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Posts Tagged ‘Nancy Pelosi’
March 25th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
Who Knew Nancy Pelosi Was a Peter Drucker Acolyte?

Probably not even the Speaker herself.  But that doesn’t change the fact that her managing of Obamacare mirrors the characteristics of effective leaders Drucker identifies in his classic, The Effective Executive.  There are eight points Drucker sees in every effective executive.

(1)    They asked, “What needs to be done?”

(2)    They asked, “What is right for the enterprise?”

(3)    They developed action plans.

(4)    They took responsibility for decisions.

(5)    They took responsibility for communicating.

(6)    They were focused on opportunities rather than problems.

(7)    They ran productive meetings.

(8)    They thought and said “we” rather than “I.”

I think most observers would agree that Pelosi nailed numbers 3-8, and number 1; especially with her members in Congress.  Was anyone certain she wouldn’t pass the bill?  If I had to pick a flaw it would be failure to comply with number 2, the only normative criteria on the list.  It isn’t right for the American enterprise and its constitutional structure to ram a bill through Congress by using tricks and gimmicks because doing so destroys people’s confidence that we are a nation of rules, not (wo)men.  But as we see with Democrats like Pelosi, the only thing that matters is “winning” – even if it means corrupting government in the process.

For that, Dr. Drucker would no doubt be appalled.

March 17th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
Lawsuit Planned to Challenge “Slaughter Solution”

Conservative radio talk show host and former Reagan Justice Department Chief of Staff, Marc Levin, is planning to challenge via lawsuit Speaker Pelosi’s use of the “Slaughter Solution” to “deem” the Senate health care bill passed.  Pelosi’s maneuver would pass the bill by voting to approve a rule that introduces it.  A draft of the lawsuit can be read here (pdf).  Though it’s likely the federal courts would refuse to hear the case under the political question doctrine, it would seem to be a bedrock constitutional issue whether “deeming” a bill passed is the same as actually voting on it.  Hopefully, we won’t have to find out.

March 12th, 2010 at 10:32 am
Ramirez Cartoon: Pelosi Mad Hatter
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Below is one of the latest cartoons from Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

View more of Michael Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website here.

March 11th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
“Slaughter Solution” Would be the Final Nail in Coffin for Dem Majority

Reports are surfacing that Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), Chairwoman of the House Rules Committee is preparing a rule to accompany the Senate’s version of health care “reform” when it comes to the House for approval.  Already, Democratic leaders are planning to use the budget reconciliation process to bypass a Republican filibuster threat.  But first the House must pass the Senate’s bill before reconciliation can be used.  Enter the “Slaughter Solution.”

Since Speaker Pelosi doesn’t yet have the votes to pass the Senate plan, Slaughter would present a rule “deeming” the bill passed so long as a majority of House members vote for the rule.  Got that?   The geniuses on Capitol Hill are telling themselves that members up for reelection can convince voters that voting for the rule is different than voting for the bill itself, even though voting for the rule passes the bill.

No wonder D.C. is so screwed up.  If the Democratic leadership manages to nationalize one-sixth of the economy by unconstitutionally refusing to have the same bill pass both chambers before sending it to the president, then there will be hell to pay in November.

Another consequence will be an unprecedented opening for a presidential candidate to run as the wise old man of Washington in 2012.  In fact, one of his campaign commercials could feature the School House Rocks version of “How a Bill Becomes a Law.”  Along with the Tea Party movement, millions more Americans would no doubt appreciate a major politician who actually reads and understands the constitutional procedure for making binding federal law.  Heaven knows, the Democrats in Congress and the White House certainly don’t.

March 1st, 2010 at 5:45 pm
Pelosi Gives Self “An ‘A’ For Effort”

Well, this isn’t too surprising.  When asked by a reporter to grade herself on the past year’s performance, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded that she’d give herself “an ‘A’ for effort.” No doubt the mother of five is the kind of helicopter parent demanding trophies for participation, and praise for people who deign to show up.  But if you can get an ‘A’ just for trying, what grade will the Speaker bestow on herself when and if the Democrats in Congress actually pass the health care “reform” bill?

