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Thursday, May 14, 2009

Our Little Nancy Pelosi


I love the Family Circus cartoon strip where every time mother Thel asks her son Billy,
"Who did this" referring to a broken vase or a spilled glass of milk. And Billy always answers, "I don't know."

But we, the reader, know that Billy broke that vase and spilled the milk.
Yesterday, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi pulled a Billy when she said, "I wasn't briefed, I was informed that someone else had been briefed about it" when questioned about her awareness of the CIA and the Bush Administration's use of water-boarding detainees on their the war on terror. Poor little Nancy. Like most politicians she has selective memory recall especially when it suits her cause best.

Speaker Pelosi and the majority of Democrats and Republicans approved the use of torture in the war against terror. What were they thinking at the time, 'do it but just don't tell me about it'? What's so telling about the Associated Press article is Pelosi's excuse for looking the other way about using torture because she was focusing on getting congressional control away from the Republicans so her party could change course.

"It was clear we had to change the leadership in Congress and in the White House. That was my job — the Congress part," she said. What about the part where we as a nation practice what we preach? Things like honesty, integrity, and our refusal to torture?

What's so Billy-like is Pelosi's, 'I don't know who did it but it wasn't my fault but if you keep asking me I'll find someone else I can blame it on' attitude. And just like Billy, Speaker Pelosi takes on the cartoon persona of her namesake whenever she's in a jam. Ernie Bushmiller's "Nancy" is a precocious eight-year old who is constantly daydreaming and is easily confused. In the April 26, 2009 strip our adorable Nancy sits daydreaming in a pink sleeping gown when Aunt Fritzi calls to her repeatedly from another room. "Nancy stop ignoring me!" And cute, little Nancy musters the strength to pop open her sleepy eyes to say, "Sorry Aunt Fritzi. During the school year my brain takes weekends off."

This is not the time to take a brain vacation Speaker Pelosi. This is the time to be honest, to practice the change that you and the Democratic party promised that you would bring after gaining "control." So grow up little Nancy and admit your faults and mistakes. Even your lazy pal Slugo Smith would do that.

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