Pelosi Says ONLY BUSH Can End The War

[kpete]

Leading The News

Pelosi says Bush has to end the war
By Mike Soraghan
October 07, 2007

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Sunday that Congress cannot end the war in Iraq without President Bush’s approval.

Voters, she told Fox News Sunday, “want it to end and they had expectations that Congress could end it.”

But, she added, “You know we can’t without a presidential signature.”

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/pelosi-says-bush-has-to-end-the-war-2007-10-07.html

But Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson challenged Pelosi’s assertion just a little later Sunday.

............................

Madam Speaker that is BULL! No More Excuses-Please Lead Us Out Of This Mess NOW.


Bill Richardson has called Nancy Pelosi and Democratic candidates on their positions on the Iraq war.

He told ABC News’s "This Week" that Congress could "de-authorize" the war without Bush’s signature, using a resolution already introduced by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.).

"I believe a national movement could be built to support that," Richardson said. "The president cannot veto that because it would be under Article I of the Constitution. That is the decisive step that the American people want. There is a disconnect between the voters and what’s happening in the Congress."

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/pelosi-says-bush-has-to-end-the-war-2007-10-07.html

Maybe She Needs A Reminder

Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the United States Constitution, sometimes referred to as the War Powers Clause, vests in the Congress the exclusive power to declare war, in the following wording:

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water...

[ixion]

1. stop the Bull, grow a spine, and end this illegal occupation, Madame Speaker

sooner, rather than later. :grr:

[Beartracks]

118. Here's a t-shirt to that effect...

http://www.cafepress.com/tulsatees/3167102

:patriot:

[StudentLoanSlave]

2. Gutless, spineless, yellow jellyfish

Where have America's leaders gone?

[Whisp]

3. damned fricken Liar is what she is!

looks like the dem donkey has a wide stance, pissing on america as well (swamp rat's version).

100 days are way up! What HAVE YOU DONE, NANCY, HARRY, AND THE LOT? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE THAT YOU PROMISED? DIDN'T YOU ONCE SAY YOU WOULD HAVE THIS ADMINISTATION ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS - DIDN'T YOU PROMISE THAT TO GET ELECTED. WHY ARE YOU LIEING? WHY DO YOU DISRESPECT US SO?

[youngharry]

50. pelosi

Pelosi is full of shit. She is as much a liar as George W. Bush. She says she can't do anything about stopping Iraq. THAT IS LYING PROPAGANDA THE WAY BUSH FEEDS IT TO AMERICA. SHE HAS THE POWER, BUT NOT THE COURAGE TO STOP THE WAR. SHE NEEDS TO BE RECALLED OR TO RESIGN.

She has betrayed her oath of office and has violated the trust of all those that gave the Democrats the majority to stopped the war and to stop all the crimes against the Constitution that Bush and Company commits on a daily basis.

Pelosi, no one believes you. You are a liar, Bush is a liar, Cheney is a liar, Condi, Rumsfeld, Rove, Libby, Gonzales, Petreaus, Pace are all liars as thousand die and America has awakened to your lies.

You will be held accountable in 2008.

[Maraya1969]

89. Welcome to DU youngharry. I share you sentiments about ms. nancy.

[stillrockin]

98. Ditto on all counts.

:patriot:

[radiclib]

106. Welcome!

youngharry, and don't be shy about sharing you're opinion! :P

[librechik]

4. She's in the Club now. Of course she will bow to the Emp-er--President.

She can't say otherwise, since they have repeatedly handed over the warmaking power to the executive over the years, until the true Constitutional idea of Congress having sole warmaking power is meaningless. Sh'es on board for that. Period.

[Karenina]

37. You forgot an "L" in your subject line.

[natrat]

73. wonder what it took to join her up? a nice fat bribe,maybe some blackmail, a threat?

[movonne]

5. I believe there are a group of the dem leadership that are with

the bush doctirne...and I have loss faith that we can get rid of them...I see so many here that stick up for them without question...

