Pelosi, the CIA, and the Dems’ dangerous blame game
Photoshop credit: David Johnson
We had dueling press conferences this morning with Nancy Pelosi accusing the Bush CIA of lying to her about waterboarding and House GOP leader John Boehner defending the integrity of the briefers.
Pelosi had a particularly frozen look on her face throughout her presser as she repeated the “Bush lied about Iraq” mantra to justify her own inaction:
“They mislead us all the time,” she said. And when a reporter asked whether the agency lied, she did not disagree.
She also suggested that the current Republican criticism marked an attempt to divert attention from the Bush administration’s actions.
“They misrepresented every step of the way, and they don’t want that focus on them, so they try to turn the focus on us,” she said.
Projection: It’s what’s for breakfast.
If Pelosi were so incensed about how the CIA misled her, why wasn’t this her response to news of the 2002 briefing a week ago?
Blink, blink.
Pelosi issued a renewed call for a “truth commission.”
Boehner’s response: “Let’s put it all on the table.”
Other Dems (including Harry Reid, who opposes the “truth commission” as, um, a distraction) aren’t happy about where this dangerous blame game might take them.
William Jacobson analyzes the Dems’ lack of a waterboarding exit strategy and concludes:
Here’s my prediction of what will happen if Democrats push the investigation to the bitter end causing damage to national security, a political death match with the CIA, and Democrat-on-Democrat finger pointing:
Steny Hoyer, Speaker; Jane Harman, Majority Leader; Nancy Pelosi, Chair of the House sub-committee on fresh water fisheries; Republicans, unexpected gains in 2010 mid-term elections.
The Democrats wished hard for an investigation into waterboarding and other interrogation methods. They may have wished too hard, because they are about to get what they wished for, with no way out.
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Categories: Nancy Pelosi,Torture
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As we all have always known, all roads lead back to the Demorats and their house of cards.
Yeah lets see where this leads.
HINT, not to good places for the DNC. It will come off as either a partisan witch hunt or it will take down the DNC leadership of both houses.
Please do continue pelosi…
They would like an “investigation” into Republican excesses; but want to keep their dangerous weaknesses or anti-American positions hidden.
I thought her eyelids would fall off before she was done! She needed to read a “written statement” her attorney probably wrote for her! If she weren’t from San Francisco, her constituents would be embarrassed. We know Frisco folks don’t have enough morals to be embarrassed!
Please, please have commissions. Have ALL of them under oath and if they are found to have lied, put their rears in prison.
L
I think to some degree it now comes down to who Lanny Davis prefers as Speaker Nancy or Steny. The choice is in his hands.
Is she still flying around in C-32A’s?
Waterboard her until she confesses to lying about waterboarding, the Most Ethical Congress and being a worthwhile human being. Then waterboard her until the botox is washed out then waterboard her some more.
We will call it a “truth commission”.
Can the Speaker Blink, blink? Waterboard her until she does!
The briefing reports still exist.
Go Nancy, GO!!!!
Getting my popcorn ready. Where ego/God-complexes/subpar intelligence meet. This is going to be good.
Not a good time to ride on the same plane with Nan.
See John Tower, Ron Brown, et al..
This time I think that frozen look of hers is one of worry and not botox – she realizes her dishonesty has made her a liability to the party and its agenda. Speaker Hoyer will be taking the gavel any week now; let’s hope Pelosi does the Newt thing and resigns her seat as well.
To play on a rather snarky phrase: Nancy Pelosi, you are the Democrats weakest link …goodbye!
I tried to live blog this and got ill.
http://tinyurl.com/ob867o
She pretty much declared war on the Spook Corps and the Spook Corps doesn’t lose…ever.
Look for Obama to throw her under the bus at some point…he will not survive her power plays.
BHO is putting new treads on the bus tires as we speak…
My two year old can lie better than this. And, I wonder how long it will take to peel the CIA off the wall. It is easy to understand why we get such trash legislation out of this deadbeat congress when you see the House Leader putting on such an incredibly lame performance. Things over at the CIA must be awful. First they release classified memos, then they threaten to release classified pictures, THEN, the speaker of the house calls the CIA a bunch of liars. What a frigging farce.
