NANCY PELOSI: This is an excuse. This budget deficit is an excuse for the Republicans to undermine government, plain and simple. They don't just want to make cuts, they want to destroy. They want to destroy food safety, clean air, clean water, the department of education. They want to destroy your rights. They do not like government.
Good grief.
That sounds crazed even for someone as extreme as Pelosi.
Republicans don't want to destroy. They want to prevent the country from collapsing. They want to protect the future for all Americans, for generations to come.
Pelosi's bitterness is disgraceful. It smacks of desperation.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi Sunday called for an ethics panel investigation of Rep. David Wu following a published allegation that a young woman reported he'd engaged in "aggressive and unwanted sexual behavior."
The Oregon Democrat has been facing calls to resign, but he remained silent Sunday.
In a statement Sunday night, Pelosi asked the "Ethics Committee to initiate an investigation into the allegations against Congressman Wu."
...The Democratic leader says she will send a letter to leaders of the Republican-led House Monday formally asking for the probe.
...A Democrat who has challenged Wu in next year's primary, state Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian, said Wu should see Pelosi's calls for an ethics investigation as a signal to step down immediately.
"An ethics investigation would result in a long drawn-out distraction and prolong the public pain" for the unidentified woman who has accused Wu, Avakian said through his spokesman, Jake Weigler. "For the sake of our community and this young woman and her family, as well as his own family, David Wu should do the right thing and step aside now."
Another Wu challenger in the Democratic primary, state Rep. Brat Witt, said an ethics investigation is needed so "we get to the bottom of the allegations and determine what the facts are."
Wu's only response so far has been a brief statement late Friday: "This is very serious, and I have absolutely no desire to bring unwanted publicity, attention or stress to a young woman and her family."
...Wu has won seven terms. In 2004, he won despite acknowledging a decades-old college incident in which he tried to force a former girlfriend to have sex. Voters said they disliked an opponent's attempt to use that against Wu.
In January this year, seven staffers resigned because of behavior that included sending a photo of himself in a tiger costume to a staff member and an angry public speech. Wu attributed those to a period of mental health challenges that began in 2008 as marital issues led to separation from his wife.
Pelosi really had no choice but to call for an ethics probe.
Her delay, claiming she didn't know what was going on with Wu, was somewhat of an embarrassment.
If Wu were a Republican, I think this story would be receiving dramatically more attention and he'd be forced to resign immediately.
The Democrats have another sex scandal to manage this summer.
Democrat U.S. Rep. David Wu from Oregon is picking up where Democrat U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner from New York left off.
Weiner's multiple encounters with women took place in cyberspace. Wu is being accused of more than virtual misbehavior. He's accused of an actual "unwanted sexual encounter" with a teenager.
A distraught young woman called U.S. Rep. David Wu's Portland office this spring, accusing him of an unwanted sexual encounter, according to multiple sources.
When confronted, the Oregon Democrat acknowledged a sexual encounter to his senior aides but insisted it was consensual, the sources said.
The woman is the daughter of a longtime friend and campaign donor. She apparently did not contact police at the time.
One person who heard the voice mail described the woman as upset, breathing heavily and "distraught."
In the voice mail, the young woman accused Wu of aggressive and unwanted sexual behavior, according to sources with direct knowledge of the message and its contents.
Reporters could not verify the young woman's age. Notes on Facebook over the past 18 months indicate she graduated from high school in 2010. California records show she registered to vote in August.
Wu, 56, did not respond to repeated questions from The Oregonian over the past four days.
Late Friday, Wu issued a one-sentence response: "This is very serious, and I have absolutely no desire to bring unwanted publicity, attention, or stress to a young woman and her family."
Sources familiar with the voice mail said it was clear that the woman was the daughter of a high school friend of Wu's in Orange County.
Creepy.
...Two people with knowledge of the recording and the later conversation with Wu said the alleged incident took place over Thanksgiving weekend. Sources said they were told that the woman went outside and Wu left after her. The sexual encounter followed, they said.
Two sources said the woman believed there was not enough evidence to press charges. There were no witnesses, and it would be her word against a seven-term member of the U.S. Congress.
The alleged incident raises new questions about Wu's behavior during the 1st District congressman's re-election campaign last year. According to staff at the time and emails from the period, he behaved so erratically that staff avoided scheduling him for public appearances and ran a campaign that relied heavily on advertising. Shortly before the Nov. 2 election, senior staff quietly shut down the campaign office and sent other campaign workers home.
