Smile, Though Your Head Is Aching By Dana Milbank

[Demeter]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/09/AR2007100902006.html

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was in a determinedly good mood when she sat down to lunch with reporters yesterday. She entered the room beaming and, over the course of an hour, smiled no fewer than 31 times and got off at least 23 laughs.

But her spirits soured instantly when somebody asked about the anger of the Democratic "base" over her failure to end the war in Iraq.

"Look," she said, the chicken breast on her plate untouched. "I had, for five months, people sitting outside my home, going into my garden in San Francisco, angering neighbors, hanging their clothes from trees, building all kinds of things -- Buddhas? I don't know what they were -- couches, sofas, chairs, permanent living facilities on my front sidewalk."

Unsmilingly, she continued: "If they were poor and they were sleeping on my sidewalk, they would be arrested for loitering, but because they have 'Impeach Bush' across their chest, it's the First Amendment."

[Me.]

1. 'They Are Advocates, We Are Leaders'

Really. I notice she didn't speak to quality of leadership or where they aren't leading us.

[UpInArms]

5. "They are advocates," she said. "We are leaders."

No, No, Nancy.

"They are constituents," she meant. "We are their representatives."

but but but

SOS

We the People are told to sit down and shut up.

:shakesheadsadly:

[grasswire]

2. MY sidewalk?

I thought sidewalks belonged to the city.

[ixion]

3. yes, folks, this is the voice of our so-called "opposition"

from her statement, she seems to have more in common with the kids over at BushCo than she does with the native San Franciscans who elected her.

[Demeter]

4. Just Goes to Prove, You Never Know a Person Until a Crisis Hits

Nancy, we hardly knew ya!

[yurbud]

6. two telling quotes at the end: "striven to work with Bush on Iraq" and "advocates FROM THE OUTSIDE"

And she laughed while discussing how she has "striven" to work with Bush on Iraq. "Is that a word? 'Striven'? " she asked.

It seemed that only the antiwar advocates had the power to wipe the smile off Pelosi's face. Speaking about ethics legislation, she boasted that "we have drained the swamp" in Congress and pleased government watchdog groups. "At last," she added, "some advocates from the outside who are satisfied."

So she strives to work with Bush, but considers progressive activists "outsiders."

[Oak2004]

7. Methinks she thinks she is Representative Pelosi (D- Beltway)

and not a representative of the People of the United States and of a district that lies nearly as far from the Beltway as one can get and still be in the lower 48.