Reading her comments reminds me of Captain Queeg explaining his actions in the movie/play, “The Caine Mutiny.”
Was she rolling two steel balls in her hand while explaining this?
all these pictures of PELOSI ARRRRRGH!!!
with that face she’ll spook the spooks!
Snooper got me by mere seconds!
This is one of the exact reasons why Dems can’t stay in power long because they pull the blame game, they over reach, spend us into oblivion, put us in danger around the world and list goes on!
Thank god they’re only in power for limited times!
You have to be smart to be a good liar. Nancy Pelosi is not a good liar.
Maybe she should take some time to re-watch all of the Obama speeches and take notes!
Don’t forget the really critical question: how will the MSM try to cover it all up, now that this torpedo is going circular?
Her lies are like elections.Count the votes until it is in their favor and change her lies until they become the truth.Looks like she has a case of desperation.
I think I see another LONG overseas fact-finding mission for Nancy Pelosi coming up REAL, REAL SOON. Yesssss, a REEEAAALLLLLYY LOOOOOOOOONG trip, and REEEALLLLLY far away.
The “frozen look” is more a result of botox and less the result of trying to keep a mental track of which lie she had already said…
Does anyone else remember when Pelosi and Reid called Bush stupid?
So, let me get this straight Nancy, you were misled by someone who, by your own admission, is stupid? What does that make you? Grossly Incompetent or a Liar or a Grossly Incompetent Liar.
Of course, Hillary used the same excuse of being misled by Bush on the WMDs. So, I guess Bush was smarter that he was given credit for being.
And, she thinks she can call an intelligence service liars? I’m betting and hoping some really nasty stuff on this ‘bad embalming case’ will find it’s way to the press. Where’s the NYT’s again? Nevermind.
Boehner may say “put all the cards on the table” but the democrats are good at hiding some of the cards (Sandy Berger) without ever getting in trouble for it.
The chickens are comin’ home to roost!
The CIA should thank Nancy for this wonderful footage that they can now use to train their new personnel. The title of this “required-viewing” video should be “How NOT to behave during interrogation”.
The Demonrats have huge majorities in both Houses. It would take a huge insurrection among her Demonratic enemies to get her to have to testify under oath, or even compel her to testify at all.
Nancy must spend a fortune on pants ’cause they are always on fire.
Pelosi is a lying little troll. Why do we allow soclialist liberal progressives to spawn?
New campaign: Remember to Spay and Neuter Your Liberal
How timely.
If this were a republican, the dems/media would have been screaming for blood for weeks already.
It’s time for our side to start demanding Pelosi resign over her blatant attempt to politicize national security and her dishonesty in covering it up.
The downside to having Pelosi resign is that she might be replaced by someone competent.
I’m fairly certain this will blow over with nothing happening. After all, the media decides what’s important.
Sadly, I suspect Rekd is probably correct. It helps she has some Demonratic enemies, but if the press is on her side, the majority of this country that gets straight propaganda from
Pravda and Der Sturmer,er, TV and newspapers, will never even know.OK. Let me see if I get this straight. The CIA was briefing members of an intelligence committee back in 2002 or 2003, shortly after 9/11/2001 when they were worried about the likelihood that another attack was likely. Both houses of Congress were still controlled by the Republicans and President Bush was still very popular.
However, the people who were briefing Pelosi & Co. somehow recognized that the Democrats were likely to retake Congress and the presidency six years later and that Pelosi was likely to become the Speaker of the House, so that they felt the need to record their so-called “lies” in their notes in the event that the practice of waterboarding, which their attorneys assured them was a legal practice at the time, ever came to light and the Dems decided to prosecute.
Makes perfect sense.
I hope that we have a truth commission. I hope that the truth commission is chaired by Judge Judy, so that she can tell Nancy Pelosi “Don’t pee on my head and tell me that it is raining!”