In February, following unexpectedly large staff turnover, Wu acknowledged extreme stress last year, which he attributed to the campaign and problems in his marriage. He and his wife are in the process of getting a divorce. He said he sought counseling and has taken medication for an unspecified mental condition.
The Southern California incident allegedly occurred a little over three weeks after the election.
In 2004, The Oregonian reported on a 1976 case when Wu was a student at Stanford University and was disciplined for trying to force an ex-girlfriend to have sex.
Will the Democrats protect an alleged rapist? (They protected Bill Clinton.)
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Saturday night that she had no comment on whether Rep. David Wu should resign, one day after a Portland newspaper reported that the Oregon Democrat is facing accusations from a young woman of an “unwanted sexual encounter” last fall.
“I don’t have any comment on that at this time,” Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters as she left her Capitol office after a series of meetings with other congressional leaders on raising the debt ceiling. “I just really don’t know that much about it; I heard that there was some article in the paper.”
Pelosi told reporters that she’d have something to say at a later date, noting that “right now, we’re so completely, totally immersed” in the debt-limit negotiations.
Rep. David Wu spoke to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other top Democrats on Saturday about his political future in the wake of allegations of a sexual encounter with a teenager, but it is not clear whether the Oregon Democrat will step down from office.
Wu has been accused of having an “unwanted sexual encounter” with the teenage daughter of a longtime friend last year over Thanksgiving weekend. The teenager, whose identity has not been disclosed, and her family have not filed any criminal complaint against the longtime lawmaker, but the incident, the second accusation of inappropriate sexual behavior against Wu, is “extremely troubling” to Pelosi and other Democrats, say Democratic insiders.
...Democratic insiders would not comment on Pelosi’s conversation with Wu other than to confirm that the two had spoken and other senior House Democrats have contacted the lawmaker as well.
Of course, Pelosi is taking the "no comment" route for now, the Weiner strategy.
Eventually, she's going to have to address the scandal. The Democrats can't ignore it.
The 56-year-old Wu's "unwanted sexual encounter" with a teenager is a big deal.
If the allegations of sexual assault are true, Wu has to resign.
Lusty lawmaker Anthony Weiner will be checking into a treatment center - just as two of the country's most powerful Democrats simultaneously called for him to quit.
Weiner will seek help in the sexting scandal that has put his career on life-support, according to political sources.
"Congressman Weiner departed this morning to seek professional treatment to focus on becoming a better husband and healthier person," according to a statment released by his office late Saturday afternoon.
"In light of that, he will request a short leave of absence from the House of Representatives so that he can get evaluated and map out a course of treatment to make himself well."
Weiner isn't a bad guy. He's ill and needs treatment. Poor, poor DEMOCRAT Weiner.
What a crock!
This is another instance of the medicalization of behaving badly.
The move - which Weiner resisted in the early days of the scandal - comes as Nancy Pelosi, the House Minority leader, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic National Committee chair, each said the lawmaker needs to go.
"It is with great disappointment that I call on Representative Anthony Weiner to resign," said Congresswoman Schultz of Florida, calling the scandal a "sordid affair."
"The behavior he has exhibited is indefensible and Representative Weiner's continued service in Congress is untenable," she said.
Pelosi, who earlier this week called for a House Ethics Committee investigation into Weiner's behavior, also pleaded for the lawmaker to step aside.
"Congressman Weiner has the love of his family, the confidence of his constituents, and the recognition that he needs help," said Weiner [sic]. "I urge Congressman Weiner to seek that help without the pressures of being a Member of Congress."
Pelosi and Wasserman Schultz are engaged in CYA.
If the Democrats and Obama wanted Weiner out of the House, he'd be out.
I suppose DEMOCRAT Weiner may be negotiating for a position in the administration or the party, after a stint in rehab and a respectable leave of absence from public service, if he agrees to resign. That could account for his threats to hold on to his seat.
Actually, it's better for conservatives if DEMOCRAT Weiner hangs around.
It would be great for Obama and his comrades to have to run under the cloud of DEMOCRAT corruption and scandal.
If Democrats are so powerless they can't get one of their own to step aside for the good of the party, they look incredibly incompetent.
After Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus called New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner to resign because he “lied and acted inappropriately,” conservative publisher Andrew Breitbart told The Daily Caller he’s concerned House Speaker John Boehner hasn’t weighed into #Weinergate.
“Why isn’t Republican leadership saying it?,” Breitbart told TheDC on Tuesday morning. “Why is the political arm of the Republican Party saying it and not the leadership?”
Priebus issued a statement saying an investigation would not be necessary to prove Weiner lied.
“Congressman Weiner’s actions and deception are unacceptable and he should resign,” Priebus said. “We do not need an investigation to know he lied and acted inappropriately, we need a resignation. Either Leader Pelosi and DNC Chair Wasserman Schultz believe members of Congress are held to a different set of standards or they believe these actions demand his resignation.”
As Weiner exposed himself, the Democrats are exposing themselves as well.
Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York said today he has engaged in "several inappropriate" electronic relationships with six women over three years, and that he publicly lied about a photo of himself sent over Twitter to a college student in Seattle over a week ago.
"I take full responsibility for my actions," Weiner said. "The picture was of me, and I sent it."
DEMOCRAT Weiner is a liar.
He addressed the media repeatedly about the photo and he lied repeatedly.
Because of the cover-up and the lies, I think DEMOCRAT Weiner should resign immediately. ________________
Publicly silent, fellow Democrats privately seethed Thursday over the distraction and furor surrounding the lewd photo sent from Rep. Anthony Weiner's Twitter account, even as he declared he was finished talking about it and wanted to move on.
Weiner's one-day, pun-laden media blitz a day earlier had only raised more questions about the embarrassing flap when he conceded he wasn't sure whether the waist-down photo of a man's bulging underpants was of him or not. His refusal to involve law enforcement because he said as a member of Congress he shouldn't get special treatment — instead turning the issue over to a private security company he hired — raised rather and answered questions.
...Though generally mum in public, Democrats privately fumed at the forced detour in their arguments about Medicare and spending, leaving the generally well-liked seven-term congressman from Brooklyn and Queens largely to fend for himself for a third day in a row. Most Republicans seemed content to let the controversy simmer.
A scene on the House floor Wednesday afternoon seemed to highlight the situation. As newly elected New York Rep. Kathy Hochul was sworn in — after an upset, special-election victory Democrats considered a sign of their ability to communicate their differences with Republicans on the future of Medicare — Weiner and the No. 2 House Democrat, Steny Hoyer were locked in a nearly 10 minute, animated conversation.
On Thursday, Weiner joined Democratic lawmakers at the White House where the caucus met with President Barack Obama. As they walked from buses on Pennsylvania Ave. Weiner's colleagues stonewalled when they were asked about their colleague.
"I will have nothing to say about that," said fellow New Yorker, Rep. Louise Slaughter. "I'm here to put people to work."
"We're not distracted by that," said Rep. Rob Andrews, D-N.J.
The House's top Democrat, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, earlier told ABC News that she was "a late-comer to the issue" — one that cable TV and the Capitol press corps have been fixated on for most of the week.
Still, Pelosi added, "I have confidence in Anthony Weiner that if an investigation is in order that will take place."
The scandal is not just going to go away.
Video:
A law enforcement investigation is in order. If a crime has been committed, as Weiner insists, it needs to be investigated.
The only reason there shouldn't be a law enforcement investigation would be if Weiner knows what would be discovered - that he's lying.
Whatever the truth may be, Weiner has shamed himself and the Democrat party by the way he has handled the matter.
On The Early Show Thursday, CBS news legal analyst Jack Ford, said the congressman may have a good reason for not involving authorities.
“It’s not against the law to lie to the media. It’s not against the law to lie to constituents. It is against the law to lie to law enforcement,” said Ford. “So if I’m a lawyer on a case like this, I’m going to be real careful before I let my client talk to law enforcement.”
The fact is Weiner has made a fool of himself. He's painted himself into a corner. He's imploding.
There's no graceful way for him to manage the scandal at this point. There's no way out.
The ObamaCare Waivers List is truly an embarrassment.
If ObamaCare is such a great system why are so many waivers being sought and granted?
The list of waivers has been getting longer and longer.
Yesterday, the Daily Caller shed more light on the latest waivers. It's not pretty.
