I looked straight ahead at Pelosi and said, "You knew. You were informed."
Then my left arm was seized by another guy and Pelosi countered, "No, I was not."
I dug my feet in and continued, "You were briefed as a member of the gang of four about torture in 2002 and as the gang of eight about wiretapping."
Pelosi was pushing my book across the table and attempting to turn her attention to Gregg when she replied, "We stopped it." I was incensed. "What? Uh, no you didn't."
Two more goons stepped in, one in front of me and one behind and they pulled me off to the side. I pointed out that other people were having long chats and asking all sorts of questions of the Speaker. "Not these kind of questions. We're not taking these kinds of questions. You're done," was the response.
At that point, Pelosi probably wasn't listening any longer, but fixated on the word power, I managed to squeeze in "Why don't you use the power the Constitution granted you to stop a president who abuses his powers?!"
They began to escort me out, but I had had enough and didn't need their escort anymore and began to leave on my own volition. I glanced over at the long line of people and I realized the incessant chatter had ended all at once like a group of startled crickets. Not one person would make eye contact with me. As I turned the corner under the watchful eye of the security detail, the chatter returned as if nothing had happened.
Outside on the sidewalk, I breathed in the night air - choked a little on the pollution - and began the walk to my car. Then I remembered my new friend, Gregg. Why wasn't he outside yet I wondered. I pictured him jacked up against the library wall by security, his boyish face pressed into the plaster rendering him unable to speak. All because he decided to hit on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Then the front doors flew open and there was a triumphant Gregg with a mischievous grin (no signs of trauma) and a skip in his step. We walked together to our cars as he delighted me with his story of his newfound love for Nancy Pelosi. Read Gregg's (way shorter) report on Pelosi's response to him here . For the record, if you think Gregg's behavior was sexist, I'm pretty sure he would have done the same with Dick Cheney.
Know your power.
