English certainly knows how to write a dementi,... (4.00 / 1)

..and the statement you quote isn't one. It's apparent that he tries to omitt answering instead. He certainly knows that the question isn't about who organizes the event, but if Pelosi will accept contributions from the healthcare business. It would take her only one call to make sure that the host declines lobbyists as guest. So, it's quite apparent that Pelosi doesn't reject nay donations, no mater where they come from, and that Englich knows that. He would have reacted totally differently otherwise. This playing the public for fools is pathetic. Shame on Pelosi!

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by: Gray @ Mon Sep 21, 2009 at 12:25:35 PM UTC

refusal (4.00 / 1)

His refusal to answer your second question IS his answer.... they are.

Government by organized money is just as dangerous as government by organized mob..... FDR

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by: reggiewhitefish @ Mon Sep 21, 2009 at 13:32:39 PM UTC

The Dance (0.00 / 0)

A sad spectacle, to be sure.  This country's privately-funded political system forces all legislators to dance with the devil in order to keep the flow of big money (or protection from adversarial challenges) coming to their campaigns.  Even the best among them have to make calculations of the relative costs and benefits of compromising for cash in order to stay in the game long enough to do some good on the margins.  For the worst of them, it is an opportunity to collect enough money so that the fifth generation of their descendants will be farting through silk.

When, exactly will we make public funding of congressional campaigns the first priority for reform?

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by: Theory of Art @ Mon Sep 21, 2009 at 13:34:24 PM UTC

ahem (4.00 / 2)

see http://Change-Congress.org

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by: AdamGreen @ Mon Sep 21, 2009 at 13:48:37 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Maybe raise a little hell on the (0.00 / 0)

blogs, write a dkos diary asking people to email Pelosi, etc., but I'm not sure it's worth doing much more than that.

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by: Joel @ Mon Sep 21, 2009 at 14:00:26 PM UTC

Is it possible that United Health is trying to taint Pelosi? (4.00 / 1)

I mean, the lobbyists have to know that there are people in the party that see them as a malignant force for evil, right?

They know what kind of "blood money" they hand out.


"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."

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by: SpitBall @ Mon Sep 21, 2009 at 14:09:40 PM UTC

Good point. Those lobbyists ain't dumb. (0.00 / 0)

And this may really be a smart move to force Pelosi's hand. But why does she play along with that scheme? Because greed trumped all concerns, or what?

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by: Gray @ Mon Sep 21, 2009 at 14:22:50 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I have no idea (0.00 / 0)

Never met Nancy Pelosi.

But, most politicians seems to think that they can finesse these kind of questions. On the other hand, if one takes the lobbyist $, and doesn't bow to their will, doesn't that kind of smell like Robin Hood?  

"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."

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by: SpitBall @ Mon Sep 21, 2009 at 14:31:19 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

"doesn't bow to their will..." (4.00 / 1)

You mean like pushing for hearings on single-payer in the 110th and 111th Congresses?

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by: nasrudin @ Mon Sep 21, 2009 at 14:58:51 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

yeah, that's the kind of thing (4.00 / 1)

I'm not saying Pelosi has actually accomplished this feat, only that the appearance of such in this limited arena may allow one to take lobbyist's money and still feel as though one has not sold out their constituents.

The limited arena: This particular fundraiser and maintaining support for the so-called "Public Option". All on a vector moving forward.

Discussion of single payer is not allowed. Which part of "off the table" don't you understand?


"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."

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by: SpitBall @ Mon Sep 21, 2009 at 15:13:43 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yup, progressives let the lawmakers off the hook much too easily... (0.00 / 0)

...despite this "off the table" shit. No reasonable explanation was ever provided (but some unreasonable ones, sure) and thius severely reduced the Dems bargaining power against the right wingers and lobbyists, much too early int he game. If single payer would have been on the table, we wouldn't have to defend the public option now. Simply a dumb move. Or even a deliberate sell out, who knows...

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by: Gray @ Mon Sep 21, 2009 at 15:34:48 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Indeed (4.00 / 1)

That would be my response to all the Republicans flocking around the TV news magazines this last weekend and squeaking that "we should slow down, start over, and get healthcare reform done right."

Fine, you want to start over and do it right? Let's put single payer and non-profit private health insurers back on the table.  

"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."

