GOP: Pelosi's party too liberal for America

Pelosi is fond of deflecting the “San Francisco Democrat” charge by noting that as a mother and grandmother, she's hardly the left-wing icon figure her critics allege. But there is no denying her voting record over eight terms as one of the most liberal members of the House of Representatives. Pelosi's lifetime rating by the Americans for Democratic Action, the liberal benchmark for members of Congress, is 96 percent. Her lifetime rating by the counterpart American Conservative Union is 2 percent.

Equally relevant are Pelosi's views and voting record on issues directly related to national security and the war against terrorism. Less than a year after 9/11, Pelosi said publicly that she didn't consider the United States at war. This year, she said that national security should not be a campaign issue in the 2006 midterm elections.

Pelosi voted repeatedly against the counterterrorism Patriot Act, opposed creation of the Department of Homeland Security and voted against a resolution condemning the leak of the National Security Agency's highly classified program for monitoring terrorist communications. Pelosi also reportedly told colleagues that she would appoint as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee overseeing America's counterterrorism efforts Rep. Alcee Hastings, an ultra-liberal and at least formerly sleazy Florida Democrat. Hastings was impeached and removed as a federal judge by a Democratic-controlled Congress in 1988-89 on bribery and obstruction of justice charges.

A Pelosi-run Democratic-controlled House would also make New York Democrat Rep. Charles Rangel chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. Rangel says he would oppose extending any of the Bush tax cuts past their expiration in 2010 – imposing a huge tax increase on an economy fueled by Bush's first-term tax reductions.

Harman Intelligence Post at Risk

Associated Press

Thu Oct 26

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