January 21st, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Pelosi: We Don’t Have the Votes to Pass Senate Health Care Bill
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Any Democratic pipe dream about quick passage of their health care plan was shot down today.  Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House simply doesn’t have the votes to pass the Senate version of the bill.

This means the bill will not likely be on the President’s desk by his second third fourth fifth sixth deadline, which was supposed to be the State of the Union.  The House will need to make changes and then pass those amendments on to the Senate, with their reduced majority.

The path for health care now follows moderates in the House and Senate.  After hearing the Massachusetts wakeup call loud and clear (presumably), it will be moderates that decide the fate of the bill.  It will be much harder for partisans in leadership to whip members when the political environment is so hostile for Democrats.

The best case scenario (worst case for taxpayers) is that Democrats cobble together enough votes to pass a shell of health care reform: expand Medicare and Medicaid, and ban discrimination against pre-existing conditions.  There doesn’t appear to be enough votes for a government-run public option or an individual mandate.

January 20th, 2010 at 11:41 am
Senate Democrat Wants to Pause Health Care
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Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) has recommended that Democrats hold off on any health care votes until Senator-elect Scott Brown can be seated.

Webb stated, “I believe it would only be fair and prudent that we suspend further votes on health care legislation until Senator-elect Brown is seated.”

With a margin of victory of more than 100,000 votes and a concession speech from his opponent, Martha Coakley, Brown should have no trouble arguing that the race is settled.  Now, it’s up to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to honor the will of her fellow Democrats and the voters of Massachusetts.

January 19th, 2010 at 10:48 am
Massachusetts and Pelosi’s Plan B on ObamaCare

Today, all eyes are on Massachusetts as Bay State voters head to the polls to decide the fate of the U.S. Senate seat previously held by the late Senator Ted Kennedy.  Will Republican State Senator Scott Brown pull it out against Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley?  We will all know soon enough.

The special election between Brown and Coakley is, in large part, a referendum on President Obama’s agenda, including health care reform.  The President himself, while avoiding the health care issue as much as possible, all but admitted as much during a campaign speech for Coakley on Sunday.  If Brown does pull off a victory, Democrats will lose the 60th vote in the Senate needed to sustain their filibuster-proof majority to pass ObamaCare and possibly other legislation on President Obama’s agenda.

But that is not discouraging some in the Democrat leadership, most notably House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  According to Alex Koppelman at Salon.com, Pelosi commented about the situation during an event in San Francisco yesterday:

“Let’s remove all doubt, we will have healthcare one way or another. … Certainly the dynamic would change depending on what happens in Massachusetts. Just the question about how we would proceed. But it doesn’t mean we won’t have a health care bill.”   

How can the Speaker be so confident?  According to a report in yesterday’s New York Times:

The White House and Democratic Congressional leaders, scrambling for a backup plan to rescue their health care legislation if Republicans win the special election in Massachusetts on Tuesday, have begun laying the groundwork to ask House Democrats to approve the Senate version of the bill and send it directly to President Obama for his signature.

In other words, Plan B for Pelosi appears to be to ask her caucus just to approve the Senate-passed health care bill, avoiding another vote in the Senate altogether.  That’s a big ask considering the numerous and significant complaints many in her caucus have expressed about the Senate bill.

If Scott Brown wins today in the most liberal state in the Union, the message to rank-and-file Democrats about health care “reform” and President Obama’s overall agenda should be clear.  If Brown wins and they continue to follow Pelosi’s lead and pass ObamaCare “one way or another,” they ignore that clear message at their own peril.

January 11th, 2010 at 11:03 am
Congress Hearts Obama
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To give President Obama some credit, he knows how to get Congress in line.  Or,  perhaps Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid know how to crack the whip on their members.

According to Congressional Quarterly, Congress voted with the President 96.7% of the time in which he had a clearly stated position.  This broke the 44-year old mark set by President Lyndon Johnson, according to the study.  Oddly, President Johnson also had a miserable fiscal record.

Of course, many Democrats who voted with President Obama in the past will attempt to run as far away from the President as possible when pitching their “achievements” to voters.   Luckily, Congress can’t hide from its voting record.  From cap-and-trade, to tax hikes, to pork-barrel stimulus spending, this Congress has been far worse than the previous band of tax-and-spend acolytes.

Luckily, voters will have a chance to voice their disapproval on November 2.