[defendandprotect]

104. Hoyer seems to be even worse than Pelosi!!! Who picked these people--????

[Moochy]

120. Hoyer and Rahm make up part of her inner circle

They decide collectively how to lead the party, Honestly I don't think that its Pelosi's call. I think she was chosen as a liberal figurehead.

[porphyrian]

6. Are we to believe she's that stupid or that she's a liar?

What the fuck is going on?

[roguevalley]

35. she's a spineless, dimwitted, unspeakable criminal. that's what

she is. Fuck the country's wishes. Mommy knows better. Now its her war and the blood spilled belongs to her, the fucking witch.

[porphyrian]

39. Heh, so you two are close? - n/t

[roguevalley]

115. .

I have a relative in Iraq.

[porphyrian]

123. I'm sorry to hear that. - n/t

[roguevalley]

124. I am too, honey. Hannah is a good girl, as are all the boys and

girls among the Iraqis and our soldiers. God help us all.

[porphyrian]

128. Amen. - n/t

[stillrockin]

99. Liar and crony.

[old guy]

7. As I recall,

It came down to Pelosi or Murtha for speaker. Murtha was judged to be to hard line and Pelosi would be better at compromise. At the time I said maybe in the long run it was the correct decision. I was wrong and I'm sorry.

[FREEWILL56]

102. She compromised alright.

She gave in to bush and compromised all she was sent there to do. I guess that's the new way of thinking bipartisan is to negotiate and cave to the whims of the criminals that occupy our government which further encrusts them in it with protections. She has become part of the problem and not the solution. So nancy, you are either with the people or against them.

[upi402]

8. vote against funding it and against destroying the bill of rights and constitution

for a start

[Quantess]

9. Reminds me of a mother saying to her kid

"Ask your father". :eyes:

[Blashyrkh]

32. Nice post. Perfect analogy.

[Writer]

10. I'm sorry, it's not what we want to hear, but she's correct.

Bush has ignored the war powers act and has placed virtually all authority for this in his hands. He has this nasty, petulant habit of vetoing Dem sponsored bills. We need a Dem in the Oval Office to get this done.

[Cha]

14. Nancy needs to remind bushit of

this then.."Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the United States Constitution, sometimes referred to as the War Powers Clause, vests in the Congress the exclusive power to declare war, in the following wording:

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water..."

And Quit her repetitive CAPITULATION.

[Zhade]

44. False. Just stop bringing funding bills to the floor.

She can do that - and WON'T.

[radiclib]

109. Thanks.

How many times do we have to say it? :banghead:

[bjobotts]

47. That's bullshit and a total cop out.. She and Reid can prevent funding.

She can also bring articles of Impeachment and have a two way assault on this renegade president. For her to say that one man can hold the nation hostage and continue a war that the nation wants stopped is bullshit, from a cowards mouth, who won't even try to use the tools at her disposal to stop this President.
The majority want him impeached...Pelosi says no.
The majority wants her to cut the funding by not letting a funding bill come up for a vote...Pelosi says no.
She won't even try. She claims ending the war is the most important issue yet she has given up, refusing to even try to do the things necessary to stop this war-occupation.
She is the one keeping the war going...she is the one standing in the way of stopping it...she is the one who will be complacent in the mass murder of thousands of Iranians should Bush attack Iran when she could have gotten him removed from office.
Pelosi is content with playing the victim always telling us what she can't do instead of showing us what she can do. It's not fucking rocket science. Stop the funding bill from coming to the floor(republicans do it all the time). Impeach Bush and Cheney.
I hate listening to these cowards who keep saying.."she's right, there's nothing we can do". Bulllllshit. There's plenty we can do...Pelosi just refuses to even try. I suspect she wants the war to continue as much as Bush and has all along. Sen. Feinstein's husband is making a fortune as a defense contractor, How big a payoff is it for the rest of these centrist Dems like Rham Emmanuelle, and Pelosi, and Nelson, and the rest.
Block any and all funding bills...not another single dime. Start impeaching the bastards,...stand up for the nation and your party...and the constitution you swore to protect before Bush has Blackwater put you in a home. Do it while it's still possible to do it, because your statement is tantamount to announcing a cou by saying only the president can stop this war.

