Pelosi calls anti-war protesting "a waste of time". (Edited for accuracy)

"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."

Though opposed to the war herself, Pelosi has for months been a target of an antiwar movement that believes she hasn't done enough. Cindy Sheehan has announced a symbolic challenge to Pelosi in California's 8th Congressional District. And the speaker is seething.

"We have to make responsible decisions in the Congress that are not driven by the dissatisfaction of anybody who wants the war to end tomorrow," Pelosi told the gathering at the Sofitel, arranged by the Christian Science Monitor. Though crediting activists for their "passion," Pelosi called it "a waste of time" for them to target Democrats. "They are advocates," she said. "We are leaders."

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

God, you go to lunch and all hell breaks loose. I guess she also didn't imply that the Code Pink protesters in front of her house should be arrested?

You don't get a free pass because you have a (D) attached.

Opposition is opposition, not giving the worst president in history carte blanche to do whatever the hell he wants, lest you want to be called "soft on terrorism".

Protest is a human and Constitutional RIGHT.

when hundreds of thousands of antiwar Democrats should call GOP and war contractor General Electric at 203 373 2211 and tell the person in public relations that we will not buy any GE products until Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO of GE can convince Bush to end the war and then resign with Cheney.

You have to hit the friends of the GOP in their wallet.

Everything else appears a waste in my view.

GE would listen to that less than Congress would listen to us. The money machine wouldn't stop flowing because of phone calls. Such an action would represent an insignificant belch in GE's overall revenue.

Protesting is NEVER a waste of time no matter HOW one does it.

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and welcome to the Underground, you'll fit in with some of us rather nicely.

:hi:

All things being equal, anti-war protesters think that Pelosi is a waste of time.

Which I'm not seeing.

The majority of the public wants to see it ended and our leadership should be HAMMERING on that fact, trying to drag the republicans over to a reasoned response to majority opinion - NOT castigating anti-war protesters who embarass them for their lack of action.

:banghead:

No Republican votes required.

"Why don't they target Repos EXCLUSIVELY?"

I can answer what I assume is your actual question, since anyone who ever checked out Code Pink's web site would see the many pictures of actions at Repos offices.

The reason they don't target Repos exclusively is because they are trying to end a war started and supported by both Repos and Dems.

Now I have a question for you;

Why did Hillary, a Dem, target John Kerry, a Dem, with Repo talking points?

Is she a secret Code Pinker?

Thanks for your answer in advance.

Talk about wastes of time...

That said she didn't call anti-war activists a waste of time but their targetting of Dems a waste of time. I guess their time not hers.

That said if the Dems don't do anything much better that the Repukes then target them all I say.

best. post. ever.

Nancy, I don't consider myself one of those so called fringe groups, but these comments disturb me greatly. Again, we won the majority mostly because of the dissatisfaction of the Iraq War. And here you are, burning your bridges. Not smart, in my opinion.

perfect for emails, ltte's, letters .

mind if i crib?


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


you know, we can take heart in the fact that the protests aren't going un-noticed.
a pointless waste of time? eh. maybe not so much.

better take another look at those polls, Nancy. Those include D's as well, you know.

You are not perceived as a "leader" - that is what those polls are showing.

but unless the Dems do more to end the war and right this ship of state, we're ALL (GOP and Dems) in for a rough ride the next 18 months.

I think 'protests' is.

And, to be frank, I've been to nearly all the anti-war protests in DC and I've decided they're a waste of time too. A different strategy is needed.

because people like Pelosi don't think that they have to listen to the American people. Listen to her for gods sake, she thinks it would be fine to arrest a homeless person who may happen to blemish her beautiful neighborhood. That comment alone is pretty outrageous. The fact that she doesn't feel obligated to listen to any of us is even more disgusting.

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someone in the position of Speaker that would do the bidding of the people. Once again, these leaders have somehow forgotten what the November 2006 election results were all about.

as in -- they are having the intended effect. she needs to *get serious* about something other than polls and political strategy.

she's not "leading." she's being a politician. she's way off base calling herself a "leader" in contrast to the people who are actually LEADING the antiwar movement. shame on her.

and they were sleeping on my sidewalk, they would be arrested for loitering."

Is she saying police SHOULD arrest homeless people for loitering? Or just in her neighborhood? Where does she expect them to go?

The unspoken message is that she wishes they were just poor people so she could get them arrested.

there's also a subtle message about protesters being "no better" than the homeless -- like she's intimating an aimlessness -- like antiwar protesters have nothing better to do than "go camping."

To say that I'm disappointed in Nancy would be an understatement. I held such hope for her; now she just pisses me off.

I am in total shock that she would come out and say such things.

Nothing seems to work with her and I am so disappointed.