January 8th, 2010 at 5:47 pm
Pelosi’s Transparency

Finally, a sudden bout of honesty from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on ObamaCare.

Before you get excited, however, you should read for yourself what she had to say, as reported by CBS News:

“The House and Senate plan [is] to put together the final health care reform bill behind closed doors according to an agreement by top Democrats,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said today at the White House.

In other words, after days of spewing laughable tales of how “open and transparent” the legislative process on health care has been, the Speaker has decided to be “open and transparent” about how non-transparent Congressional Democrats plan to be moving forward in their efforts to pass ObamaCare.

For more on this issue, read CFIF’s commentary titled, “The Transparency of the Presidential Lie.”

January 7th, 2010 at 11:43 am
Ramirez Cartoon: The Most Transparent Congress In History

Below is one of the latest cartoons from Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

View more of Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website.

January 5th, 2010 at 11:30 am
C-SPAN Chief Dares Congressional Dems to Televise Final Health Care Negotiations

Remember back in 2006 when then soon-to-be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised that Democrats would “lead the most honest, most open and most ethical congress in history?” What about the repeated promises by then Candidate Obama to “broadcast [all health care] negotiations on C-SPAN so that the American people can see what the choices are?”

Of course, when it came time to “debate” health care, neither Pelosi nor Obama kept their promises.  Instead, both leaders have steered a process that has resulted in all variations of “reform” thus far being written behind closed doors, out of sight from the American people and with virtually no input from Congressional Republicans. 

As the Associated Press pointed out:

The House passed its version of the bill on a Saturday night. The Senate held its key procedural vote at 1 in the morning, and then provided a lump of coal in our stockings by forcing full passage of its bill on Christmas Eve. The House leadership banned consideration of all but one amendment not offered by leadership itself – forbidding debate on more than 150 of them – then provided just 24 hours for members to study the bill’s final text. The Senate leadership inserted so many tawdry last-minute items that analysts are still finding jokers in the deck 11 days later.

All these shenanigans have driven approval for the government health care bills even lower in public polls than the strong majorities that already opposed them a month ago.

Well, C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb is now daring Congressional Democrats to put their money where their mouths are. 

FoxNews.com reports:

The head of C-SPAN has implored Congress to open up the last leg of health care reform negotiations to the public, as top Democrats lay plans to hash out the final product among themselves.

C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb wrote to leaders in the House and Senate Dec. 30 urging them to open ‘all important negotiations, including any conference committee meetings,’ to televised coverage on his network.

‘The C-SPAN networks will commit the necessary resources to covering all of the sessions LIVE and in their entirety,’ he wrote.

There’s only one problem.  Holding true to their back-room strategy, Congressional Democrats are reportedly going to shut Republicans and the American people out of the process again as they seek to combine the House and Senate versions of “reform.”  Maggie Haberman and Charles Hurt of the New York Post reported today:

Congressional Democrats plan to take final negotiations on the massive health-care overhaul behind closed doors — far from the prying eyes of the public and most lawmakers.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have decided not to impanel a bipartisan ‘conference committee’ because it would give Republicans an opportunity to stonewall certain procedural votes.

Instead, they will do it themselves informally out of their offices without formal public meetings.

And they wonder why the overwhelming majority of Americans oppose their plan … whatever that final plan may be.

January 4th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
E.J. Dionne’s Recommendation to Democrats: Commit Suicide
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When asked to identify a leftist counterpart to the wit and wisdom of conservative commentator George Will, liberals commonly cite The Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne, Jr.

Frankly, that’s a bit like a D.C.-area baseball fan offering the Washington Nationals as a counterpart to the New York Yankees, as confirmed again by today’s commentary from Dionne.

In it, Dionne counsels a veritable suicide strategy for Democrats hoping to avoid a landslide defeat in November’s 2010 Congressional elections.  In the face of poll after poll demonstrating widespread public opposition to ObamaCare, Dionne advises Democrats to trumpet its virtues.  He apparently remains blissfully oblivious to the fact that the more people learn about ObamaCare, the less they like it.  Since Obama demanded legislation before the August Congressional recess, the public has swung from narrow approval to wide disapproval, yet he advises that Democrats tell them more?  Dionne subsequently argues, presumably with a straight face, that Democrats should utilize proposed carbon cap-and-tax legislation in their effort to gain electoral momentum.  As is the case with ObamaCare, however, Dionne’s recommendation flies in the face of public skepticism and opposition toward this costly bill that will raise utility costs for everyday consumers, cripple businesses struggling in a weak economy and surrender additional American sovereignty to United Nations-style climate regulation.

