Posted on 01/04/2007 10:41:10 AM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - It's a glass ceiling no one else has even cracked, and Nancy Pelosi crashed through it Thursday, elected the nation's first-ever female House speaker.
The 66-year-old San Francisco Democrat beamed and clapped as she heard the voice vote electing her to the House's top post. She was surrounded on the House floor by her six grandchildren, including Paul Michael Vos, born to her daughter Alexandra in early November.
Pelosi had entered the chamber to prolonged cheers from fellow House members and the packed visitors' galleries, where onlookers included actor Richard Gere and singer Tony Bennett, crooner of "I Left My Heart in San Francisco."
As the roll was called to seal her election and one Democrat after another shouted out her name, Pelosi sat smiling broadly, holding one grandchild and then another.
"This is an historic moment — for the Congress, and for the women of this country. It is a moment for which we have waited more than 200 years," Pelosi said in prepared remarks. "Never losing faith, we waited through the many years of struggle to achieve our rights."
"For our daughters and granddaughters, today we have broken the marble ceiling," she said.
Pelosi began her history-making day running into anti-abortion demonstrators as she went to a prayer service with her husband, Paul, and a daughter at St. Peter's Catholic Church near the Capitol.
"You can't be Catholic and pro-abortion," read one placard. Pelosi and her entourage walked past the small group of protesters without saying anything.
Attending the service with her were Republican leaders that her party put into the minority in the November election: new Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio and Minority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri.
Also there were new House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, a one-time Pelosi rival elected by House Democrats to be her No. 2 over her protests, and Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean.
She also attended a ceremonial swearing-in of the Congressional Black Caucus, where the incoming leader of the 42-member group, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., made clear that they intended to have a voice in the new Congress. "She must deliver because black people delivered that we might have this majority," Kilpatrick said of Pelosi.
The House convened at midday with Democrats rejoicing over taking control of Congress after 12 years in the minority.
But the spotlight belonged to Pelosi, and she was making the most of it with a whirlwind of festivities from the lavish to the sentimental. The week was her coming-out to the nation, and she was aiming to introduce herself not just as the San Francisco liberal decried by Republicans, but also as an Italian-American Catholic, mother of five and native of gritty Baltimore, where her father was mayor.
"We look forward to the rest of the country appreciating the real San Francisco values, of diversity and a city of dreamers, " San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said after attending a brunch in her honor. "You can only exploit the gay community so much ... They're going to see there's so much more to San Francisco."
Throughout, the symbolism of Pelosi's triumph for women was center stage.
Outside a brunch Thursday at the Library of Congress, leaders from the National Organization for Women greeted her with a giant congratulation card. The message: Way to Go!
"This is a historic moment for women everywhere," said NOW President Kim Gandy.
Thursday evening, Pelosi was being feted at a $1,000-a-head concert hosted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee at the National Building Museum with performances expected from Carole King, Bennett, Wyclef Jean and others.
Pelosi attended Mass Wednesday at Trinity University, where she's an alumnus, and dined that night at the Italian embassy.
Friday begins with an open house event across from the Capitol. Then she heads to Baltimore, where the street where she grew up in Little Italy is being dedicated in her honor: Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi Via.
Pelosi was raised there, the daughter of New Deal Maryland congressman Thomas D'Alesandro, who later became the city's mayor. She didn't run for the House herself until 1987 after marrying wealthy businessman Paul Pelosi, moving to San Francisco and raising her children.
In Congress Pelosi displayed the tough politicking of her childhood environment. She wrung loyalties, counted votes and muscled aside Hoyer to become Democrats' second-in-command, and then Democratic leader in 2002.
Personal loyalty is key to Pelosi. She tried to block Hoyer's bid in November to become Democratic majority leader, suffering an embarrassing defeat when her preferred candidate, Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record), lost badly.
Pelosi wins re-election by huge margins and stays true to her San Francisco constituency, voting against the Iraq war resolution and co-sponsoring legislation to end federal prohibitions against medical marijuana. Her liberalism makes some moderate Democrats leery, and she's avoided campaigning in some conservative districts.
Now, now, at least toilets serve a productive purpose.
Richard Gere in the house!
I'm waiting for her to mount the podium, rip off her face, and underneath, it's Saddam shouting, "You didn't kill me ! I'm in charge now ! Bwahahahahahahahaha !!!"
We won't let the Dems rest a second. We will be kicking them in the a$$ every time they make a mistake.
W....Give em what they want....the new direction and we'll see the end of the Democrats for a long time to come...wait till the chickens come home to roost after the new direction is SOUTH...DOWN THE FRICKING TOILET.
Here she comes!!
this is arrogance like nothing I've ever seen.
MESS-NBC says they are covering politics all day (naturally since the Dims are in power)
Pelosi Plans Lavish Party
Representative Pelosi will mark her installation as the Speaker of the House with a four-day celebration. “This is a big deal,” the California Democrat’s spokesman Brendan Daly declared. “We’ve never had a woman Speaker before.”
The day after New Year’s Day, Pelosi will visit the Vatican, where she hopes to be coronated by the Pope. “No woman has ever been coronated by a Pope,” Pelosi said. “This ceremony will solidify the importance of my ascension.”
The next day, to show the common people that God backs the Democrats, Pelosi will attend morning Mass at Trinity University in Washington. That evening, she will be feted at a dinner at the Italian Embassy, where Tony Bennett will sing “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” while his back-up singers simulate gay sex acts. After dinner, a bong will be passed around.
On day three, Representatives who hope to keep their seats will be invited to kiss the hem of Speaker Pelosi’s skirt. At noon, the House will convene to formally elect Pelosi Speaker. That night, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will hold a fund-raiser where 1,200 lobbyists will pay to enjoy performances by Jimmy Buffett, Carole King and others.
On January 5, Pelosi will host an “open house” – by invitation only – at the Cannon Office Building.
The festivities are “more than just a party,” according to Daly. “Pelosi is grabbing the moment to present herself as the new face of the Democratic Party and to restore the party’s image as one hospitable to illegal immigrants, broken families, sexual-deviants, welfare-recipients, terrorists, and the gullible majority of voters.”
A discordant note was heard when al-Qaeda declined Pelosi’s invitation to participate in the celebration. “Pelosi and the Democrats act as if it is they who won the midterm elections,” al-Qaeda No. 2 man, Ayman al Zawahri complained. “The Mujahideen -- the Muslim Ummah’s vanguard in Afghanistan and Iraq -- are the ones who won, and the American forces and their Crusader allies are the ones who lost.”
Zawahri called on the Democrats to share power him and Osama bin Laden. “And if you don’t refrain from the foolish American policy of backing Israel, occupying the lands of Islam and stealing the treasures of the Muslims, then we will kill you,” he said.
Daly called al-Qaeda’s rejection of the invitation “disappointing.” “We had hoped that our shared revulsion for the Bush Administration would provide a framework for cooperation,” Daly said. “Maybe after Bush is impeached and turned over to them they’ll see we’re really on the same side.”
read more...
http://www.azconservative.org/Semmens1.htm
OMG!! This is embarrassing. I am so appalled at this display of arrogance. As even Andrea Mitchell said this morning "...isn't this all a bit much? A bit imperial..."
I'd say!!
This pretty much sums up the Liberals' idea of "best and the brightest"
/sarc
Rep. Boehner praises Ford and gets a standing O.
Thank you Dennis Hastert...you whimp.
Standing O for Denny Hastert.
I just can't tell you how empowered I now feel as a woman ;)
The Nanny Congress.
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