From Raw Story:
House Democratic leader Pelosi holds first blogger conference call
Miriam Raftery
Published: January 30, 2006
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) today called President George W. Bush's anticipated healthcare reforms "very bad medicine for the American people."
In her first-ever conference call with Internet bloggers on Monday, January 30th, Pelosi discussed healthcare proposals which the President is expected to announce during his State of the Union address and predicted that his proposals will trigger a "battle cry" among Democrats to vigorously oppose the plan.
"We've heard that the President will suggest health savings accounts, which are good if you're 21 years old, very wealthy and very healthy," she observed. "Everybody else will have a problem with it." Pelosi also criticized other health association provisions as "very damaging."
The President's anticipated healthcare proposals fail to lower the cost of healthcare or increase the number of Americans covered by health insurance, but would add to the deficit and increases costs for small businesses, she noted.
"This must be fought," said Pelosi, who envisions town hall meetings across America on healthcare similar to those which helped defeat Bush's Social Security privatization proposal. "This is the healthcare version of privatization ... It's just a rip-off for pharmaceutical companies ... These are brought to you by the same people who brought you the corrupt prescription drug bill. If you liked that, you'll love this."
Healthcare privatization is related to the culture of corruption pervading Washington, she believes. "We'll have to be very aggressive at ending the culture of corruption, which has had a price paid by the American people in terms of higher costs of home heating, higher gas prices at the pumps and higher prescription drug costs," she noted, adding that Democrats need to be more visible in informing the American public about the true costs of corruption. "In summer, Congress gave tax breaks to energy companies which were experiencing obscene profits at the expense of the American consumers."
Noting that Republicans have repeatedly obstructed ethics investigations, Pelosi observed, "This corruption contributes to the middle class squeeze." But she added, "None of this can be cleaned up unless we drain the swamp--and we have the reforms we need."
She faulted the mainstream media for portraying the Abramoff scandal as bipartisan, noting that no Democrats have taken Abramoff money. "Abramoff would laugh at that, because it was designed to be a Republican obliteration of the Democrats, " Pelosi added.
Pelosi praised House Democrats for showing the highest rate of unity under her Leadership since the mid-'50s, when Sam Rayburn was speaker of the House. "I'm proud of them," she said, noting that Democratic House members voted unanimously against the budget bill, energy bill, also standing united to defeat Social Security privatization.
"Now, Democrats must focus on presenting a positive agenda, said Pelosi.
Democrats recently unveiled an innovation agenda aimed at improving American competitiveness through investment in research, achieving energy energy independence in ten years, encouraging entrepreneurial innovation and job creation, guaranteeing affordable access to broadband technology, and improving education in science, math, engineering and information technology. Soon, the Party plans to unveil a Unity Agenda, Pelosi added. "We have to prioritize and skip full force to jobs, healthcare, and education…core values of the Democratic Party."
Republicans are expected to bring a six-week extension of the Patriot Act up for a floor vote on Wednesday, Pelosi revealed. "Republicans have joined in holding those provisions of the Patriot act that relate to invasion of privacy," she said, citing library records access as an example.
RAW STORY asked Pelosi about the Bush administration's contention that Iran is on the verge of developing nuclear weapons.
"As far as Iran is concerned, there is a real opportunity to challenge the diplomatic maturity of the President," the House Minority Leader replied. "Iran should not develop nuclear weapons…There has to be international objection to it, not just from the Security Council. I don't know if Russia and China will ever come around to it, but even if they did, there has to be a worldwide objection so that they know this is not in the interest of international security and peace in the world."
While acknowledging that Iran could endanger the Middle East if it obtained nuclear technology and delivery systems, Pelosi added that she finds the prospect of the U.S. using military force against Iran "disconcerting." Military force should not be considered unless all diplomatic and economic remedies have been exhausted—and "absolute certainty" of how close Iran is to developing nuclear weapons can be demonstrated. Unilateral military action against Iran could have "a huge cost in terms of the reputation of the U.S., economic costs and the cost of oil," she observed. "There are many ramifications, but they never seem to consider it."
Pelosi also criticized the Bush administration for failing to foresee the Hamas victory in Palestine. "I don't know why it came as such as surprise," she said. "The BBC was reporting that Hamas would win the election."
The House Minority Leader predicted that Democrats can win the November elections in the U.S. and take back control of the House by "energizing our base and telling our story of values."
Pelosi, who ran for the leadership position because she was "tired of losing" takes pride in upsetting the Washington pecking order by rejecting special interests and embracing progressive values.
"If we can get through March with Republicans still on the ropes," she predicted, "We can body punch them so hard that they won't come back."
Wrap...
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