Good point, irving! Don’t remove the bumbling idiot Pelosi. Let her continue to be surrounded with herself. It’s actually pretty entertaining. She isn’t really responsibile for anything important anyway. Just “leading” the house democrats.
Regardless of all the sycophantic trolls in the media, the majority of the demoncraps, some thing things don’t easily go away. This could very well be the first big domino in a long string of dominos. Who knows? November 2010 could be an interesting season.
I saw her press conference this morning and unfortunately I thought she covered herself very well. She said she did not learn that waterboarding was being used, only that is was declared legal by the Bush Admin. She then says the CIA report was incorrect without actually calling them liars, she agreed they were liars. She said the CIA breifing should be released.
She did the old Bush lied mantra to deflect criticism bringing up the WMD lie argument to prove that Bush lied all the time. She claimed Bush had a policy of lying and that the Congress was being lied to. She didn’t raise any complaints after her 2002 briefing because Bush was going to do whatever he wanted anyway.
Her aide later told her that in another later briefing, that she did not attend, they said waterboarding was used but she wasn’t the head of the intelligence committee so it wasn’t her place to object but that the current head did object so everything was done that could be done.
Sounded like she didn’t know toture was happening, couldn’t say or do anything about it’s legal approval and when she did learn it happened, it wasn’t her job man. Therefore she is completely innocent of allowing torture and that Bush lied all the time, and she just did her job which was to get a new President. No problems here.
One problem I saw was her insistance that the CIA did not brief her in 2002 that they were using waterboarding on Zubayah (sp?). The CIA said they did tell her. Someone is lying. Pelosi or the CIA is not telling the truth.
She was very specific that they absolutely did not tell her they were using it. She asked for the briefing to come out to prove it. If they come out with proof they told her, she should be toast as a lying, torturer and should be prosocuted with all the Bush administration and everyone else that knew if they want to go down that stupid road. If they didn’t tell her, she is being unfairly railroaded. Her inconsistant stories lead me to believe she was told but knows the briefing can never come out to prove it. She will be able to stand by her lie and no one can do a damn thing about it. She is in power!
She is on radio now (Rush) giving version 5.0. He voice is almost as irritating as Miss Hillary.
She is but stating a fact as she always does. HuffPro $25.00 Miss Speaker?
I have used this exact point with libs when they call Bush stupid and you can almost see the smoke rolling out of their ears as they try to reconcile the two points.
I’d like to hear what Dick Cheney thinks about Pelosi and the truth commission =)
Dick’s criticism would absolutely drive her crazy.
Leon Penetta is a good friend of the Clintons. Nancy dissed Hillary for Barry. Penetta runs the CIA.
Popcorn with extra butter, please!
I am afraid the mouse is caught in the mouse trap of her own making.
She is a Liar and should resign immediately.
Hunter – I have used it a 1000 times, and they never seem to get the point.
When this all brewed up several weeks ago, I used it while arguing with a lib that if we prosecute Bush folks for torture memos, then all memos going all the we back (including Vietnam) should be released and all who did not follow the Army Field manual should be prosecuted. I asked the lib, “So when we took prisoners, under Clinton, in Somalia during the Black Hawk Down raid, if those prisoners where treated any worse than allowed in the AFM then Clinton should be prosecuted too!
Boy you should have see their eyes boil and flip into the back of their head… it was just like watching the Exorcist.
Did she or didn’t she? Only her hairdresser knows for sure.
who does piglosi’s makeup anyway??
tiredofito8
Her plastic surgeon!
Who is Dick Chaney in disguise
That is how he gets in to mess with the teleprompter.
Miss Speaker your skin is leaking.
I guess letting bad guys escape from Hueys is so sixties isn’t it?
It isn’t makeup that does that, it is a bad combination of cosmetic medicine, repeated face lifts and probably Botox, that causes the horrid rictus.