She's not even a decent American, let alone Democrat.

Fire her worthless, betraying ass!

She comes across as a rich elitist snob. That is not the person I want representing our party. x(

I guess we know her position on the problem of the homeless. "Out of sight, out of mind." Like the vast majority of Americans that she DOESN'T represent. We are all "out of sight, out of mind" where she is concerned.

My favorite part...."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."
If you didnt know it was speaker Pelosi saying this you'd think it was
Limpballs or O'lielly.

Sorry about that first amendment thing Madam speaker.

She's saying that all we have to do to stop the harrassment of the homeless by the police is distribute T-shirts to them emprinted with political slogans!

I'm impressed!

She called anti-war protestING a waste of time. Quite a big difference.

Of course, that won't matter to the anti-Dems who seem to be taking over around here.

were elected on promises to change the current situation both in Iraq and at home... So far they have done not much of either.

both Pelosi and Reid have become Bush's little enablers...

She called anti-war protestING AGAINST DEMOCRATS a waste of time.

Not sure I agree but I agree with you that the OP is being dishonest, seems to be a trend around here lately on both sides of the liberal isle.

said made her sound like a rich, elitist snob.

Frankly, arresting anyone because they don't have a home OR because they're protesting sounds like a Republican solution rather than a Democratic one.

Sorry these folks mucked up the PUBLIC street on which she lives.

Geesch.

i said they reminded me of monkeys.

If the Democratic Party supported democratic ideals, then you could have it both ways.

If people keep telling the elected Dems that we're with them even as they betray us, then they will make every single decision with republicans in mind.

Thanks for nothing!

That doesn't seem right to me. If the party is going to be a strong one it needs internal criticism to grow. And maybe some new leadership. How can anyone not be disappointed over what we have had in Congress this past year? The whole antiwar movement is getting tossed under the bus and we are supposed to shut up?

of Americans who want this to end!

How ya doing Nancy? Say hullo to Harry for me.

In the meantime, what's going on in Iraq ?

we subjects need to know our place and shut the fuck up. :sarcasm:

Sometimes power goes go a person's head.

an "Unpopular Politician". Hope she has learned something from this!!!

Nancy Pelosi needs to step down since she has chosen to betray the Constitution.

huh? "discouraged Republican candidates" -- ? as if Dems were elected unopposed?

here's the thing, social security wasn't the reason the Dems won in 2006. it was the war. she gladly took bush's low poll numbers ON THE WAR BACK THEN, and now wants to say that he had 80% disapproval because of SOCIAL SECURITY? holy crap.

If I lived in Marin County, I'd campaign for
and vote for Cindy!!!!

And I'll keep protesting my heart out because
it's the right thing to do!

"Those people are used to it"...

"If those people didn't have a sign around their neck, they'd be no better than homless people, and we just don't let those types of people in this neighborhood"

Seriously... who can defend any of these pigs anymore... Rich off insider knowledge and b.s. politics... paid mouth pieces.. no better than pundits on faux noise.

Ok....when does that start?

We're waiting!:patriot:

PELOSI is a waste of time, too.

Do your job, Nancy.

Hint: It isn't what you've been doing so far. You were elected to:

1. END THE WAR.
2. PROVIDE OVERSIGHT.
3. INVESTIGATE THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S MANY QUESTIONABLE ACTIONS.

Just do your job. Or get out of the way and let someone else do it.

These people are bound to uphold the Constitution and they are not doing it.....

She is such a disappointment.

She did NOT call protestors a "waste of time", she said it was a "waste of time" for DEMOCRATS to target DEMOCRATS.

the 3rd party rallying issues!

Fuckin' fascists.

We don't like what you are saying about Nancy Pelosi, so we are going to alert it.

how well your pic fits DK's campaign. Just sayin'.

Yes. Great pic.

"Do not say that you are hitting the alert link to report another member. You are permitted to tell someone that you are adding them to your ignore list, provided that you actually do so."

;)

It's fine to alert on a thread, I've done it myself, many times. Sometimes the threads are deleted, sometimes not.

The problem is posting in the thread to announce that you've alerted.

I've reread and totally accept what you say as true.

Thanks.

and I don't see targeting Democrats who are enabling Bush's policies a waste of time.

Nancy did not even use the phrase "waste of time." In fact, she didn't even use the words "waste" or "time"! When your OP states that "Pelosi calls anti-war protesters a waste of time", when she clearly does not, then the title of your OP is inaccurate.

they are enabling, quisling DINOs who deserve to be targeted as much, if not more than, repukes.

Repukes stick to their guns (literally) no matter what, no matter ethically, morally and even politicaly challenged.

But these bastard, lying Dems were elected to the majority for a mission. Fuck 'em if they can't take the heat for their backpedaling excusitis!