[bjobotts]

48. Did they threaten to Kill her family, torture them if she gets in the way??

Maybe all of this has just been a distraction for the American public while the cou gets settled in. Seems very familiar like we've been through this movie before. Hitler had his congress pass all kinds of laws before he ever got brutal. Just saying...it's about the only thing that explains Pelosi not even being willing to at least try to use the tools at her disposal to end this war-occupation. Instead she's content to let it go on till we get another president...No mention of the cost in human life this will result in.

[radiclib]

112. You sound like a supporter of...(gasp)...

...CINDY SHEEHAN! :applause: :yourock:

[toadzilla]

49. Bull shit.

[Canuckistanian]

56. Placed all authority in his hands? Really?

I didn't know she had the power to change the Constitution single-handedly.

As far as I know, the Constitution has always granted control of wars to Congress FIRST, the president SECOND.

[Warren Stupidity]

65. Bush has done as all past presidents have done

since the war powers act was passed: refuse to acknowledge its legitimacy but comply enough to avoid a confrontation.

The war can be stopped by refusing to fund it.

[Duncan]

86. Horse Crap!

[lumberjack_jeff]

90. Bullshit. It takes two to tango.

The president can't declare himself dictator without the acquiescence of a wimpy goddamn impotent congress.

[truedelphi]

96. Can we amend this 2 read "we need a Dem WHO DOES NOT WANT ETERNAL PRESENCE IN IRAQ"

To take over the White House - at least one of the candidates will keep us there perpetually.

[stillrockin]

100. Bullcrap.

They can cut off funding but refuse to do so.

[MrMickeysMom]

11. Okay, 'leaders"- time to get in your own car and drive out of the beltway...

...You and your lap dog staff obviously hear what they want to hear when we call Nancy at:

202-225-4965

24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

and Harry, while sending out your "give em Hell Harry" mass e-mails, you obviously turn off the answering machine when we call

202- 224- 3121 or even
202-224-3542

You appear to rather run away like knights of the round table in a Monty Python Holy Grail scene... "Run AWAAAAAAY!" :hide:

So, get out and visit the hustings in person before you misinterpret the US Constitution. Check your paultry approval poles before and after, then form a fucking committee so you can figure it out before too long. We're talking to you...

:applause: ... "fuck the spine, grow a fucking brainsteam!"
:applause: ... "fuck the spine, grow a fucking brainsteam!"
:applause: ... "fuck the spine, grow a fucking brainsteam!"
:applause: ... "fuck the spine, grow a fucking brainsteam!"
:applause: ... "fuck the spine, grow a fucking brainsteam!"
:applause: ... "fuck the spine, grow a fucking brainsteam!"
:applause: ... "fuck the spine, grow a fucking brainsteam!"
:applause: ... "fuck the spine, grow a fucking brainsteam!"


:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

[LaStrega]

57. You appear to rather run away like knights of the round table in a Monty Python Holy Grail scene...

'xactly

And I fart in her general direction.

[MrMickeysMom]

62. Yes, Lord!

Her mother was a hamster.... and her father smelled of elderberries!

(p.s. nice photos on your link!)

[LaStrega]

131. You must bring me ... a SHRUBBERY!

thanks! I'm a shit photographer so your comment has made me happy as a little girl.

[Duncan]

87. typo

I think you meant to type brainstem.

I agree with your post.

[Cha]

12. Oooops! Nancy's broadcasting her

..brainwashing has been completed. Was nancy so busy with the accolades of being first woman speaker of house that she forgot to study the rules that she should have already known?

I hate that I have to think this..a year down the line.

[bluesmail]

17. Remember

she's more than likely had her family threatened. (as has other powerful D's)

[Cha]

20. Oh yeah, that's not off the table but

if it is that then we damn well better find out about it in some point in time. If it's not that then Nancy needs to borrow some courage from the cowardly Lion.

If I had my family being threatened by bushits and I were in Nancy's position I would get them the hell outta here and take a stand of strength for my country..Nathan Hale wouldn't be too proud of Nancy.

[ellie]

78. If her family has been threatened

then she needs to publicly declare so. All the Dems that were threatened to come forward and shine light on this den of cockroaches. Anything else is capitulation.

