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Adios, Nancy. We Hardly Knew Ye’

Posted by JAZZ SHAW, Assistant Editor in Politics.
May 15th, 2009 | Comments

Just a quick hit on this one, since I’m technically on blogging hiatus for a week or two. I’ve watched the Nancy Pelosi, “The CIA Lied to Me” story unfold for some time now, and one thing has become clear. The Speaker has been caught red-handed in a “pants on fire” situation and no amount of spin in the world is going to change this. Accusing the CIA of lying took what was arguably just a garden variety case of political mendacity and turned it into a national disgrace. It is, in my humble opinion, time for Ms. Pelosi to pack her bags and head back home in disgrace.

During the Bush years, I grew more than tired of listening to certain Right wing voices constantly attacking the CIA and claiming that they were engaged in some sort of surreptitious war against George W. Bush. (Oddly enough, some of those same people are now gloating about the integrity of Langley and how dare Pelosi accuse them of anything!) It’s no less palatable now than it was then. These are dedicated people doing a job which is difficult under the best of circumstances.

In this day and age, it’s hard to imagine a politician ever coming clean and admitting that they’ve been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. But even if Pelosi managed to do that today, the damage has been done. Pack it in, Nancy. You had a great run, but this was definitely a bridge too far.

Production Note: I’m in the middle of a project which has absorbed most of my time for the month of May, but I’ll be back to my regular schedule here when it’s wrapped up. And we might even have a happy announcement for you at that time. In the meanwhile, enjoy all of the great posts from the rest of the stable of writers here at TMV and my best wishes to you all.

  • RevDave
    Interesting that both Bob Graham from Florida and Jay Rockefeller from WV back up Pelosi's account of briefings - something stinks here and we won't know until there is a full inquiry of this entire torture mess - let accountability fall where it may, but let it see the light of day.
  • I honestly wouldn't be surprised if this story went either way. Politicians are practiced liars, and so are the people working at the CIA. Hell, it's the job of the CIA to lie.
  • CStanley
    I sort of agree, Chris, and generally wouldn't put it past CIA to lie at all. However, Pelosi's shifting story and her nervous body language lead me to believe that she's the liar in this case. She reminded me quite a bit of another prominent politician who appeared before the public wagging his finger not too long ago.
  • jchem
    Pelosi has made herself the story here now, overshadowing the real story about rooting all of this out and prosecuting those involved. She didn't look or sound like someone who had the truth on her side at that press conference, as CStanley pointed out. I'm not sure if she can ride this out, but I would expect the CIA to start leaking like a broken faucet.
  • GeorgeSorwell
    I agree with Rev Dave: Pelosi has backup for her side of the story.

    You could say her response--by the time she knew what was going on, Jane Harman had her job on the Intelligence Committee, so she encouraged Harman to write a letter of complaint to the CIA--was pretty limp. I think it was pretty limp, especially after her ringing claim that she knew nothing and wouldn't have stood for anything if she had known. But maybe that letter was as far as they could go, legally. And I think the torture program ended soon after it started--maybe the complaining helped that to happen?

    But the very idea that (so far) Pelosi is as big a liar as the torture gurus is a bunch of bull.

    However, that claim satisfies our Limboids endless desire to call her a liar (about anything and everything), just as it suits the hobgoblin notion of balance our dumb media endorses.

    But as I said up there, so far.

    It wouldn't surprise me to eventually learn that Pelosi did know more and do less. So far, however: NOT.

    I'm willing to be proved wrong, but I still want to see the evidence.

    Investigate.
  • tidbits
    Whatever the facts turn out to be, Pelosi's brand has been damaged to the point where she cannot credibly continue as Speaker. History may prove her right, or not, but that is years away. In the meantime, there is work to be done, and she should resign.
  • Like I said, I wouldn't be surprised if she was lying, but I thought she was pretty convincing in the clips I saw of her on TV yesterday. But again, she's a practiced liar, like all politicians, so it doesn't really mean much.

    As for her political future, I don't know how she gets taken down for being briefed on torture techniques that the 3/4s of Washington thinks are fine an dandy.
  • tidbits
    ChrisWWW - She doesn't get taken down for "being briefed on torture techniques", she goes down because of the perception that she is not being forthcoming...the (attempted) cover-up is worse than the crime? Did you see the clip of her flipping through her prepared statement to come up with an answer to a question instead of just answering it?

    BTW, Pelosi has other ethical issues like using government programs to sweeten her husband's business interests. These have been pretty much glossed over so far, but may now become issues of more focus. She also has a long running, and very personal, spat with Congresswoman Harmon. This all promises to get uglier and uglier the longer it continues.
  • Silhouette
    I agree...I think we should scatter the focus by zeroing in on Pelosi and the other Congresspeople who knew but were too scared or overwhelmed by misinformation to do anything effective about it. I imagine if they really had a mind to at the time, it would've been no problem at all ot overrule the Cheneyco administration and stop their momentum.

    Right?

    Let's scatter our focus and hopefully the kingpins of this gang effort to invade Iraq will escape in the cloud of dust we stir up..
  • You got me laughing, Jazz. We have sitting legislators convicted of crimes and embroiled in all kinds of serious investigations. There's not even a serious allegation of ANY criminal act by Pelosi. You're dreaming to think this will derail her career.

    My prediction? The GOP will wish Cheney and Limbaugh had just STFU. They're egging on the Dems to investigate. They are the true fools here.
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