Trouble in Nancy-land

Something to watch:

Nancy Pelosi came out swinging this morning, claiming that the CIA is "misleading" congress and the public. That's her prissy way of calling the CIA a liar.

The CIA says that in Sept., 2002, a month after a couple terrorists had been waterboarded, Nancy Pelosi, who was then minority leader in the House, was told that the prisoners had been waterboarded and even explained the process.

Nancy Pelosi says the CIA told her and others that it was considering waterboarding, but hadn't actually done it yet. She said, "They didn't tell us anything they were doing. And the fact is, it didn't matter." This last refers to her sense that congress had nothing to say about what the CIA was doing. Her protest wouldn't have made any difference, she claims.

Porter Goss, former head of CIA under George W. Bush (appointed after this incident, however) and serving as a congressman from Florida, says that he attended the CIA briefing with Pelosi. He says Pelosi's main concern at the time was whether or not the CIA "was doing enough" to get information from the terrorists. Seems it was perfectly clear to him at the time that the CIA was informing the group that they were waterboarding some terrorists. Goss had no confusion about this message.

Interesting that another congressional rep -- can't think of her name off the top of my head -- actually did write a letter to George W., protesting the waterboarding, and Pelosi refused to sign onto it.

I guess whether or not waterboarding is a useful and practical thing depends upon how close you are to 9/11, for Pelosi, anyway. One pundit remarked that if Pelosi admitted to anything that suggests she was less than red-faced outraged over waterboarding, that would send all of her San Francisco Kool-Aid liberals into conniption fits, and they might not want to vote for her again.

Gee, what a shame. Though I can't in my wildest dreams imagine who they'd send in her place. The prospect is even a little frightening.

And CIA quickly struck back at Pelosi. Not sure what-all they did beyond making a statement, but apparently they are trying to substantiate their own claims. But they also have refused Dick Cheney's request to release the memos that noted what the waterboarding had accomplished. Supposedly the memos contain information that is either still classified or at least extremely sensitive. Of course, that's an easy claim for the CIA to make. Heaven only knows what they have in their files.

My money's on the CIA in this one. That is, I've been convinced for some time that Pelosi's a liar about a wide range of things. She's power-mad and will stop at nothing, including selling the USA into slavery, if it means she can hold weekly press conferences and fly around in an Air Force jet. Some people are so easy to please. They don't have any principles; they're just greedy for attention and don't care how many bodies they have to step over to get it.

And it's quite evident that Pelosi's a super-hypocrite, too. Actually, looking at photos of her with her half-shut eyes, and considering her labored way of speaking and usual klutziness, I always kinda suspected she was a drug addict. At least on Xanax or something. She can lie all she likes so long as it doesn't cost me any time or money, but what really rubs me the wrong way -- in Pelosi and quite a few others in Washington -- is the hypocrisy.

I hope the Democrats start getting antsy and send some low-level gopher to suggest to Pelosi over a nice glass of Mendocino and maybe some cheese and water crackers, that she resign -- at least as Speaker. She doesn't deserve the job. She's a rabid partisan and blind to anything like the Public Good. Her way or the highway, the republic be damned.

Funny how Pelosi was one of the people who initiated this whole flap, muckraking, hoping to dig up dirt on the Bush administration and tie up congress for the next few years slinging mud.

How does it feel to be on the receiving end, butthead? Get used to it. The honeymoon is over.