[FREEWILL56]

108. Remember the

anthrax and who were the targets? The real terrorists are in our government already and must be stopped threats or not.

[tuvor]

13. Perhaps a stupid question, but war against Iraq...

...was never actually declared, was it?

[Cha]

16. NOT "stupid"...

bushits don't need no stinkin' congressional declaration of war..this congress with relatively few exceptions is the ol' bobbers and weavers and the freakin' rubber stampers, anyway..so why bother?

[FREEWILL56]

119. You are right Zidzi.

They don't need a declaration of war because it isn't really a war. It is a Vietnam like scenario that the pResident has sent military troops in for his police actions. Vietnam caused many safeguards to be implemented so that a pResident can't throw our troops around like that thus bypassing congress from having to approve of a war. Well, the chickenshits in congress got more scared than the rest of us did on 9-11, enough so that they looked to bush to save them. Imagine that coward saving them, hah, :hide: That was the que for bush and the rest of those cronies to do a coup and get everything they want and more. Those fascists couldn't give a flying shit about Osama and now we have renagade fascists in control of our government trying to conquer for more wealth. Look at what they allowed them bastards and bitches to take from us because our congress is made up of stupid cowards so fearful (congress was the real purpose of the fear card) that they continue to give up their own power to him and cheney for protection. I hold hope against the odds for our country, but it doesn't look good as it appears some even of our own party may be of the same calibre or are bought and paid for.

BTW Good deal on ridding yourself of the grid as I wish I could afford more than just 128w of pv.

[yoyossarian]

15. She says it's up to BUSH???

Does she mean THIS Bush?



T-shirts, mugs, buttons n' cards at
http://cafepress.com/laughcity

[judaspriestess]

18. all these people care about is THEMSELVES

and keeping their political careers alive. I hope Cindy Sheehan does run against her and gives her the boot.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

19. Do not try and end the war. That's impossible. Instead...

... only try to realize the truth. There is no war.

[yoyossarian]

21. Do not try to bend the president to your will...

...but instead, realize the simple truth:
There is no president.



T-shirts, mugs, buttons n' cards at
http://cafepress.com/laughcity

[file83]

22. Then you'll see, that it is not the war that ends...

...it is only yourself.

Not sure where we were going with that, but hey, the Matrix rules!

[HysteryDiagnosis]

30. Where we are going is nowhere and worse as long as we let

the emperor keep our kids where they have already finished doing what they were sent to do.

[liberalsoldier5]

23. Read: Only THE PRESIDENT Can End the War

Meaning: "We'll allow the war to keep going so you're still angry enough to vote for a Democratic president in 2008.....c'mon, there's no electoral promise in ending the war before the election...we need voters like you to vote with your anger over the war in 2008 so we can have a Democratic president who will, uh, do their best to end the war, uh, as soon as they see fit!"

It's all about politics. All of it. Those who don't believe it and think that anybody in Congress is actually a courageous, storybook-type leader of principle is kidding themselves. The Dems are keeping the war going the same reason the GOP is- victory in the 2008 presidential election.

[Carolina]

77. victory in 2008 is not guaranteed

when victory in 2006 yielded NADA!

Sure people are angry. With the White House AND the Democratic Congress.
Many are so repulsed, they no longer give a rat's ass.
Because nothing seems to matter, to make a difference.

Way to go, Nancy.

[MarkP]

111. BINGO!

My thoughts exactly!

[Richard Steele]

24. Sorry, Madame Speaker, but that's a steaming pile. A big one. nm

[Individualist]

33. Speaking of steaming piles,

as long as she has a D after her name, some would continue making excuses for her even if she took a dump in the middle of their dining room tables. Cult behavior is repugnant!

[AlinPA]

25. Pelosi on Faux "News"? They just can't see that it a is a republican propaganda

station - they just keep helping Faux to support their phony "fair and balanced" crap.

[TheWraith]

26. De-authorize the war? Never going to happen.

Wouldn't get the 60 votes needed to bypass a Republican filibuster. Might not even make it to 51 votes for passage.

