The NY Times tries to defend the indefensible, as usual, when a Democrat has done something wrong. Nancy Pelosi had no business trying to implement her own foreign policy, and after being rightfully chastised by media that usually fawns on her, has tried to convince people that she was actually helping the President. The New York Times, in The Real Fumble in Damascus, predictably blames Bush for Pelosi’s possibly felonious screwup. This last paragraph shows just how fact-challenged and partisan the writer is, however:
Ms. Pelosi did not help matters by claiming in Damascus that Israel was ready to talk — an assertion that Israeli officials were quick to deny. Her job is to spur the Bush administration to pursue active diplomacy, not to attempt to conduct that diplomacy herself.
No. No, no, no and again, NO. That is such a huge lie that it must have hurt badly when they pulled it out of their ass. Here are her actual duties, according to the Congressional Research Service:
The Speaker is elected by the House on the first day of a new Congress. Customarily, the conference of each major party first elects a candidate at early organizational meetings. When the new Congress convenes, each party places the name of its candidate in nomination, and the majority party’s candidate is typically elected on a party line vote. A rules change adopted at the beginning of the 108th Congress requires the Speaker to submit the names of Members designated to serve as Speaker pro tempore in the event that the speakership becomes vacant, or in the event the Speaker is disabled. House rules invest the Speaker with substantial powers. These duties include:
- administering the oath of office to Members;
- recognizing Members for the purpose of speaking or making motions;
- referring bills and resolutions to committees;
- putting questions to a vote of Members;
- declaring a quorum (or the absence of one);
- counting and declaring all votes;
- deciding points of order;
- appointing House Members to select and conference committees;
- exercising additional committee appointment authority under party conference rules;
- making appointments to fill temporary vacancies in House administrative offices;
- appointing the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole and the Speaker pro tempore; and
- signing all bills and resolutions passed by the House.
Nothing on this list indicates that the Speaker of the House has oversight or any involvement whatsoever in foreign policy. She took it upon herself to do something she had no right to do. And the NY Times is obvious in it’s attempt to shift blame and make excuses for her.
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