Pelosi, Waterboarding And Speaking At USF

From David Brooks at the New York Times

An excerpt.

My second blast of ire is directed at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. It’s quite possible that Pelosi was briefed on waterboarding in 2002 and it’s certain she was on Feb. 4, 2003. She first denied that fact and now has invented a series of ever more complicated evasions. The California Democrat Jane Harman heard the briefing and was so alarmed she wrote a letter in protest, but Pelosi was silent.

Why can’t she just tell the obvious truth? She was influenced by the climate of the time. In retrospect, she wishes she had raised her voice in protest. Meanwhile, the 80 percent of the people who want to prosecute Justice Department lawyers have gone strangely silent as far as Pelosi is concerned.

My lesson of the day is that partisanship trumps everything.

Link (here)

The following is an excerpt from a letter written by USF President Stephen A. Privett, S.J., explaining his association with Nancy Pelosi:

I am, by nature, an inclusive person who seeks to extend a conversation rather than cut it off, build bridges rather than walls across differences and engage divergent opinions rather than condemn them.

I realize that my pastoral strategy may not be universally endorsed, but it is the product of careful thought, prayerful reflection, and some experience. From my friendship with Ms. Pelosi, I know that she is a serious Catholic, an active member of her parish here in San Francisco, and a regular communicant. Though Speaker Pelosi’s record on abortion and embryonic stem cell research is at odds with official Church teaching,

her efforts to end the war in Iraq, as well as her support for HIV-AIDS patients, universal health care, aid to dependent children, increased higher education financial assistance for needy students, just and compassionate immigration laws, tax structures that do not unduly burden persons of low and moderate income, reordering budget priorities to be more responsive to the needs of the poor, higher Congressional ethical standards, environmental preservation, and day care for children of the working poor reflect concerns of Catholic social thought. Fr. Kenneth Weare, a pastor in the San Francisco Archdiocese, made a pointed observation in Catholic San Francisco, noting that Pelosi “is by far much more in line with the greater body of Catholic moral teaching than [President] Bush ever was.”

Link (here)

Photo link (here) Nancy Pelosi at the 2007 University of San Francisco graduation.