And that's even assuming that Bush would listen to such a resolution if it were passed.

[Zhade]

45. Irrelevant - just stop bringing funding bills to the floor.

WHY do they keep making it to the floor, when the Dems can block them?

[FREEWILL56]

122. Because of them being scared.

See my post #119.

[earth mom]

27. Is there any doubt now that the Constitution has been ripped to shreds & the criminals are in charge

Stick a fork in the U.S.! Bye Bye Constitution & U.S. of A and Hello North American Union!

:grr: :puke: :grr: :puke: :grr: :puke: :grr: :puke: :grr: :puke: :grr: :puke: :grr: :puke: :grr: :puke: :grr: :puke:
:grr: :puke: :grr: :puke: :grr: :puke: :grr: :puke: :grr: :puke: :grr: :puke: :grr: :puke: :grr: :puke: :grr: :puke:

[opihimoimoi]

28. The OWNERSHIP of the WAR is w Bush...He is caught between Irack and Common Sense

[Carolina]

81. NO, enablers are equally

guilty. It started with those pesky enabling IWR votes, continues with war funding, wasting time on a MoveOn.org ad and now threatening Iran...

If all Dems had spoken out against taking military action against:
- a sovereign nation that had nothing to do with 9/11
- a nation weakened by 12 years of sanctions that could not possibly be an imminent threat
- a nation once armed and supported by the very criminals seeking war in 2003

If all Dems had voted against giving * willy-nilly authority via IWR
If all Dems had voted against funding this disaster
If all Dems had shown political courage and called the media and the misadministration on the lies

THEN the ownership would be Bush's.

But all those who went along to get along are culpable. THEY HAVE BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS, TOO

[Gonzo Gardener]

114. HEAR, HEAR!!!

I agree and all here should listen to your reasoned conclusions (facts).

[halobeam]

130. don't you mean, Iwreck?

'cuz he's so gooooood at it.

[partylessinOhio]

29. Madame squeaker is a snookered weak woman. Never, never should

she have been made speaker. We needed a strong man - we needed Murtha. He could have phoned in his time at the speaker's podium just as Nancy does. But he would have been strong at the microphone and behind the scenes.

Squeaker is giving too much power to Bush. I am a woman and I am ashamed that this person is making my gender look bad.

Perhaps she should take up Whoopi's do offer.

White knuckle Nancy:

In this photograph provided by FOX News Sunday,
Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is
interviewed during a taping of the show Friday, Oct. 5, 2007
in her office on Capitol Hill in Washington.

[Carolina]

82. Or has the Botox gone to her brain!

[leftchick]

31. nancy is not interested in "doing her job"

as well as the majority of democrats taking up space in congress. We need a feww hundred like dennis.

:(

[demodonkey]

34. While she is at it she needs to repair the mess with the voting machines. Hoyer has it all tied up.

Whether you like HR 811 or not, if Hoyer and the misinformation campaign from the vendor-funded groups like National Association of Counties (Microsoft is a member!) are allowed to derail this bill and tie up this issue for the rest of the 110th Congress, we will have an virtually IMPOSSIBLE chance of ever getting rid of these machines.

THIS IS SERIOUS, and Pelosi (who says she wants the bill and supports the issue) is allowing Hoyer to trample all over her in favor of these vendor-funded special interests.

[Baby Snooks]

121. Who do they represent?

Who do Pelosi and Hoyer represent? The Republicans?

[LostInAnomie]

36. Just don't put a funding bill up for a vote.

That is well within her power, and would bring the war to a quick conclusion. * can't pass a funding bill on his own. If he doesn't start bringing them back when the money dries up then they can impeach him.

[Zhade]

46. Notice how people avoid this fact?

NT!

[Dangerman]

38. I always knew...

That Pelosi is a backstabbing COWARD!

[postulater]

40. She has been worse than a disappointment and

has wasted precious lives for her political games.

