Weeper of the House

Nancy Pelosi never fails to astonish.  Last Thursday, she compared the health reform protests that have been taking place around the country to the heated environment during the San Francisco gay movement in the seventies that resulted in the assassination of Harvey Milk.  From the Los Angeles Times:

Pelosi, responding to a question about anti-Obama sentiment, said partisans on all sides have the right to voice their opinions. She paused, then added: “I have concerns about some of the language that is being used, because I saw this myself in the late ’70s in San Francisco. This kind of rhetoric was very frightening, and it created a climate in which violence took place.”

The usually stoic speaker appeared to fight back tears as she recalled the 1978 killings of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay member of the city’s Board of Supervisors, and Mayor George Moscone by Dan White, who was also on the board.

Yes, she was so genuinely concerned about the analogous violence-fostering climate, that she was on the verge of weeping.  The Speaker of the House earlier made claims about protesters carrying swastikas and has denounced many of the townhall meeting events as “astroturf” movements.  Now she is pulling out all the stops.  Republican Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas calls it for what it is:

“The speaker is now likening genuine opposition to assassination,” he said. “Such insulting rhetoric not only undermines the credibility of her office, but it underscores the desperate attempt by her party to divert attention away from a failing agenda.”

Posted in: Politics