Is Peloski so ASHAMED that the CIA dunked some choirboy heads just to try to protect American lives?? Gee! I NEVER guessed keeping terrorists all comfy was so sacred — and my family’s safety matters squat!
Folks — and I’m not being jesting here; A Bumper Sticker idea for someone to fly with! “CIA: Use My Bathtub To Waterboard To Protect My Family!!!”
James Greenidge
Queens, NY
I will not trust my family’s safety in Bob Bekel’s ivory-tower pacifist hands .
I thought today’s “They tricked me!” dishonesty was version 6.0. But who’s counting….
Watching the donks get blown up in what they thought would be the oh-so-clever trap for the former Bush Administration is like watching Wile E. Coyote trying out his latest Acme Corp. gadget in yet another self-destructive go at the Road Runner.
Except that I laugh harder at the donks.
Truth commission!! Yippee!! Truthers finally get their day! Shine up your tinfoil hats, boys and girls. Wear your armodillo hats proudly!
We may get to the truth about obumbler’s background after all.
Truth commission run by… Democrats? Thats an oxymoron.
Precisely.
Practically everything negative that Democrats say about Republicans is, in reality, projection. The Democrats themselves are guilty of the offense, but they accuse Republicans of it in an attempt to turn the focus away from themselves.
The best defense is a good offense.
Keep it coming Nancy!!!!! More press conferences!!!! Keep digging the hole. Don’t stop till you see Tim Geithner… I mean… China….
Let’s get the briefers, under oath, telling us exactly what Nancy knew and when she knew it. Lying Democratic hack!
Pelosi Galore’s less than skillful performance reminded me of a Chris Farley sketch, in which his hand motions were always about 3-4 seconds behind his vocals.
Although she did manage to weave in the “Bush lied about WMDs” thread, which will keep her in good standing with her constituency.
Let them eat their young. Maybe this is a hit job by Hillary, or a way for Obama to keep an overambitious speaker in check. Just saying, don’t know.
How about if we declassify that briefing session (I’m sure there’s a full transcript somewhere) and bring it all out? Then we can determine who really “lied” about the truth.
Hmmm????
I guess I’m cynical, but my view is that Pelosi will squirm out from under the mighty boot of truth, again.
My prediction, 2 months from now this will not be topic of conversation and she will continue to get away with pushing dreadful, corrupt legislation through Congress.
They’ll dispense with her quickly, so that next year, during Praise-O-Fest 2010, this matter will be a distant memory, if it’s remembered at all.
You are most likely correct. The Administration has already made moves to try to silence this monster they created by not allowing the photos to be released. This whole thing was an ideological rookie mistake.
On May 14th, 2009 at 1:43 pm, T-Bone said:
Indeed.
But I don’t trust any government commission. Not the Warren Commission, not the 9/11 Commission. Those commissions came up with things like a “magic bullet” and saying that the documents that Sandy Burger stole and shredded weren’t important to their investigation.
B.S.!
I believe that certain Democratic Socialist Communists in our own government had foreknowledge of both the Kennedy assassination and the 9/11 attacks, and that the job of the commissions was to cover their tracks.
Remember that Senator Joe McCarthy was not proven wrong, he was proven right:
Gollum: We wants it, we needs it. Must have the precious. They stole it from us. Sneaky little hobbitses. Wicked, tricksy, false!
Smeagol: No. Not master!
Gollum: Yes, precious, false! They will cheat you, hurt you, LIE.
Smeagol: Master is our friend!
Gollum: You don’t have any friends; nobody likes you!
Smeagol: I’m not listening… I’m not listening…
Gollum: You’re a liar and a thief.
Smeagol: No!
Gollum: *Murderer*.
Smeagol: Go away!
Gollum: “Go away?”
[Gollum laughs as Smeagol begins crying]
Who knew the World’s Biggest Losers had a spinoff?
(Munching popcorn) More cheese Gromit!
“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” Mark Twain
She should have followed Mark’s advice…
Look who said Bush was not a liar!
