Over the past few days, Republicans have been chomping at the bit trying to make something out of nothing regarding House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her claims she was unaware the Bush administration was involved in waterboarding. At first, Mrs. Pelosi said the CIA misled her on the interrogation procedures being used, but later backpeddled on those claims.
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Smelling blood and looking for any way to distract the public from their own party’s shortcomings, Republicans have been fanning the flames hoping the Pelosi situation would stir up some sort of Democratic controversy. Some Republican leaders even suggested Pelosi should step down in light of the confusion, saying a Democratic coup could be likely if she didn’t. “It’s not that big a deal,” said Sen. Jim Webb, Virginia Democrat. “In terms of where the country is right now, where we need to go, there are a lot of issues of accountability in terms of looking back as to the conduct of the past administration in a number of areas.” `
But Republican Party chairman Michael S. Steele saw things differently: “I think the reality here is that Nancy Pelosi has stepped in it big time,” Mr. Steele said on NBC’s “Meet The Press.” “The question for me is does the president support Nancy Pelosi’s versions of what happened or his CIA director’s version of what happened?”
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Speaker Pelosi wields quite a bit of power in Congress, and the only likely person who could successfully stage any coup attempt against her, Rep. Stenny Hoyer, fully backs Pelosi and is one of her staunchest allies. Perhaps instead of trying to divide the Democrats, the GOP might do better trying to unite Republicans.