Her excuses betray her commitment to the status quo.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

41. Insulting bullshit. eom

[Disturbed]

42. The Busholini Regime will surprise everyone.

A few months before the Election they will draw down around 100,000 Combat Troops out of Iraq. They will leave around 60,000 on their "Enduring Bases", the Green Zone & the Embassy. 120,000 contractors will remain in Iraq. Iraq will be called a success, just as Afghanistan was. The Dems will not have Iraq as an issue for the Election, as they are counting on now.

[Carolina]

84. touche

which is why I say that this stalling game of waiting to claim the WH before taking action is BS. Victory ain't guaranteed!

Dems have a bad habit of snatching defeat from the arms of victory while repukes just snatch!

[Zhade]

43. I really, REALLY hate being LIED TO.

Pelosi - don't bring funding bills to the floor.

It's in your power, you fucking coward.

[stillrockin]

101. Amen!

[Divine Discontent]

51. I remember when dissenting and criticizing Speaker Pelosi about a year ago

got me bombarded with comments that I was being anything but a Democrat, so to speak. She's failing horribly imvho. I'm quite let down by her capitulation to der fuhrer (as she treats him with this damning comment that only he can end the war).

[orleans]

52. you know, i really can't stand pelosi. she is an absolute asshole. n/t

[Hippo_Tron]

53. When you take cutting funds off the table yes it is

And I'm not even suggesting that they should just go ahead and cut off the funds. But the fact is that she's not even making an attempt to outmaneuver President Chucklenuts.

Bush has his weapons and Congress has theirs. Pelosi is taking all of Congress' off the table before the duel even starts, though.

[frog92969]

54. Arrest her too!

She's just a partner in BushCo.

And just as responsible for the genocide in Iraq.

[TheUniverse]

55. I think Mike Gravel thinks differently....

[Name removed]

58. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cboy4]

59. Oh Nancy. And to think I had chills of pride the day

you were sworn in.

I'll never forget that happy day.

I had so much confidence in you.

And now, all you seemingly do is wave the white flag.

[Name removed]

60. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Disturbed]

61. Pelosi is attempting to shift the blame for not ending the US

Occupation of Iraq. Millions will buy that lame excuse. The Dems have many reasons to keep the US Occupation in place. I will leave to smart DUers to figure those reasons out.

[bdamomma]

63. Pelosi always prays for *, he needs more than prayers Nancy!!

how about impeaching his sorry ass.

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Speaker_Pelosi_prays_for_President_Bush_1007.html

[Warren Stupidity]

64. They think we are all very stupid.

Pelosi and the rest of the Kleptocracy and War Party treat us with the arrogance of the ruling class. We are stupid peasants who need to be told comfort lies while the elites carry on with their wise programs and policies. It is all very Straussian. Every last one of them is a war criminal.

[bdamomma]

66. true and each day that passes more innocent Iraqis are getting killed

and our troops are spilling blood for these criminals in office.

[flordehinojos]

67. passin the buck, madam speaker, that is what you are doing ...

the bushes taught you well.

[TennCarl]

68. Call her on it . . . everyday.

Call her on it. Send her emails. Write letters. Every single day. How hard would it be to send her an email everyday. It would take 5 minutes maybe. Isn't this important enough to take 5 minutes a day and send a letter or email or phone or fax? Then get everyone you know to do it. How long can she hold out against a daily onslaught of voices? More importantly, if you live in her district let her know she doesn't have your support unless she takes action. Dry up the campaign coffers. Stop sending in money.

[f the letter]

69. i really can't stand her complicity in this war

Was she always this in bed with it before she was speaker? i didn't know that she was until she started, uh, well, doing _absolutely nothing_, nothing whatsodamnever as speaker of the house

recommended

[aquart]

70. That's ridiculous.

Did Congress ever even declare war on Iraq?

[man4allcats]

71. Apparently Nancy feels that ending the war is

off the table.

[BlueJac]

72. Nancy and Harry just plain suck as leaders.............

I really think the Dems have joined the fold of corporatists. K Street owns the Dems now, we are all toast now. Vote the bums out. They can't lead but they sure know how to lie!

