Pelosi on The Today Show: "I'm a Conservative Catholic"

The Today Show

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Matt Lauer just completed an interview with Nancy Pelosi. After some standard stuff about her "historic" role as the first woman to lead a congressional party, Lauer asked a a pretty probing question:

"When Republicans chose Newt as their leader, Democrats were quick to say they had gone too far right. Why shouldn't the Republicans now say that in choosing you, the Democrats have gone too far left?"

Pelosi answered by stating that while she represented her district in SF (implying that she was being very liberal in representing a very liberal district), she will lead "right down the center" of the Dem caucus.

She then added the following statement: "When people call me a liberal, I call myself a conservative Catholic."

I had heard Pelosi make the same statement in an interview yesterday, so this clearly seems to be a standard part of her defense to the charge that she's too liberal to lead successfully.

I'm not Catholic, but I have to assume that many true "conservative Catholics" will be upset by hearing Pelosi claim that label. It is hard to imagine an authentic conservative Catholic supporting unrestricted abortion, including partial birth abortion, as does Pelosi.

Pelosi failed to vote to ban PBA even when an exception was included for the life of the mother. I think it is thus fair to categorize her as a pro-abortion extremist. Given that record, to go on national TV and call herself a conservative Catholic seems the height of gall and duplicity.

As a sidenote, Pelosi also trotted out what the Dems have apparently decided to make their new theme: "Safety and Soundness," apparently some combination of national security and economic progress. Instant nominee for the "Lamest Political Slogan of the Decade."

[Carolinamom]

All this dem celebration and drum beating about Pelosi's being "the first woman who..." is the prelude to their on-going build-up for Hillary's being the first woman president campaign. The constant talk of whether Hil will or won't run is getting the public used to thinking about the possibility of her election. Nationwide "Listening tours", IMO, won't get her what she wants this time.

[mewzilla]

Pelosi was supposed to appear on FOX & friends this am, and suddenly cancelled out. Pelosi had something in her eye.

Who's afraid of the big, bad FOX? Big, bad FOX... Big, bad, FOX...

[PJ-Comix]

Does anyone remember Laurence Olivier as the fiendish ex-Nazi in "Marathon Man", torturing Dustin Hoffman while asking him repeatedly: "Is it safe? Is it safe?"

I heard there was a definite decline in visits to dentists' offices after that flick came out.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

WIN: Whip Inflation Now.

Excellent entry in the all-time annals of lame political slogans. Let's hope "Safety and Soundness" does for Pelosi what WIN did for Gerald Ford!

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Excellent, excellent point. As we used to say about some girls back in college, "all show no go."

[AFPhys]

CONSERVATIVE CATHOLIC ... LOL...

I'm a conservative Catholic, Nancy... your beliefs violate nearly every part of my religion, from published reports.

You are NOT a conservative, and you may not even be a Catholic when your bishop discovers this claim.

[PGalt]

Nazi(National Socialist)Pelosi is a propagandist.

[mystery-ak]

Don't expect that to happen....example...Ted Kennedy and Chris Dodd..I've never heard the Church come out and denounce their stand on abortions.

[McGruff]

"I'm a Conservative Catholic"

Yeah right, and I never had sexual

relations with that woman.

[Aquinasfan]

She raised the issue of her so-called Catholicism - it is now the obligation of the Archbishop to refute publicly the public declaration of a public person who maintains such a demonstrably false fiction. The Archbishop will lose credibility if he does not act - failure to act, to right wrongs about which it is aware has gotten the Catholic Church into the mess it is right now - witness the molestation cases presently wending their way thoughout the land in various judicial forums. The public rebuke of her for her positions and her statement should not redound well to her politically.

There's the rub. This nonsense has been going on in Massachusetts for thirty years. Kennedy and Kerry have always called themselves Catholics (and the Globe never misses a chance to mention this fact) yet they have never been challenged by the bishop or cardinal here. It's simply nauseating.

But putting my nausea aside for a moment, what is truly tragic is the fact that generations of Catholics have grown up assuming that it's "OK" to be Catholic and "pro-choice." How many lives have been ruined by their bishops' refusal to speak out?

[HitmanLV]

"When people call me a liberal, I call myself a conservative Catholic."

Good girl*, Nancy! Tick off legit Catholics FIRST! this is going to be good!

* I'm using 'girl' in the sexist and pejorative way that I would suspect would get under Nancy's skin. I mean no offense to anyone else!

[grumpster-dumpster]

Conservative Catholic: Two words, two lies from Pelosi...
Have these Rats got the lie down to a science, or what?

[governsleastgovernsbest]

"Sir, would you like me to drill through your front tooth without anasthesia now, or would you prefer that I first attach electrodes to your most sensitive areas?"

[friendly]

Her claim of being a conservative Catholic, beyond being false, is clearly a rookie political mistake. You don't go on TV the day after being elected and tell a preposterous lie that is so easily refuted.

