Tag: Nancy Pelosi

Matthew Yglesias was on MSNBC yesterday to discuss his article at the Daily Beast, GOP's Torture Tricks Backfire.

The video is from Crooks and Liar's Video Cafe site -- I really like what they've done with that page.

Arianna at Huffington Post interviewed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday.

Speaker Pelosi made three promises in the interview:

• that the House will not take up a war appropriations bill this year
• that there will be no war appropriations bill next year that doesn't include a fixed date for bringing the troops home
• that House Democrats will put up a major fight over the Bush administration's desire to make permanent the FISA law passed in August, particularly over the issue of retroactive immunity that the Senate has already given in on.

Huffpo has videos up of the interview.

[editor's note, by andgarden] Crossposted from Daily Kos

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Today Reuters brings us a standard issue article about the working relationship between the Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. There are interesting tidbits here and there about their mutual frustration with one another. The issues, such as Pelosi's failed attempt to install John Murtha as House Majority Leader and Reid's "the war is lost" musing, have been well covered elsewhere.

At the end, however, there is an important acknowledgment of the single most important factor keeping the approval ratings of Congress low: Iraq.

A poll by the Pew Research Center has since heartened the Democrats, finding that half those questioned remain happy the party took over.

The survey found Americans less than thrilled with Pelosi or Reid, however. Only 35 percent approved of Pelosi's job performance, while 37 percent disapproved. Just 21 percent approved of Reid while 33 percent disapproved.

"The biggest thing is the public's frustration with Iraq," said pollster Andrew Kohut. "People expected them to achieve things, they expected them to achieve a way out of Iraq."

more

It's official. Alcee Hastings is out of the running for Chair of the House Intelligence Committee. Nancy Pelosi doesn't want him.

Reportedly, despite the support of the "Blue Dog Democrats," Jane Harman is out as well.

That leaves, according to McClatchy news reporters:

Reps. Silvestre Reyes of Texas, Sanford Bishop Jr. of Georgia and Norm Dicks of Washington state. Reyes has the edge, Pelosi allies indicated. He was a 26-year agent and supervisor with the U.S. Border Patrol before his 1996 election to Congress, and currently is a senior member of the Intelligence panel.

Who are the "Blue Dog Democrats?" A group of 44 centrist Democrats in the House.