[natrat]

74. somehow i'm sure they have made voting them out an unlikely outcome

[Hydra]

75. This is completely irresponsible

Pelosi and her advisers are make Bush own the war so that we have a Dem in the WH in 2008. There are two problems with that:

1. The Troops are still dying and the money is still flowing to Haliburton

2. Very few people are buying it. read what Wolf Blitzer had to say about this strategy:

BLITZER: So, are you telling your angry base out there in the Democratic Party that wants to see this war over with, wants to see the U.S. troops home, that you, as speaker, there's nothing you can do, you have to just throw your hands up and say...

PELOSI: No. I didn't say that at all.

BLITZER: ... given the legislative problems in the Senate and the president's stubborn refusal to back down, that there's nothing that you can do?

PELOSI: How could you have ever gotten that impression?

BLITZER: All right, well, tell us... PELOSI: What I have said, for those who pay attention, is that we will hold this administration accountable time and time again for the conduct of this war in Iraq. I have to discuss how we went in on a false premise. That's well-known to the American people. What we do have to do is to show them every step of the way how the president is taking us farther down a path in which it is going to be harder to redeploy out of Iraq, and so whether it is...

BLITZER: But holding the president accountable, I just want you to explain, what does that mean? Besides just complaining and holding hearings? Specifically, is there anything else you can do?

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0709/30/le.01.html

Mind you, Wolf makes me gag on most occasions, but on this one, he nailed it.

[L. Coyote]

76. Hooray for Richardson. Pelosi should IMPEACH Bush and Cheney if she believes herself!

Then, Madam President, you could end the war yourself! #@***#@@#@@##@#*^%$@#@%^&&

[Bluebear]

79. So she is abdicating the check and balance of the legislative branch?

[jimnasium]

80. Really?

I thought our Congress had the power to defund Iraq...

However, one question I always had was why didn't the repuke congress back in 2001 actually declare war.

[Orsino]

83. Is this what we have to settle for from our Fighting Dems?

The Dems may not be able to end a war, but we're supposed to believe that they won't start another, or allow it to be started?

Ms. Pelosi makes me despair. She has just told us to "get over" the war, and that if a Republican takes the White House in '09, she still won't lift a finger to bring the troops home.

[rateyes]

85. Do we need any more evidence that electing her as Speaker

was a mistake? What an asanined thing to say. Congress CAN end this war. They just don't want to do it. Period. She, from the beginning, thought that she could keep this war going, and hang it around the neck of the Republicans. She is now getting called out on her own power to end this war, and her tactic is to, again, try to hang her unwillingness to end it around Bush's neck.

It's politics, plain and simple...and, innocent children, men, women, Iraqis, sodiers, marines, are dying and being maimed for political games being played between Pelosi and Bush. It makes me sick to my stomach that I even thought she had the guts to stand up to Bush.

[lumberjack_jeff]

88. "I did what I could, I whined really loudly, but decider guy says no, so what can we do?"

Thanks Madame speaker for reinforcing the stereotypes of the wimpy progressive.

[Eurobabe]

91. What the heck happened with Madame Speaker?

I swear somebody got to her.

I think back to how happy and confident she was in January, and now she looks like a totally different person. I have all kinds of theories in my head, but I will keep the tin-foil-ish ones to myself.

:wtf:

[ConservativeDemocrat]

92. Congress is not the Commander in Chief

If you don't understand that, you are either utterly ignorant, or a complete kook.

Congress is not the Commander in Chief.

- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community

[Hydra]

95. Which reality would that be?

The law based reality?

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20060109_bergen.html

According to Kelley, these congressional limits on the presidency, in turn, led "some very creative people" in the White House and the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) to fight back, in an attempt to foil or blunt these limits. In their view, these laws were legislative attempts to strip the president of his rightful powers. Prominent among those in the movement to preserve presidential power and champion the unitary executive doctrine were the founding members of the Federalist Society, nearly all of whom worked in the Nixon, Ford, and Reagan White Houses.

The unitary executive doctrine arises out of a theory called "departmentalism," or "coordinate construction." According to legal scholars Christopher Yoo, Steven Calabresi, and Anthony Colangelo, the coordinate construction approach "holds that all three branches of the federal government have the power and duty to interpret the Constitution." According to this theory, the president may (and indeed, must) interpret laws, equally as much as the courts.

