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Pelosi: $33 Billion for Afghan War -- New Poll: Pelosi at Risk
In 2006, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated: “Bringing the war to an end is my highest priority as Speaker.” Despite the generalization of “the war,” apparently she was referring to only the Iraq war (which, ironically, she has also supported in various ways). Pelosi has been criticized for her pro-war stance for some time, despite her lip-service to the contrary.
Headlines today reveal the hardship this Speaker faces during this difficult time for American policymakers, i.e. fighting a war on two fronts that continues to dangerously spill over borders. However, the hardship isn’t due to Pelosi’s opposition to war, rather her problem is “finding the votes to pass what could be a $33 billion supplemental spending bill to pay for the war in Afghanistan.”
The war in Afghanistan, since the beginning, has been compared to the quagmire of Vietnam. Recently, the always impressive Alfred McCoy wrote a detailed piece for TomDispatch.com (later published on Salon) that revealed the similarities between Diem and Karzai, right down to their CIA ties, drug dealing brothers and eventual US defiance.
This is one reason the John Dennis campaign is receiving so much attention. Voters are waking up to the hypocrisy that resonates from their representatives. Pelosi’s stance on war serves as a prime example. On her own website she speaks of her humanitarian agenda, stating that she has “led the fight to end the suffering of people worldwide.” Rummaging congress for votes appropriating billions of dollars to continue the controversial Afghan war is blatantly contradictory to leading the “fight to end the suffering of people worldwide.”
Pelosi is losing support even within her own party. A new poll released today by NBC/Wall Street Journal suggests “Pelosi’s grip on the speakership is clearly at risk… The poll confirms earlier indications of a sharp swing by independents to the GOP,” Carolyn Lochhead of SF Gate reports (comments below).
“Pelosi may have been right that failure to pass health care would have made things worse, but passage does not seem to be helping. Support is also high for Arizona's tough new immigration law. Pelosi is being widely lauded on the Hill as the most effective Speaker since legendary Sam Rayburn, whose speakership ironically was interrupted twice by GOP takeovers in 1947 and 1953. These days a political wipeout usually leads to a change in leadership...”