And BTW, I'm sick of the meme that there are not enough votes, that we must wait 'til Dems have the WH. Shit, we had it all after the 1993 elections and lost in 1994 because of internal fractious weakness that let repukes get away with undermining a Dem president and forcing him to the right.

Enough already. Screw Pelosi, Reid and all the DINOs.
Protesting is never a waste of time. PERIOD!

Wake up!

that targeting Democrats is a waste of time (in her opinion, not mine).

It's misleading to state that she called the protesters "a waste of time".

There's a difference there.

therefore we have no place in the political process.

tells you just how dissatisfied we are with what is being done in "Our" party by people that are supposed to be leading us. Make no mistake, I am a true blue Liberal Democrat and this is not at all what I expected from my elected officials from the November 2006 election and I know that the American people feel the same way. Get these rat shits out of the White House ASAP is what I voted for.

The disinformation is truly with our so-called leaders. The OP's slight distortion really amounts to very little because the bottom line: Pelosi is revealing her true self, disdainful of those who would dare come into her neighborhood and protest Dems, the war, whatever ...

For shame that the 'little people' are not those dirty 'thems' (the homeless) whom she could have arrested!
For shame that the 'little people' should exercise their Constitional right of assembly and protest

Screw her, not the poster!

Therefore it is, once again, up to us, we the people, to get you to move off of your ass and do the right thing. You have the power to defund this war, bring it to an end, and bring the troops home, yet you aren't exercising it. Instead you are willing to continue to play politics with the lives of innocent people. Have you no shame?

If you are tired of the protesters outside your front door, then end the war ASAP. Until then, get used to it. Thanks to your inaction, there are thousands in Iraq who don't have a home, or a meal. Think about it.

Ferchrissakes, she has been trying to end the Occupation. Do some homework and learn something about veto-proof legislation. Then do some homework on how long it took to stop the Vietnam War.

Why the protestors are allowed to camp out in a neighborhood without being arrested for loitering is bullshit as well. I lived in SF for a while and some people are just "professional protestors" yearning for attention and offering nothing in return. I've seen them in action blocking traffic, jumping on top of cable cars and smashing windows of storefronts. I guess it beats acting like a hippie making peace signs out of pennies on Haight street. They have every right to protest, but should do it on public property or show up during the day and leave in the evening...

And the OP does the bidding of liars by saying that Pelosi thinks anti-war protestors are "a waste of time". She didn't say that! She said they should perhaps target the people who keep voting for more war and won't join her in legislation to put in a timeline and redeployment schedules.

I like Cindy Sheehan and her original mission and she knows she hasn't a chance in her race against Pelosi. She is being dragged in by the A.N.S.W.E.R. crowd. I hope she figures that out.

in congress were afraid to be blamed for America's defeat.
fortunately, the US was defeated anyway.

which is a much weaker message. there's many ways to support the troops; one way, by bringing them home.

lately i've heard stories about military families wanting US policy to be "stay in Iraq" until we "win" -- and therefore, the "support the troops" meme means "if we bring them home, they'll feel like they were used/abused."

what i don't understand is -- since when do we bankrupt our country (in a land war in Asia) so our troops can have a warm fuzzy feeling about their mission? isn't this where someone says "suck it up, soldier?"

people who wear signs of protest are allowed to loiter the neighbor hood and not be arrested.right?.......then maybe all the homeless people should camp out in front of their "city halls" and be guaranteed no arrest as long as they carry impeach signs........

If you're homeless in many towns, putting an "Impeach Bush" sign is like saying "punch me".

As for SF and the City Hall, there are camps outside the building and just about everywhere you go. I've helped them out when I could in shelters when I was there.

If the SF cops arrested the protesters around Camp Pelosi, it would create even more havoc.

If your last name doesn't end in Inc. or Corp. you're wasting your time and Nancy's.

She shouldn't have to waste her beautiful mind on war protesters.

Pelosi called it "a waste of time" for them to target Democrats

- Notice how this is not the whole sentence, its someones interpretation of what she said that has not been posted.

If she said, "If you are looking for an enemies of the state, measures targeting the protesters are a waste of time" that would be taken out of context

Since she did not say "the protesters are a waste of time" in any context, the assretion that she said that is a lie

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"Pelosi called it "a waste of time" for them to target Democrats. "They are advocates," she said. "We are leaders."

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

In fact, the whole herd should be buying old beaters, for the DURATION, if that's what this 18 month Bataan Death March is until we can vote in a new congress and Prez.

The point of this post really is DO SOMETHING to end this war (and don't go starting more in Iran, either).

You work for us.
You seem to forget that fact.
We voted you in and we can vote you out.