The Democratic Primary made evident that there is a civil war raging within the Democratic Socialist Party. (I’ve been calling them that long before the RNC thought it was appropriate).
The way I see it, the Clinton crime family represents the philosophy and interests of the Chinese communists, while the Obama crime family represents the philosophy and interests of the Russian communists.
There is a mob war raging between these two groups. It was evident during the primary season, all the way to the Democratic Convention, and it hasn’t stopped.
I’ll never forget Pelosi’s 8 years of insults to Bush2 and nothing but negative comments. I don’t know how someone like that could be admired. A woman can be strong without being shrill.
I’ve told Mr.K. plenty of times that the ‘c’ description of a woman makes me cringe. But Nancy Pelosi is the exception.
…Wonder if this comment will pass the filter
Dems believed in WMD’s while Billy “how do you like my humidor” Clinton was in office.
Was pillosee a liar then as well or was Clinton the liar (I mean besides the obvious re-writing what sex is)?
Where’s the SNL crowd? I’d think they’d be reviving the old John Lovitz character, Tommy Flanagan, The Pathological Liar, using a female impersonator of Nancy Pelosi. There’s enough material for at least a few sketches. They didn’t hesitate to slam Sarah Palin when they had the chance.
She was briefed on the legality of EIT but not told of usage (lying CIA)
She was briefed on the briefing which briefed them on the actual usage but was not explicity told that they were using EIT (it’s hard to get good staff)
If she did understand they were using EIT she thought someone else was protesting(not her job)
Even if she wasn’t sure who was protesting what she knew Pres. Bush would do whatever he wanted anyway (he’s an evil liar)
So, lying CIA, bad staff, inept head of Intelligence committee, lying, evil President but NOT NANCY!!
Worst speaker of the house in my memory.
I hope she stays. I hope the country breaks bad on this Congress in 2010.
No Dem has steel balls.
The Dems spent years demonizing Bush and everything he did, politicizing things that should be basic national security. Now that they are in power they find themselves having to eat their words. Rather than admitting they were wrong in their positions, they fall back on the “we hate Bush” line.
“Stop the ‘torture’!” – “Er, except when we need to waterboard someone.”
“Close Gitmo Now!” – “Uuum, unless we need to keep it open.”
“They lied to us about ‘torture’!” – “I mean, they told us what they were doing and I was for it, but I didn’t know what they were saying because my ears were Botoxed.”
Stupidity is no way to run a country.
Shocka!
Cheney told the truth – Barry lied.
He often seems like the only adult in the room.
That is one of the reasons the libs hate him so much. He acts like a growm up and doesn’t act based on feelings and wants like a child does.
I’d like to see the EIT results released, as Cheney is requesting. If they got intel that prevented an imminent attack on, say, the Sears Tower in Chicago I’d love to see a reporter interviewing people in the tower and ask them:
“It appears waterboarding saved your life. Do you approve or disapprove of enhanced interrogation techniques?”
Nancy is done. Fried. Rest of Dem’s going to cut their losses to protect themselves to not get caught up in the ever growing net which means Pelosi is finished.
I give it 4 weeks at the most.
San Fran Nan is acting like the junior high girl who got caught in the hall with a forged hall pass and is trying to convince the principal it is REALLY a legitmate pass, even though the teacher whose signature is on the pass said he never signed it.
Nancy what IS THAT on your shoe?
But it is a way to ruin a country.
I would love to believe this but I can’t. John Q. Public does not care. Look at who they elected for POTUS.
I heard San Fran Nan on the television this morning and I turned the channel. This woman is so deluded and so in denial about what she was briefed on and when that she cannot own up to it. I don’t blaim the CIA for standing up for themselves when the likes of this woman seek to destroy their credibility.
San Fran Nan has created a Venus Fly Trap of her own making and now she’s being consumed by it. I have little respect for “public servants” who either have no active knowledge of the truth or can’t even pay attention long enough to protest something they obviously find wrong NOW.
For her to say that Republicans are “diverting attention” when the Dems have been threatening this whole “truth commission” business and attacking Rush for challenging them takes the cake.
