You go Madam Speaker, take care of your constituents first.
Drain that GOP swamp.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...R2006100600056

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Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked... in the head... with an iron boot? Of course you don't, no one does. It never happens. It's a dumb question... skip it.

http://www.azstarnet.com/news/163297


Pelosi Says She Would Drain GOP 'Swamp'

By DAVID ESPO
The Associated Press
Friday, October 6, 2006; 1:58 AM



WASHINGTON -- Franklin Roosevelt had his first hundred days.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is thinking 100 hours, time enough, she says, to begin to "drain the swamp" after more than a decade of Republican rule.

As in the first 100 hours the House meets after Democrats _ in her fondest wish _ win control in the Nov. 7 midterm elections and Pelosi takes the gavel as the first Madam Speaker in history.

Day One: Put new rules in place to "break the link between lobbyists and legislation."

Day Two: Enact all the recommendations made by the commission that investigated the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Time remaining until 100 hours: Raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, maybe in one step. Cut the interest rate on student loans in half. Allow the government to negotiate directly with the pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices for Medicare patients.

Broaden the types of stem cell research allowed with federal funds _ "I hope with a veto-proof majority," she added in an Associated Press interview Thursday.

All the days after that: "Pay as you go," meaning no increasing the deficit, whether the issue is middle class tax relief, health care or some other priority.

To do that, she said, Bush-era tax cuts would have to be rolled back for those above "a certain level." She mentioned annual incomes of $250,000 or $300,000 a year and higher, and said tax rates for those individuals might revert to those of the Clinton era. Details will have to be worked out, she emphasized.

"We believe in the marketplace," Pelosi said of Democrats, then drew a contrast with Republicans. "They have only rewarded wealth, not work."

"We must share the benefits of our wealth" beyond the privileged few, she added.

Pelosi, 66, has been a leader of the House Democrats since 2002. But her political apprenticeship dates to childhood, when her father was mayor of Baltimore.

Now, her political base is about as liberal as it gets, San Francisco. It's a fact that Republicans love to emphasize to voters who might want to visit, but not feel comfortable living there.

Republicans find her an attractive political target, and recently said she would try to "cut-and-run" from Iraq while "launching bitter partisan investigations" of the Bush administration, possibly including impeachment hearings.

A grandmother five times over, Pelosi pops chocolates, shuns coffee and flashes her wit. Asked what offices should would occupy if in the Capitol if she becomes speaker, she laughed. "I'll have any suite I want."

She would, too.

"If the election were held today we'd be successful," Pelosi predicted, claiming that her party's prospects are expanding as the campaign enters its final month. "So many other races are emerging right now," she said.

Democrats must gain 15 seats to regain the majority they lost in 1994, and have candidates in competitive races for 30 or so Republican-held seats, according to strategists in both parties. By contrast, only about a handful of Democratic-controlled seats appear ripe for possible Republican takeover.

Democrats have a pamphlet that lists all their promises and have run through several slogans in the past year or so as they test campaign messages. In recent days, Pelosi said, their prospects have improved by the discovery that former Republican Rep. Mark Foley of Florida had sent sexually explicit computer messages to teenage male pages.

Not long before sitting down for a lunchtime interview, she turned down a suggestion from Speaker Dennis Hastert that they jointly appoint former FBI Director Louie Freeh to recommend improvements in the page program.

"That was about protecting their majority" rather than the pages, she said dismissively.

Instead, she wants to put Hastert and other Republicans under oath and make them say what they knew of Foley's actions, when they learned it and what they did to stop him.

The potential for political gain is clear to her.

"It's an opportunity for growth among women" for the Democrats, she said. "They don't always vote and this could be a motivation."

With married women, in particular, it's a huge issue, she added.

Among older voters, too.

"If there's an ethical issue, seniors take a hike" and abandon politicians they blame, she said.

"If we hold onto seniors we win the election."

© 2006 The Associated Press

well i like day one not so much with day two ether way i don't really understand the point in rushing two or three issues in 100 hours its not like they will lose office if they wait to long and better prepare themselves on the issues

The key to the first 100 hours is looking at which issues finally make it into law, and in what form. For one house of Congress to pass a bill is one thing...the follow up in Committee and on the President's desk is something else. Good political leaders will follow a bill from beginning to end, making sure it will get signed into law. The other option is for the Democrats to pass a bill, then watch it get burned or buried later in the process. Then, all of Pelosi's talk will have been mere grandstanding.

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Hobo
Charter member of 'Republicans Who Hate Bush" Club

Yeah----you go girl, speaking of Ms. Pelosi. You know that same Ms. Pelosi who was taken to grade school in a limousine every day when she was growing up!! She can really relate to the average American, now can't she???

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

I have nothing to add to the debate, so I will attack the messenger. What's next, Obama is a coke head.

Go Dems!

I like them attacking the deficit with Pay Go rules. That’s absolutely brilliant!

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Classic American liberal

No, Obama is a coke head whore chaser, who rides in a limo and has big ears and a name that rhymes with a certain terrorist that the republicans forgot about long ago. Those are the issues the cons want to discuss. Issues that attack his character and have nothing not a thing to do with the mans true character. This is the way America and the world knows how republicans conduct their attack politics. What do they have to talk about? Their high degree of credibility and dignity? I don't think so because they have neither.
By trying to keep these important issues on the table they will never have to talk about the real issues that concern our nation today and in the future.
These tactics are old news and will certainly work against them.