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by: SpitBall @ Mon Sep 21, 2009 at 15:47:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Nancy Pelosi raises a lot of money for the DCCC (4.00 / 1)

More than anyone, from lots of different sources....lots of from people and organizations we approve of as well as groups we don't.  

The money is not for her reelection, it is for the DCCC and for other candidates.  If she was going to be influenced solely by who donated to events she was at...she's be buffeted by winds blowing all over.....another metaphor, she would be cut in hundreds of tiny pieces.  I just don't think those are the most significant pressures...at least inn this instance. this fight...because personally she is with us on the public option

Nancy is the most proressive speaker we've ever had.  Her own politics are as left as say Bernie Sanders.  

However what I think she is affected more by are the other external factors....like what her members are saying, the pressures or lack of it they are applying.  She of course has pressures from Harry Reid and the Senate and very much the president.  Her most equivocal statement on the public option came right after a meeting with the president and Harry Reid.  

Those are the pressures we have to counter....at least in this instance.

"Incrementalism isn't a different path to the same place, it could be a different path to a different place"
Stoller

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by: debcoop @ Mon Sep 21, 2009 at 17:40:30 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

godammit -- we should have some kinda spit-take warning -- (0.00 / 0)

NSFB, "not safe for beverages," or something, when a post is gonna contain gems like this:

"Her [Pelosi's] own politics are as left as say Bernie Sanders."

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by: nasrudin @ Mon Sep 21, 2009 at 19:45:30 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

That is true, so spuuter into your coffee some more. (0.00 / 0)

Have you seen her record before she became Speaker?

Have you ever talked to her about her principles and why she entered Congress?  I have and she's about as personally progressive as they come.  Being speaker is another matter as she constantly has to accomodate the differnt parts of her caucus.

Don't be such a cynic. Bernie Sanders wouldn't be Bernie Sanders if he was the Majority Leader or even the Whip.  

"Incrementalism isn't a different path to the same place, it could be a different path to a different place"
Stoller

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by: debcoop @ Mon Sep 21, 2009 at 20:27:01 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Bernie wouldn't be anything in the D leadership... (0.00 / 0)

...because he's not a Democrat. I'm not nominating Sanders for sainthood; he's made some despicable votes -- one that pops to mind is his support of one of the hideous, prison-population-exploding Clinton crime bills -- but nowhere near as many fiercely anti-progressive votes as Pelosi.

On Pelosi-talk -- actions should carry much more weight than talk. If those actions are contrary to the claimed "progressive" principles...what would you call it?

And as far as "cynic"...I reject the modern alteration of the term into a pejorative. Antisthenes, Diogenes and most of the rest are OK with me.

Besides, my politics are basically anarcho-cynicalist.

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by: nasrudin @ Tue Sep 22, 2009 at 04:33:01 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Ask a third time (0.00 / 0)

This time ask if the Speaker believes that "he who pays the piper calls the tune"?

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by: JRD--Iowa @ Mon Sep 21, 2009 at 15:02:01 PM UTC

Pelosi should be punished for her cluelessness (0.00 / 0)

I do not know if/whether Pelosi will sell out on the public option.  We will soon find out.  If I had to guess, I would say that, if it happens, the sellout would most likely come from others before her.  Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised and we will get a decent healthcare reform bill instead of a piece of crap.

The best way to look at this fundraiser is that Pelosi is being clueless about how it looks and is just interested in raising money.  But the only way that progressives are going to be seen as powerful in DC is if stupidity like this gets punished.  So you should do everything you can to make things uncomfortable for her.

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by: ammasdarling @ Mon Sep 21, 2009 at 15:25:36 PM UTC

Yes, Pelosi *IS* a "bad actor" in all this. (0.00 / 0)

when it comes to the public option, there are a whole lot of truly bad actors out there -- and Pelosi is not one of them.

Make no mistake: on everything from impeachment to ending the illegal occupation of Iraq, from ending and investigating torture to gutting the energy bill, on the Wall Street Swindle and now health care "reform," Pelosi has been nothing but an enabler of the most depraved right-wing policies coming out of Congress.  Now the right-wing hag is openly accepting fundraisers from corporate lobbyists hoping to bribe her into killing any and all substantive reform in the House of Representatives.  Why expect her to suddenly do a 180° turn and support a public option now that it's clear she has the green light from Obama to dump it altogether?  Pelosi is one of the Enemy.  She is not on our side.

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by: Michael Kwiatkowski @ Mon Sep 21, 2009 at 20:44:33 PM UTC