Yes, of course! And forget (for the moment) Catholicism and abortion. Ms Pelosi and her vile excuse for a political party support infanticide, a position opposed by I suspect 99% of the American population. Consider the official democrat policy as expounded by Frank LautenCadaver and Barbara Boxer:

"Now that one of the nation's finest universities (Princeton) has given a prestigious position to an advocate of infanticide (Peter Singer suggests that for perhaps a month after birth parents should be entitled to dispose of unwanted children), it is not surprising that the Senate has what deserves to be called an "Infanticide Caucus." The caucus has at least three members. "Two of them, Russ Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin and Frank Lautenberg, Democrat of New Jersy, identified themselves when, during the Sept. 26, 1996 debate on partial-birth abortion, Rick Santorum, Republican of Pennsylvania, asked: Suppose during such an abortion (during which a baby is delivered feed first until all but a portion of the skull is outside the mother, then its skull is punctured, its contents vacuumed, then collapsed) the baby slips all the way out of the birth canal. Should killing the baby even then be a permissible choice? Neither senator would say "no."

"During the Oct. 20, 1999, debate Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, joined the caucus:

"Santorum: 'You agree, once a child is born, separated from the mother, that that child is protected by the Constitution and cannot be killed. Do you agree with that?'

"Boxer: 'I think when you bring your baby home...'

"She said more. What she would not say was 'yes.'"

We have now reached a point in our culture where one can be arrested for plowing up an endangered species - a wild morning glory or a kangaroo rat, but can be applauded for one's wisdom in killing one's own unborn child, and even one's newborn - especially if that child is designated as "handicapped" and a possible burden."

That is clear enough: neither Feingold nor Lautenberg would say "no" to treating the killing of a newborn baby as a mere "choice." The point of contention has become, as abortion opponents have long warned that it would, not whether legally protectable life begins at conception but whether legally protectable life begins at birth. So, who are the extremists? (from George Will)

[PJ-Comix]

Pelosi was supposed to appear on FOX & friends this am, and suddenly cancelled out. Pelosi had something in her eye.

Pelosi probably heard about the firestorm that started with her description of herself as a "conservative Catholic" and didn't want to answer questions on that topic. I would love to hear her answer how she considers herself to be a "conservative Catholic."

Isn't Clinton a "religious Baptist?" I mean he was always going to church when the cameras were on him and he needed the PR. BTW, is there any record of Clinton QUIETLY going to church out of sight of cameras?

[maica]

RE Mr Pelosi:


       "Pelosi’s donor base starts with her friends and neighbors. Her husband, Paul Pelosi, is a wealthy investor — he owns pieces of businesses ranging from resort hotels to wine country vineyards to dozens of small and mid-sized California enterprises, according to Pelosi’s financial disclosure statements. They live in the tony Pacific Heights section of San Francisco when Pelosi is not in her $1 million-plus Georgetown home.
       Several members of the Haas family, owners of the Levi-Strauss clothing company, gave maximum donations — $5,000 each — to Pelosi’s PAC to the Future this year. The reigning family of the Napa Valley vineyards, the Gallos, also gave several $5,000 checks. Pelosi does fairly well in glitzy Southern California — coaxing money from the likes of Barbra Streisand, Kirk Douglas, studio boss Mike Medavoy, novelist Danielle Steel and diet doc Dean Ornish. But at least as many Pelosi backers, at home and in places like New York and Washington, are largely anonymous, having made their money the old-fashioned way: by inheriting it.
       On that solid foundation she piles up donations from labor unions, trial lawyers and the American Medical Association."
       

[freedom1st]

Just saw the interview with Lauer on Today. This lady is stupid. Did you notice at the end of interview she said "Thank you Charlie" instead of Thank you Matt. I think she thought she was being interviewed by Charlie Gibson of ABC. Lauer didn't correct the idiot that he was Matt and not Charlie, but the look on Lauer's face showed that he was embarressed.

[mewzilla]

If you're right...What a gutless wonder. She just set women's rights back fifty years. Is she going to run and hide and ask somebody, a male probably, for advice every time she says something that might be controversial? Yup, a real pillar of strength there. Sheesh.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Ahem: I haven't noticed any of the responses I almost invariably receive when posting something from The Today Show.

So far no one's said: "why do you watch that junk?", "are they still on?", "is Matt still alive?'", "I only watch Fox!", etc.

Guess people are coming to accept that there is value in keeping track of what the other side is up to, particularly as in cases such as this morning where Pelosi blew off Fox.

[AFPhys]

This is amazing...

So dumb to say...

Conservative Catholics do not march in Gay Lib Parades.

Conservative Catholics do not support abortion in any form, to completely ignore what they think of partial birth abortion. Conservative Catholics do not support any form of birth control other than rhythm. Note that using "gay sex" is not acceptable birth control

There may be some parts of the Catholic faith which she actually practices and believes, but given these two very visible ones, I would be hard pressed to consider her a strong Catholic, and she certainly is not a conservative Catholic.