Feehery acknowledges "I don't think there is going to be a coup" against Pelosi
Please upgrade your flash player. The video for this item requires a newer version of Flash Player. If you are unable to install flash you can download a QuickTime version of the video.
From the May 18 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:
WOLF BLITZER (host): Let's get right to our "Strategy Session."
Joining us: the Democratic strategist and CNN political contributor Hilary Rosen, and Republican strategist John Feehery.
John, you wrote a column on Politico.com. Among other things, you said these intriguing words: "Should Pelosi continue to mishandle this current crisis, and should she continue to make wild statements about the veracity of the CIA, don't be surprised if somebody in the House says enough is enough. The conditions are ripe for a coup."
I supposed that implies a Democratic coup; someone within her own party rising against her. Is that what you're suggesting?
FEEHERY: Well, you never know, Wolf.
I do think that this has been a very bad crisis for Nancy Pelosi. I think the press conference was bad -- very bad for her. I think there are conditions out there.
Now, I do think what she's going to do as a reaction to this is move sharply -- more sharply to shore up her left-wing base. And I don't think there is going to be a coup, because I don't think that [Rep.] Steny Hoyer [D-MD] necessarily wants to do that, because I think he knows that, if you do lead a coup against this leader, you tend not to get the job. That's what happened to Tom DeLay. And that's what happened to Don Nickles in the Senate, which I didn't mention in my article, but should have.
So, I do -- I don't think that Steny Hoyer wants to do a coup against Nancy Pelosi, but I do think that this has been a very bad couple days for her.
I can't help but laugh when I see them wringing their hands in feigned outrage over how she disrespected our "Terror Fighters".
I'd like to go back and see what the Troglodytes had to say about those "Terror Fighters" when the CIA was criticizing Bush for diverting our resources from Afghanistan to Iraq. I'll bet there wasn't much love for our "Terror Fighters" then.
See for example any war vet who dares to speak out again, well, war.
Also, do they know how self defeating this is? As in, if they want investigations about Pelosi, and are apparently upset because she knew about torture and did nothing about it, these investigations will lead to, yes, the people who actually DID authorize the torturing, which they all jumped on board with and congratulated them on a job well done, except for maybe McCain, and he changed his mind later anyway about torture.
The CIA lies. They lie for a living most of the time. And I'm OK with that. Mostly because they do the job pretty darn well, most of the time. This isn't even a slip by Pelosi. She was given false information. Not the first time the CIA has done this, won't be the last. We hear about the CIA's failures all of the time, what we don't hear about are their successes, and from what I've read, they all know that this is part of the game, and one that they play willingly. I almost guarantee that there are plenty of folks who couldn't care less about what Pelosi said, brushed it off, and are going about their business.
As for the investigation, I think you're right; more Republicans than Democrats would probably get caught in that net. My sense is that the Republitoads don't really want an investigation. I think their game is to run out the clock until 2010, when they might pick up some seats if they can keep the focus on Pelosi, and not the real criminals.
Seeing them perfectly execute this obvious political gimmick makes me think that Karl Rove is back in charge of Republican propaganda, or maybe one of his inbred acolytes.
Hoekstra wrote a letter to President Bush in 2006 accusing the intelligence community of withholding information on their activities from Congress. “I have learned of some alleged Intelligence Community activities about which our committee has not been briefed,” Hoekstra wrote. He said that he believed the Bush administration’s failure to fully brief his committee could constitute “a violation of law“:
OK righties, time for you to get your panties in a bunch and go after this man! He just accused the CIA of lying! C'mon, let's see some more of that just outrage and demand his resignation!