Poster child: After a rather terrible week that sent his congressional campaign into free fall, former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford took to the streets to host a mock debate, if you want to call it that, with a poster of Nancy Pelosi. His reasoning was that his opponent, Elizabeth Colbert Busch, wouldn’t commit to more than one debate, so he’d instead debate the leader of Busch’s party. It’s kind of a cute idea, but as is often the case with Sanford, it may serve to remind voters of things the GOP is trying to forget. Also, we can’t help but feel bad for the poor woman who had to hold up that cutout. (Photo credit: @stefaniebainum/Twitter) source
President Barack Obama will meet with top congressional leaders on Friday to discuss the deep, automatic U.S. government spending cuts slated to go into effect that day, congressional and White House officials said on Wednesday.
Obama is set to meet with Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader.
The meeting would be the first between the leaders this year, despite weeks of haggling over whether and how Washington could avoid the cuts known as the “sequester,” which the White House has warned will cause damage to U.S. economic growth.
Considering he has yet to meet with Congressional leaders this year, and scheduled a post-sequester meeting two days before the cuts are triggered, does this seem like a gamble by the President to lay blame for the sequestration at the feet of Republicans to anybody else?
No words can console the parents of the children murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School or describe the pain and shock of such an unspeakable tragedy. No words can comfort the loved ones of those brutally taken from us today. All Americans share our prayers and our grief over these horrifying events.Nancy Pelosi, in a statement released today.
(Source: livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com)
Of course she’s not stepping down: Nancy Pelosi announced today that she will run for Minority Leader in the House next session, thus perpetuating her reign as one of the most powerful Democrats in the country. There was a bit of doubt that she’d stick around, really, this wasn’t terribly unexpected. source
![reuters:
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (L) applauds as Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) reacts during an event posthumously awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to Capitol fresco painter Constantino Brumidi (1805-1880), “in recognition of his many artistic contributions to the United States Capitol” in the U.S. Capitol, Washington July 11, 2012. [REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque]
FULL FOCUS: The best Reuters images from the past 24 hours
He has something in his eye.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7247tMWOt1qmaoalo1_500.jpg)
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (L) applauds as Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) reacts during an event posthumously awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to Capitol fresco painter Constantino Brumidi (1805-1880), “in recognition of his many artistic contributions to the United States Capitol” in the U.S. Capitol, Washington July 11, 2012. [REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque]
FULL FOCUS: The best Reuters images from the past 24 hours
He has something in his eye.
I didn’t sit on a couch with anybody.Rick Santorum • Speaking at a campaign event at the USS Alabama Battleship Park, during which he also proudly declared that global warming “is not climate science, it was political science.” The couch line was a reference to a 2008 video that his opponent, Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, did with the then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi on climate change. Gingrich was not the only target of Santorum’s speech, the candidate quickly reminded those in attendance that Mitt Romney imposed the nation’s first CO2 cap during his time as governor. “We don’t need somebody who changes when the climate changes,” Santorum said, “We need somebody who looks at science with a clear head and a level eye.” source (via • follow)
Speaking of Romney and Newt … Mitt decided to pull out this old chestnut. A long while back, Gingrich did an ad with Nancy Pelosi — a bipartisan thing on climate change. Apparently, Romney’s staff sent an e-mail to reporters playing up the ad, using a photo like this one, with the phrase “With friends like these …” Newt has previously said he regrets doing the ad, to which we say, “you should do another one because we need more of this, you Washington insider, you. Try being bipartisan for once.”
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» Bipartisan support: For twelve years, Pelosi and Gingrich served together in the House of Representatives, and supported a total of 418 bills together. That’s an average of 34.83 pieces of legislation per year that enjoyed Pelosi/Gingrich support (at least, that’s what our team of math experts tells us; we didn’t have time to check their work). One such bill was the Global Warming Prevention act of 1989, the memory of which probably won’t do Gingrich any favors in the Republican primary (relatedly, neither will this). It should be noted, however, that much of this was non-contentious legislation, such as one honoring the 50th anniversary of the National Heart, Lung and Blood instituted.
I know a lot about [Newt Gingrich]. I served on the investigative committee that investigated him, four of us locked in a room in an undisclosed location for a year. A thousand pages of his stuff.Nancy Pelosi • Giddy at the prospect of Gingrich being the Republican nominee for president. She said she’ll give more details “when the time’s right” which, we can only assume, means “if Gingrich wins the nomination.” source (via • follow)
Nancy Pelosi’s joking reply to Rick Perry’s challenge — Perry asked Pelosi to debate him on “my Overhaul Washington plan, versus the congressional status quo.” Why on earth Pelosi would even consider engaging in a voluntary debate with a faltering GOP presidential candidate while she’s the Democratic Minority Leader is beyond us, and apparently beyond her. Also, Rick Perry wants more debates?
Herman Cain, in the process of excoriating the formerly Democratic House for not passing a piece of legislation, referred to then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi as “Princess Nancy.” That he couldn’t recognize such a crack won’t serve him well in the midst of a sexual harassment scandal is a surprising thing, even for somebody with no political experience; Nancy Pelosi was, after all, the first female Speaker in American history, and as such does occupy a trailblazer role in our political culture. Bad move by Cain, though the GOP audience did seem receptive.
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