<snip>

However, Bush's recent actions make it clear that he interprets the coordinate construction approach extremely aggressively. In his view, and the view of his Administration, that doctrine gives him license to overrule and bypass Congress or the courts, based on his own interpretations of the Constitution -- even where that violates long-established laws and treaties, counters recent legislation that he has himself signed, or (as shown by recent developments in the Padilla case) involves offering a federal court contradictory justifications for a detention.

<snip>

As Findlaw columnist Edward Lazarus recently showed, the President does not have unlimited executive authority, not even as Commander-in-Chief of the military. Our government was purposely created with power split between three branches, not concentrated in one.

Or the might makes right crowd?

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/magazine/17BUSH.html

The aide said that guys like me were ''in what we call the reality-based community,'' which he defined as people who ''believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.'' I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ''That's not the way the world really works anymore,'' he continued. ''We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.''

[stillrockin]

103. No, but she DOES hold the purse strings.

P.S.
The whole "you are either utterly ignorant, or a complete kook" argument is so not working anymore. People are waking up.

[endarkenment]

113. CIC does not order around funds, only troops.

If you don't understand that, you are either utterly ignorant, or a complete kook.

The President does not authorize funding.

[Nickster]

127. I think you might want to know a little more about the Constitution and what being the CiC means

before you start throwing around names.

[Emillereid]

93. Every democrat I KNOW here in California is disgusted with Pelosi et al.

The democratic leadership has so let us down after we worked hard to get them elected and pinned such hopes on them. We are not very likely to get worked up again for the Presidential election next year in the belief that that election is pivotal and if we don't get the democrats into office our country is lost, etc., etc.

IT IS LOST ALREADY! The elections are simply about which crime family you want running the mafia.

[defendandprotect]

105. Well, maybe they'll be thinking Cindy Sheehan? Meanwhile. . ..

you can't give up --
Our planet is on the verge of collapse from capitalism's exploitations --

No one said we're going to be able to do this from behind our desks --

Did they???

[Emillereid]

117. No we won't give up - but I think it's finally getting through our thick

skulls that it's too often a waste of our time and resources to pin our hopes on the democratic party (excepting to truly progressive folks). I understood this better in the 60s, but in the last few years I guess I've gotten lazy and hoped electoral politics would make a difference. The whole goddamn edifice has to come down so that we can re-build society in harmony with the earth. I am hopeful that indigenous people in the so-called third world might lead the way home.

[understandinglife]

94. "Madam Speaker that is BULL! No More Excuses-Please Lead Us Out Of This Mess NOW."

That is the ONLY ACCEPTABLE PERFORMANCE BY CONGRESS, MS Pelosi ....

[OzarkDem]

97. Stop letting Hoyer & Emmanuel run Congress

That's how you'll end the war, madame Speaker.

Take charge and do your job.

[Horse with no Name]

107. She really should tell it like it REALLY is

SHE doesn't have the full support of her own party--Emmanuel is herding the blue dogs to capitulation on this. THEY are her obstacle, not Bush.

[AzDar]

110. This is one of those seminal moments in U.S. History where

extraordinarily bold and courageous Congressional leaders are absolutely CRUCIAL.
Lead or step aside, Nancy AND Harry!

[bdamomma]

116. what is going with her???

how can she make this kind of statement, doesn't check and balances mean anything anymore Nancy, you just give to power to this disgusting man.

But, she added, “You know we can’t without a presidential signature.”


what total BS. "we can't" Nancy, tell those soldiers who are getting killed that, you gutless woman.

[Jacobin]

125. Showing her true colors as an enabler of the neocons

[Mme. Defarge]

126. Maybe she thinks

that we can't impeach him/them without his approval. And, maybe it's true?

[mmonk]

129. Now I'm confused. I thought only choosing a democrat for

president in 08 could end the war. Will somebody make up their mind?

[burrowowl]

132. May I cite and repeat

What part of:


Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the United States Constitution, sometimes referred to as the War Powers Clause, vests in the Congress the exclusive power to declare war, in the following wording:

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water...

does she not understand?