Pelosi chokes up - asked about state of Political Discourse - recalls Milk Assassination.

[Pirate Smile]

Pelosi chokes up

For the first time anyone can remember, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi teared up at a press conference this morning in response to an off-beat question about the current state of political discourse.

Visibly struggling to retain her composure, Pelosi recalled a time in San Francisco when emotions ran out of control, obviously referring to the assassination of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk by an angry former supervisor Dan White on Nov. 27, 1978.

"People can say what they think," in a democracy Pelosi began. Then out of nowhere, startling the reporters gathered at her weekly press conference, she almost instantly teared up as she recalled the unnamed events long ago in San Francisco.

Finally regaining control, she expressed a wish that everyone would "curb their enthusiasms," and "take responsibility" for what they say, "because "the ears that (their statements) are falling on may not be as balanced" as their own.

Pelosi's comments come after the House chastized Rep. Joe Wilson for shouting out, "You lie," during President Obama's address to Congress last week, part of an insurgent politics of anger that is gaining ground in public discourse.

Pelosi also vowed in no uncertain terms that "a public option will be in the bill that passes the House," throwing down the gauntlet to Senate moderates who oppose a government-run option in health care legislation.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detai...

[Bluerthanblue]

1. she's right.

and I for one am glad she isn't ignoring this.

[Pirate Smile]

21. Video of it as at the link below:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/17/pelosi-warns-o...

[Rude Dog]

2. Honest emotion.

And you just know that the Right's going to seize on this and mock her.

[Jennicut]

3. Nancy's been growing on me lately.

Reid can go but I have not had an issue with the Speaker in a long time.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

10. Same here.

Damn, I hate it when that happens.

[frebrd]

12. Me too! n/t

[LeftinOH]

4. She's right: Milk's assassin was a right-wing nutjob -n/t

[CreekDog]

17. nobody knew he was a nut job before he did it

and his politics while conservative weren't that far out of mainstream Republican politics.

that's what's so disturbing.

here you had a guy, fireman, policeman then supervisor for City and County of SF. an often ally of Board President Dianne Feinstein no less, and look what he does?

[spanone]

5. k&r

[kjackson227]

6. A lot of people are beginning to realize that the right-wing...

lunatic RADICAL racist fringe is becoming a PROBLEM.

[Spazito]

7. She is so right ...

"because "the ears that (their statements) are falling on may not be as balanced" as their own."

Those like limbaugh, beck et al are WANTING those who are NOT balanced to hear their words. Their words are hate speech, imo.

[marmar]

8. "the ears that (their statements) are falling on may not be as balanced"

In other words, the right's lunatic fringe.


Nancy takes a lot of heat here, often deservedly, but every now and then she has a moment of endearing clarity.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

9. Well said and very true.

What I don't think these hatemongers realize is, feeding hate to the already hate filled and mentally unbalanced of the world is not something anyone should be proud of, ever. No matter what kind of paycheck you're making off it, or even if you think it will resonate with your constituents there's no pride to be taken in social destruction. But feeding them until one of them does something violent will have political, social and personal repercussions for the hatemongers. Eventually the reasonable people in society will take a stand against this type of legal social antagonism.

[elleng]

11. She's exhausted.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

13. Well stated nancy pelosi!

[myrna minx]

14. This made me tear up too. K&R n/t

[redqueen]

15. She's right...

but waht if they *want* those unbalanced people to hear their vile rhetoric?

And that's funny... 'take responsibility'... when has anyone on the right ever done that?

[frebrd]

16. You have to go back quite a few years........

to the days when most Republicans were honorable people. I'm old enough to remember, but most people aren't.

[emulatorloo]

18. well put n/t

[quiet.american]

19. I can't help but wonder if the "Bury Obamacare w/Kennedy" signs were also on her mind.

To me, those signs were unforgiveable.

[Pirate Smile]

20. kick

[femrap]

22. I had just moved to SF

and Harvey was assassinated. As far as I'm concerned the hatred being spewed today is MUCH worse. With fox revving up the violent talk, the change is exponential.

[Laurab]

23. K&R nt

[Vidar]

24. She has been behaving well lately