) an out. Edwards began sputtering something about things coming out before the 2004 elections. The impeachment question was transformed into "And, this all occurs before the election in 2004. Where was the outrage? Why do you think the Democrats lost in 2004?"
Thus began another rambling reply by Nancy Pelosi starting with John Kerry and how even though he was an excellent candidate, he didn't realize how vicious the attacks would become and slowly she turned it into a one-woman strategy session on the upcoming presidential election. She once again invoked "our Founders" taunting those of us who advocate so strongly for the Constitution and she brings them up knowing full well the original question was about impeachment. She talked about optimism and faith and future and the American dream and how that dream needs to be restored. She concluded,
"The search is for truth. The search is for truth to take our country in the direction of our Founders with their magnificent disruption. We have to continue in the tradition of the magnificent disruption and one way for that to happen is for women to know their power."
At that, I grabbed my book and got in line brimming with power fueled by knowledge and outrage. I had a swell time in the long line with comedian/reporter, Gregg Gethard,and I could feel my blood pressure that had been teetering at stroke levels ease up. Gregg toyed with what he might say to the one who sits third in line to the throne. He concluded he would shower Nancy with ridiculously absurd praise and perhaps, in the process, hit on her. I began to wonder which of us would upset her more.
It was almost my turn. Two women in front of me were chatting away with the House Speaker, taking their time, laughing and fawning. There was no indication that a time limit would be applied. They eventually stepped aside and the assistant handed Nancy Pelosi my book to be signed.
She smiled and I leaned in and said in a calm voice, "You were briefed about torture and the wiretapping years before the public found out. Why didn't you use your power to stop it?"
Pelosi was indignant, "We didn't know."
In an instant, I felt a very firm grip being placed on my right arm. I chose to ignore the fact that it was beginning to tighten and that the man in the suit who belonged to the hand was now leaning into me and trying to pull me aside.