Those in the legal profession often advise against interrupting opposing attorneys who are dooming their own cases.  One suspects that Republicans are similarly in no hurry to interrupt Dionne’s advice to Democrats.

December 24th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Merry Christmas America! The Senate Passes Health Care Reform

Early this morning, the United States Senate passed its version of health care “reform” legislation.  Though Congress won’t be back in session until January 18th, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be discussing ways to reconcile the bills so they can get it to President Obama for his signature.  In a departure from the go-go pace of the last two weeks, there are signs that the legislation may not become law until February of next year.

Since an overwhelming majority of voters oppose either version of the plan, Democrats are leaving themselves open to serious opposition over the holidays; especially since media outlets and activist groups will have time to comb through the bills and highlight the waste and corruption tucked away in each.  For CFIF and its supporters, the fight continues!

December 15th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Passing Health Care Reform Even If It Kills Them

Byron York posts a great article today culled from his discussion with an anonymous Democratic strategist. The topic is the rationale motivating Democrats to pass comprehensive health care “reform” over the vociferous objections from a majority of the public. For the White House, it’s the fierce urgency of now. In the Senate, it’s the calculation that senators vulnerable in next year’s election will be at risk of losing their seats with or without passing the bill. And in the House, it’s the belief by party stalwarts like Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) that the 20 or 40 members likely to be defeated because of the bill are nominal players.

But when pressed by York to explain why Democratic leaders keep pushing for something a majority of the public doesn’t want, his interlocutor reveals the essence of the liberal conceit.

“Because they think they know what’s best for the public,” the strategist said. “They think the facts are being distorted and the public’s being told a story that is not entirely true, and that they are in Congress to be leaders. And they are going to make the decision because Goddammit, it’s good for the public.”

How democratic.

December 10th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Ding Dong the Public Option is Dead … Or is it?
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No, the munchkins didn’t proclaim this, but the liberal Huffington Post did.

The supposedly good news (for Republicans, libertarians, Whigs, patients, taxpayers and moderate Democrats who like their current office space) was reported today by Ryan Grim.  He noted sarcastically, “The public health insurance option died on Thursday, December 10, 2009, after a months-long struggle with Senate parliamentary procedure.  The time of death was recorded as 11:12 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.”

Apparently Nancy Pelosi read the political tea leaves and noticed that voters simply won’t tolerate a government-run public option.  When questioned, it took Pelosi about two-hundred words to essentially say that the House would accept the Senate “compromise” to drop the public option in exchange for lowering the eligibility age for Medicare enrollment.

But make no mistake.  This is no cause for celebration.

Some Democrats are actually excited, hoping that expanding an already financially strapped Medicare system will pave the way for a true single-payer socialized system.  Indeed, as Brian Faughnan of RedState.com noted earlier today, the idea is actually the brain child of Howard Dean, who proposed a similar plan during his 2004 presidential bid.   And why is Dean, who is a strong proponent of a single-payer system and has been critical of his fellow Democrats for not going far enough in their efforts to put the government in charge of your health care, supportive of this so-called compromise?  As Faughnan writes:

The reason Dean likes this compromise – the reason he proposed this compromise – is that he would rather have the government bureaucracy in charge of people’s health care plans than private insurance companies. That’s one point of view. Some may agree with it; others not. But it seems the real value of this proposal to Dean is that it ‘moves the ball’ toward a single-payer health care system.”

November 19th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Pelosi-Nomics: Decrease Opportunities, Increase Costs

An opportunity cost is a term used in economics to identify the next-best-option you didn’t choose. For example, if a person has $20 and buys a book instead of a CD, the opportunity cost is the foregone CD. Of course, in order to have an opportunity cost, you need an opportunity to choose. One of the arguments against enhancing an already heavy tax burden on high-end earners is that many of them will move to other, less oppressive countries. If regulations of Wall Street pile up too high, the best and brightest will go to London or Hong Kong. In that scenario, the opportunity cost would be choosing not to live in America.