According to the article:
'Pelosi called it "a waste of time" for them to target Democrats.'

Your edited headline:
Pelosi calls anti-war protesting "a waste of time".

Your original headline:
Pelosi calls anti-war protesters "a waste of time".

but this is certainly an education. Facts must not be allowed to get in the way of a two minute hate. Unbelievable.

the Dems have been extremely unsuccessful in changing anything with regards to the Iraq "strategy," much less end the war. Every time a golden opportunity raises its head and the warmongers are put into positions of extreme weakness, the Dems fold up like a cheap tent and the status quo is preserved.

What exactly has changed since the '06 elections? Appears to me that the whole fucked up mess continues to be more maiming and dieing of our troops and Iraqi civilians, a treasury draining free-for-all for contractors, fanning of the flames U.S. hatred and the creation of a nightmarish humanitarian crisis. To top it all off, the Dems have been allowing the saber rattling against Iran to change from a low drum beat to an all out percussive chorus...the real kicker being the RW is using the exact same lying tactics to make their PNAC wet dream come to fruition and nobody seems to be the wiser.

Quite a pile of accomplishments by our "leaders," eh?

so many here are killing the messenger, but buried in Nancy's words, THE MESSAGE, lurks her real sentiment about protesters and protesting. She's just pissed that she's the target now -- and a deserving one, I might add. She just covers her manure and attitude by saying "protesting Democrats ..."

Truth is she is showing her true self, her disdain for all the little people.
Screw her and hail to the protesters one and hail!

I think she is correct. She only has so much power, she cannot pull funding by herself. People camping out in front of her house is not going to change anything.

many of protesters outside want (not all).

People camping out in front of her house is rocking her cozy, elitist world and indirectly (as shown in this interview) exposing her true DINO colors for all the world, notably all of us who worked so hard to put her in the friggiin Speaker's seat last year!

Thanks for nothing, Pelosi.
Good for the protesters.

Smile, Though Your Head Is Aching

By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, October 10, 2007; Page A02

Dowd at times.



........It was a rather fierce response to the party's liberal base, which frightens many a congressional Democrat. But it wasn't out of character for the new speaker. Pelosi's fixed and constant smile makes her appear as if she is cutting an ad for a whitening toothpaste. But when you listen to the words that come from her grinning maw, the smile seems more akin to that of a barracuda..........

to become president

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fCutvXccFlA

......"What do you see as your greatest mistake?" asked one reporter.

Pelosi smiled. "Why don't you tell me?" she proposed. She smiled again, then laughed. " 'Cause I think we're doing just great." She laughed again.

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Even those approval ratings for Congress, in the teens and 20s, didn't evoke regrets. "I don't like the numbers for Congress," she admitted, but "I'm very pleased with the Democratic numbers." She then took an unusual detour into polling minutiae. "Today the Rasmussen numbers were the third time that we were double-digit ahead in the generic," she reported, "and the third month in a row we were in the high 40s."

Lindsay Graham: "Well, you know, I was just about to vote for the funding bill, then all these protestors showed up and they DO have a point. You know what? Next time the Democrats introduce a funding bill, I'm voting against it unless there's a binding timeline to end the occupation."

That would be more productive than addressing the leader of the party that's supposed to be against this war, and ask them to quit funding it with toothless, non-binding caveats?

"Gawd Damn her!" and then I read it. Nancy's calling herself a "leader" but is she doing that?

Nancy's going to be defending her non-action for a very long long time..so get use to coming up with shit, Nancy.

as long as she's in charge, there is no point in protesting. The war will keep on going, until November 2008, at the very least.

Millions in the streets in the run up didn't have any effect on our representatives. Has something changed that would make the strategy have any effect whatsoever?

they think the Dems have all the anti-war people in the bag in 2008. they don't realise how many people will be so frustrated they don't bother to vote at all in 08.

How inconsiderate of them to value soldiers' and civilians lives. How ungenerous of them to want their taxes to go toward health care, social security, medicare, infrastructure - well, you know their own country. Ingrates!

Lead, follow or get out of the way. San Francisco - please don't renew her contract.

go. Maybe that will stop the Police from arresting them?

I see the Clinton supporters have come to defend Pelosi. If you don't see what is wrong with Hillary's positions and inconsistancy I doubt you will see the problem here with Pelosi.

"Nothing succeeds like success".

like being a puppet of corporations and the DLC... but that doesn't make one a leader.

leaders?!

Sometimes the cream doesn't rise to the top. The mold does.

they are all in bed together. We, little people, true dems are so screwed!

Civil disobedience is historically proven to bring about change from the bottom-up, so it's no surprise that many obedient Americans would agree, and that Pelosi would be foursquare against it. Just keep on believin' that your votes will make all the difference!