“Most Powerful Woman In America”

Today, Representative Nancy Pelosi officially became Speaker Pelosi, and the second person in the line of presidential succession, immediately following Vice President Dick Cheney. A report in today’s Washington Times suggests she is keenly aware of her unique position. Celebrating her new status yesterday, Mrs. Pelosi said, “We [American women] have waited over 200 years for this time to come. In more than 200 years of history, there was an established pecking order – and I cut in line.” Pelosi went on to declare herself “the most powerful woman in America,” and then, according to the Times, screamed, “All right, let’s hear it for the power!”

But what exactly should we expect the Speaker from San Francisco to do with her new power? As one might expect, Nancy Pelsoi has amassed quite an extensive voting record throughout her two decades in Congress.

For example, she is solidly pro-abortion, even opposing a ban on the gruesome practice of partial- birth abortions. She voted against the Bush tax cuts; against the PATRIOT Act; against legislation to allow public displays of the Ten Commandments; and against legislation guaranteeing that “under God” would remain in our Pledge of Allegiance.

She opposed every major bill to crack down on illegal immigration in the previous Congress. She has voted against every effort to preserve traditional marriage, and was even among the 15% of House members who opposed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996!

Given this liberal record, it probably won’t surprise you to learn that Rep. Pelosi earned a zero on Campaign for Working Families’ congressional scorecard last year. By any objective standard there is nothing “moderate” about Pelosi’s record, and her rhetoric of “bipartisanship” is just that -- talk.

In fact, according to a column in today’s Washington Post, Pelosi passed over Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) for the chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee because Harman was viewed as too moderate and too bipartisan for this extremely sensitive position. Unfortunately for Pelosi, her handpicked choice for the post, Rep. Silvestres Reyes (D-TX), flunked a reporter’s “pop quiz” about the key differences in Islam and the makeup of Al Qaeda.

(Gary Bauer; End- of-Day; Jan. 4, 2004)