But where economists see rational behavior enabled by choices, Democrats usually see greed propelled by self-interest. Thus, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is making it clear she intends to increase the costs of financial transactions by eliminating a financier’s opportunities to live and work in less taxed locales. How? By mandating a global tax that would remove any incentive for highly skilled workers to relocate overseas.

Any tax imposed on financial transactions would have to take effect internationally to prevent Wall Street jobs and related business moving overseas, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday.

“It would have to be an international rule, not just a U.S. rule,” Pelosi said at a news conference. “We couldn’t do it alone, we’d have to do it as an international initiative.”

True, bringing all financial transactions under a universal system of regulation would take care of the “problem” of people trying to avoid confiscatory taxation. On the other hand, it also decreases the likelihood that highly motivated people will be able to create wealth through the financial system. Once again, with one notable exception, the modern Democratic Party is about as anti-choice as a collection of policy makers can be.

November 9th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Somewhere, Clement Attlee is Smiling

Some people have a knack for recognizing a decisive moment before it occurs. Even fewer have the insight to choose (or guess) which way is best when it happens. Count Martin Heinrich, freshman Democrat from New Mexico, as one of the folks who didn’t migrate from column A to column B. When discussing his support for comprehensive health care “reform” over the weekend, Congressman Heinrich said:

This is an opportunity to do something as big Social Security,” he added. “And me, personally, I don’t want to be on the wrong side of history.”

Regrettably, far too many liberal politicians think being first (or biggest) is the same as being right. With this in mind, replicating the biggest social welfare boondoggle in American history becomes not only historic, but right, and voting for it ensures supporters of their implied inclusion in whatever laudatory blurb finds its way into next decade’s high school civics books.

However, there is another way to interpret the “historic” moment facing the nation and the Democratic Party. In the aftermath of World War II, England voted for a weaker presence abroad, and a much enhanced social safety net at home. The plan came to be known as the “post war consensus” and can be characterized as:

…a belief in Keynesian economics, a mixed economy with the nationalization of major industries, the establishment of the National Health Service and the creation of the modern welfare state in Britain. The policies were instituted by all governments (both Labour and Conservative) during the post-war period.” (Emphasis added)

Sound familiar? Much like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, the leader of the consensus, Clement Attlee, was an unremarkable politician except for the fact he helped create the National Health Service. This put Britain on the path of unsustainable spending and deficits all in the name of a health program that expands coverage while castrating care.

Welcome to infamy, Rep. Heinrich. Here you’ll find no end to self-indulgent paternalism and the undying belief that free people need “free” services from government.

November 7th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
ObamaCare Passes House: 220-215

Tonight, the House of Representatives voted 220-215 to narrowly pass Speaker Pelosi’s 2,000-page, trillion-dollar-plus health care “reform” bill.

Just one Republican, Rep. Joseph Cao (Louisiana) voted “Yea.” Thirty-nine Democrats joined with all other House Republicans in opposition.

November 6th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Does Pelosi Have the Votes?

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer are publicly predicting that the House health care “reform” bill, which is scheduled to be voted on tomorrow, will pass.  But several news reports indicate that both are scrambling today to find the votes.

Even the ultra-liberal Moveon.org, which is pulling out all the stops in support of government-run health care, is worried.  In an e-mail sent out to liberal activists earlier today, the group was panicked.  The e-mail reads:

Dear MoveOn member,

After months of build-up, tomorrow is THE big House vote on landmark health care reform. But according to news reports, Democrats don’t yet have the votes to win!

This is crunch time. … Right now, it’s all coming down to a key group of moderate Democrats who are on the fence — and we hear they’re getting inundated with calls from health care opponents. …

There you have it.  The phone calls, letters, faxes and e-mails against ObamaCare are working.  Pelosi and Hoyer are scrambling for votes.  Their ultra-liberal allies are panicked.  An overwhelming majority of Americans are making their voice heard AGAINST House Democrats’ plan for a government takeover of health care.

Keep it up!  Pelosi’s 2,000-page “reform” bill can be defeated.  But the Americans people must continue to “inundate” Congressional offices between now and tomorrow.

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