Nancy Pelosi says that her Success in Congress will Lead Democrats to Victory in 2008
Nancy Pelosi recently touted the Democrat’s successes so far in the new Democrat controlled congress. She said that these successes would help them win the whitehouse in 2008.
What exactly are these successes? That is my question. I believe that the only piece of legislation that the congress passed and the president signed was the minimum wage increase. Other than that this has been a do nothing congress. This idea is reinforced by the gallop poll’s latest poll on congress. This poll has the congress approval rating at an all time low. Harry Reid’s approval rating is about half of the president’s approval rating.
So what is Nancy Pelosi Saying?
“One year ago, we promised that if we won [the midterm congressional elections], we would take the country in a new direction,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told the Take Back America conference in Washington, D.C.
“In the first 100 hours we signaled that change to a new direction,” she told the liberal gathering, hosted by Campaign for America’s Future.
Pelosi late last year promised seven initiatives – to enact new ethics rules and to pass legislation to implement the 9/11 Commission recommendation, increase the minimum wage, expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, negotiate lower prescription drug prices, cut interest rates on student loans, and end oil subsidies.
She told the conference Wednesday that the Democratic majority had succeeded in getting the 9/11 Commission recommendations passed and had also made strides on student loans, prescription drugs, lobbying reform, energy independence and promoting embryonic stem cell research.
Pelosi pointed to passage of legislation raising the minimum wage, saying that when it takes effect on July 24, millions of Americans will get a wage increase for the first time in 10 years.
Other than the minimum wage increase, what are the strides that are being made that she is talking about? All this great legislation is sitting in limbo. Who cares if she passed it if it isn’t going to be signed into law? What have they accomplished? NOTHING.
“We can’t wait for November 2008,” she added. “We have the will of the American people to end this war.”
If you really have the will of the American people to end the war, why wait until 2008? END IT NOW. Show us your true colors. You know that Americans don’t want to lose the war, that’s why you haven’t already ended the war. Show us the courage of your so-called convictions and DEFUND NOW, or else CALM DOWN, as you so eloquently told the president not to long ago when he threatened to veto the war funding bill.
I’m not the only one who feels this way.
Brian Darling, director for Senate relations at the conservative Heritage Foundation, questioned Pelosi’s claims to have succeeded in her 100 hours agenda.
“Those seven issues haven’t come to fruition yet,” he told Cybercast News Service, adding that the “opening salvo” hasn’t been signed. “So far it’s a failure.”
Darling said that despite campaigning on lobbying reform and government transparency, “They’ve done a striking 180 [degree turn] on openness.”
Yes, this has truly been a failure of congress, on top of the fact that they have accomplished nothing, they have also reneged on their pledge to have the most open and honest congress in history with their hiding of earmarks in bills until it is to late for them to be voted on.
This congress has been a disgrace and a mockery of the system and we need to vote them out in 2008.
Read the whole article here.
America's Watchtower 
For your edification…
All of the bills that were a part of the 100 hours were all passed in House and if I remember correctly they did it in under 50 hours. It was the Republicans in the Senate and/or the Republican President in the White House that blocked the other pieces of legislation.
When it comes to approval ratings in Congress the ratings very rarely peak above 35%. The average is around 25%. The American people consistently give the Congress a low rating, because they blame them for the gridlock. That is due to the fact that the Democrats and Republicans hardly ever come together on an issue to work for the American people.
After reading you espouse, “Yes, this has truly been a failure of congress, on top of the fact that they have accomplished nothing…” I’m curious what did the Republican Congress, what was so great about them that we should all go out there in droves and vote them back into power?
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I’m not quite sure what great successes have come out of congress since the dems took control. In fact, it seems to be quite opposite. Even the famed 100 hours was pretty pointless. I can’t pick anything worthwhile that came from that.
As we have talked about before, the dems came into power and made all sorts of promises to their special interest constituencies, yet their actions have done nothing to better this country. In fact, since coming to power all we have heard from the democrats in congress is a bunch of whining, complaining and accusations. Have you ever seen so many investigations into frivolous bullshit?
Many may use the raise in minimum wage as a great action by the dems, but the truth of the matter is that it was an action that wasn’t necessarily a good economic move.
You have to commend the Republicans for blocking or stalling the bits of legislation that have made it that far so far. Most of what has come up has been nothing more than ludicrous spending and moves towards a more socialist form of government. I fear where we would be right now had nobody been there to block this sort of stuff.
SO I agree. This congress has been an utter failure so far, and for Nancy to claim how wonderful she has been so far is a massive joke. The only thing she has been successful at is causing trouble, pissing off the democratic base, completely alienating the democratic congress from the conservative and moderates across the country and making a bunch of empty promises to the unions, anti-war crowd, environmentalists and anti-capitalism groups.
Yes, sounds successful to me. I can’t see why they won’t sweep 2008… Ha ha!
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The whole war thing is very frustrating to me. If the Democrats in congress want out, then stop being hypocrites! Cut off the funding and stand by your principles. Cutting the funding ends the war. Sure, it will cost them politically, but it is the only action in line with the principles they are espousing. It’s just another example of politics trumping real leadership.
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Of course, part of the problem with cutting funding and running is that it will create more problems than most people realize. The anti-war protesters are very near-sighted with their demands. For congress to have gone as far as they have already with trying to demand immediate timetables is very concerning.
A local reporter who is embedded in Iraq sent back a good article the other day, regarding the Iraqi military’s opinion on cutting and running. You can read it here:
http://arclightzero.wordpress.com/2007/06/21/waynes-adventures-update-3/
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The fact of the matter is that the Democrats never intended to cut off funding for the war. They know what would happen. They let the far left believe they would cut off funding, and that is where I think their biggest problem lies. War protesters seem to be turning their attention away from the president and towards the Democrats.
How long will the Democrats be able to hold out against an ever angering far left?
To apolitico: I was just pointing out that Democrats called the Republican controlled congress a do nothing congress, and now that they are in power they are doing nothing.
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