Of the 204 new Obamacare waivers President Barack Obama’s administration approved in April, 38 are for fancy eateries, hip nightclubs and decadent hotels in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s Northern California district.
That’s in addition to the 27 new waivers for health care or drug companies and the 31 new union waivers Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services approved.
Pelosi’s district secured almost 20 percent of the latest issuance of waivers nationwide, and the companies that won them didn’t have much in common with companies throughout the rest of the country that have received Obamacare waivers.
Other common waiver recipients were labor union chapters, large corporations, financial firms and local governments. But Pelosi’s district’s waivers are the first major examples of luxurious, gourmet restaurants and hotels getting a year-long pass from Obamacare.
...The reason the Obama administration says it has given out waivers is to exempt certain companies or policyholders from “annual limit requirements.” The applications for the waivers are “reviewed on a case by case basis by department officials who look at a series of factors including whether or not a premium increase is large or if a significant number of enrollees would lose access to their current plan because the coverage would not be offered in the absence of a waiver.” The waivers don’t allow a company to permanently refrain from implementing Obamacare’s stipulations, but companies can reapply for waivers annually through 2014.
Café Mason, a diner near San Francisco’s Union Square, got a waiver too. When The Daily Caller asked the manager about the waiver and how the president’s new sweeping federal health care law was affecting his restaurant, he hung up the phone. The Franciscan Crab restaurant on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco got a waiver. Its menu features entrees ranging from about $15 to $60. The Franciscan’s general manager didn’t return TheDC’s requests for comment.
Four-star hotel Campton Place got one too, as did Hotel Nikko San Francisco, which describes itself as “four-diamond luxury in the heart of the city.” Tru Spa, which Allure Magazine rated the “best day spa in San Francisco,” received an Obamacare waiver as well.
Before hanging up on TheDC, Tru Spa’s owner said new government health care regulations, both the federal-level Obamacare and new local laws in Northern California, have “devastated” the business. “It’s been bad for us,” he said, without divulging his name, referring to the new health care restrictions.
But, the spa owner wouldn’t talk about it or the reason his company sought a waiver. He hung up after saying, “I’ve got clients on the other line, good-bye.”
ObamaCare is bad for business. That's the reality.
In an effort to appease, the Obama administration is granting favors, giving the "chosen" a break from the government regulations.
The fact that Nancy Pelosi's district has received nearly 20 percent of the new waivers is really stunning. One congressional district, Pelosi's, gets 20 percent of the newest waivers?!?
That looks really bad.
Pelosi needs to address this matter. "No comment" isn't going to fly. __________________
Yesterday, Paul Ryan was interviewed by Mark Levin on his radio program.
They discussed Obama's speech.
Ryan was really ticked off.
Transcript
MARK LEVIN: I watched this speech today, Congressman, and I really couldn't believe it.
PAUL RYAN: I was sitting about 12 feet away from him, right in the front.
LEVIN: Oh, really?
RYAN: Yeah.
LEVIN: I mean, I'm thinking to myself, does he have a grasp of what the hell's going on in this country?
RYAN: Well, what I got out of it was he basically said that people like myself and Jeb Hensarling, who was sitting right to my right, are un-American, that we're interested in pitting children with autism or Down syndrome against millionaires and billionaires, that we're ending America as we know it, and if only we'd kind of get on with his program everything would be OK.
I've never seen a president give a speech like this before. I've never seen a president stoop to this level of, you know, distortion, demagoguery, partisanship.
He invited us to come to the speech - myself, Hensarling, and Dave Camp, the three of us who are chairmen and we're on the fiscal commission. We were led to believe that there was going to be an olive branch, that he wanted to talk about mutual agreement and respect. I was led to believe that there was going to be a Social Security plan he was going to offer. And then we get this total political broadside. It really did quite honestly kind of surprise me.
I expected these kinds of comments from Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid when we put this budget out. That kind of goes without saying, but to get these things from the president - just amazing to me.
And it really poisons the well. I mean, he's not talking about trying to bridge differences or find common ground on this or that area. He's basically trying to demean his political adversaries and set up a bunch of straw men and then knock them down and try to win the debate by default.
I'm not sure who said it but he's basically, 'I'm a pyromaniac in a field of straw men.'
What we got was he just wants to raise taxes.
...We got a campaign today. We got a campaign speech, and we got a very, very vilifying campaign speech. And that sure makes it tough to get this thing fixed.