Guys, I just put on my chestwaders and went over to DKos to read some of their comments on the subject. To say that the average commenter over there is unhinged or deluded is a gross understatement. Some of those loons actually believe that the CIA has been completely infiltrated by Bush/Cheney traitors, and that San Fran Nan’s standing up to them is somehow going to result in the eventual prosecution of Bush and Cheney for their crimes, as they have all known all along.
I think the term “galactically stupid” is not too far off base.
Are any Republican “leaders” taking notes from Cheney? This is how you win!
Logis over at HotAir recalled a great line on their discussion of this:
“How many people have to be lying for her to be telling the truth.”
~Rush Limbaugh~
I’m blond and can walk and chew gum at the same time – appears Ms. Pelosi is unable to do so. This is proof medical experiments to one’s face can deal a harsh blow to your mental health.
SPOT ON!
With principles, integrity, and courage.
I love Dick Cheney. The John Wayne of politics.
I don’t care who gets caught in this web…dems or republicans. I just want the truth and I want it all laid out! There are so many cover-ups in DC, I am disgusted with the whole lot of them. They are all fiddling while this country burns to the ground. When are they going to start taking care of the country that was intrusted to them? So far, they are not part of the solution, they are the problem. If we can take down Pelosi and a few other corruptocrats, then I don’t care if some republicans go down too!! It will be worth it. They are so power-mad, it has made them traitors.
I know I’m convinced a San Francisco uber liberal who despised the Bush administration would totally be okay with torture…and would choose the safety of her country over ratting them out. At the time she had so much integrity that she would never break her neck to bring them down.
This really inspires people to want to join the CIA, doesn’t it? (Or any intelligence or DoD organization for that matter.)
“Why should a man, however valorous, stand and die while right and left, fore and rear, his fellows deserted him?”
- From Steven Pressfield’s “Gates of Fire”
Am I going too far when I ask:
Does Nancy Pelosi think that gays tying each other up and whipping each other and fisting (look it up) each other is torture, or a lifestyle choice? If not, then waterboarding terrorists is simply a lifestyle choice for the men and women at Gitmo.
Isn’t this a bit of moral relativity? I don’t know why, but this whole Pelosi thing reminds me of this quote I remembered reading years ago in a philosophy class:
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”
- W. Butler Yeats
Paul #92 – lifestyle choice?….naw, just another parade in the Castro, S.F.. Nan’s used to those and probably supports them.
I know nothing about classified documents, but if these are so double top secret, does it take a presidential order to release them? If so, this whole affair will be a distant memory in two weeks. The WH will not like where all those hairballs lead.
No liberals on here today defending Nancy? Not a good sign for her. But remember, she is VERY powerful. She tells people what they are going to do and most fall quickly into line.
All of the damage to our country the Dems have brought may at least have a silver lining: getting Nancy (The Liar) Pelosi out of their leadership. Than again she only hurts there cause everytime she speaks! If someone would only waterboard her we would know the truth in 10 seconds!!
If the EITs were so egregiously wrong, why didn’t Pelosi get off her bony ass to find out what was happening? She’d been the ranking member of the Intelligence committee, then Speaker, so how is it that she didn’t throw her body in front of this engine of inhumanity? If it wasn’t her that could stop this, who could?
Ms. Pelosi is being all too cute about her role. Speaker of the House is a powerful office; Pelosi was no mere witness to history. If she wants to make a moral play out of the implementation of EITs then she has confess that she stood silently, doing nothing, while people were tortured. ‘Splain to me the morality in that.
Yeah, this and the little speech Obummer gave a few weeks ago at CIA HQ where he basically talked to them like they were 5th graders.
And we thought Carter gutted the intel community.
beast – if she’s left twisting in the wind, with no Dems supporting her, you can take it to the bank that directorate came from The One on high.
I’m thinking she’s tried to shape things in the WH to many times and is becoming an open sore. That face had best get used to tread marks from a bus.