I correspond with a number of old friends and a few of them are (gasp!) Republicans. Some of them are on email lists which spread all the latest dirt, rumors, and foment going on in the back rooms and chat rooms of the far Right. One guy in particular is very good about sending me the latest goop scoops. In '04 this guy sent me a full copy of the Kerry Swiftboat charges almost a full week before it hit any of the media. He sure keeps me busy googling and surfing all the Urban Legends and Hoax sites coming up with evidence to refute the charges. To his credit, when I do come up with refutations he does send them around to all his right wing buddies.
Now they're recycling "scary" tales about the next Speaker of the House and you can bet that in the next few days this stuff will be posted on every rightwing message board numerous times. Here's one of the swiftboatish things that have been making the internets and email chains about Nancy Pelosi. I could use some help coming up with ammo to counter this stuff.
This is one of the cut n' paste blurbs making its way around the dark side on places like
newsmax.com, and showing up on
epinions.com and the
yahoo "answers" site.
Do you really know Nancy Pelosi?
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich does. He has warned that a Democratic victory will turn the House over to "the San Francisco values of would-be Speaker Nancy Pelosi."
So far so good! Breaking News! Newt says Pelosi is a liberal. Gasp! We needn't be too concerned about that. But the letter goes on -- and note that it's not really quoting Newt anymore but it doesn't make that distinction for the uncareful reader. Instead some unknown bloviator continues...
Just how dangerous, then, is the House minority leader from California to those who hold to traditional conservative values?
Pelosi is one of the most liberal members of the House, receiving a 95 percent "liberal quotient" from the Americans for Democratic Action based on her support for the liberal position in key votes.
She voted against cutting taxes by $70 million, against renewing the Patriot Act, against reducing the death tax, against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and against making it a crime to desecrate the U.S. flag.
She supports gay marriage, and backed legislation allowing overseas military facilities to provide abortions for women in the military and military dependents.
The would-be speaker also backed a measure calling for a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, supported a bill requiring a 72-hour background check for persons buying weapons at gun shows and opposed a bill strengthening the enforcement of immigration laws.
He (whoever it is) neglects to mention little things like the "tax cut" she voted against was Bush's bail out for the ultra-rich and he uses standard rightspeak like "death tax" instead of estate tax.... not much to see here. From here the letter goes on to revive a number of old quotes from a book published in October, 2005 by Hoover Institute research fellow Peter Schweizer. And so the swiftboating begins...
Pelosi's Hypocrisy
But a look behind the scenes exposes Pelosi as a Democratic leader who passionately fights for liberal policies, yet goes to great lengths to avoid applying those policies in her personal life.
Best-selling author Peter Schweizer's book "Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy" first revealed the glaring contradictions between Pelosi and other prominent liberals' public stances and their real-life behavior.
Pelosi claims to be a staunch union supporter, and, along with her husband, has received the Cesar Chavez award from the United Farm Workers Union, notes Schweizer.
Unions are, in her words, "fighting for America's working families" and battling "the union-busting, family-hurting" Bush administration. But Schweizer uncovered that a $25 million Northern California vineyard the Pelosis own is a non-union shop!
Pelosi's hypocrisy doesn't stop there.
The congresswoman is the top recipient among members of Congress in campaign contributions from labor unions, and has received more money from the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union than any other member of Congress in the last several election cycles.
But in addition to the wine business, the Pelosis own a large stake in the exclusive Auberge du Soleil hotel in Rutherford, Calif. The hotel has more than 250 employees; but once again, Schweizer found, it is strictly a non-union shop.
The Pelosis are also partners in a restaurant chain called Piatti, which has 900 employees.
"But a union card is not required to work there bussing tables, washing dishes, serving guests, or preparing food," Schweizer wrote in NewsMax Magazine.
"As with Auberge du Soleil, at Piatti the Pelosis' commitment to organized labor ends at the front door."
Pelosi has also demonstrated hypocrisy on the environment. "With us," she proclaims, "the environment is not an issue it's an ethic. It's a value."
That's what she says. Schweizer exposed what she does: One of her largest investments is a private partnership called Lions Gate Limited, which operates the CordeValle Golf Club and Resort in San Martin, Calif.
To get a permit to build the facility, the partners promised to build a "public course" providing considerable access to non-members, and to abide by several environmental requirements to ensure that there would be minimal ecological damage.
But after the facility opened, the county's Planning Commission found that the golf course was in fact private and the club had "ignored" many of its permit requirements concerning the environment!
"The reality is that liberals like to preach in moral platitudes," says Schweizer.
"But when it comes to applying those same standards to themselves, liberals are found to be shockingly guilty of hypocrisy."
So what do we have here? Who's the "Pelosi family" that owns some stake in the Piatti restaurant chain and what is Nancy's role in it? Same question for the Auberge du Soleil resort and Lions Gate development... anyone know anything about these places? Assuming Ms. Pelosi does have some investment interest in them, what are they and how much does she have to say about their business?