1115.org

MyDD’s Jonathan Singer interviews House Speaker Nancy Pelosi:

Singer: Just one final question. If there’s one message that you’d like to send to the netroots today, to the progressive blogosphere, what would that message be?

Pelosi: The one message, the biggest issue for me in this Congress is to end the war, to bring the troops home. I’m as disappointed as anyone that that hasn’t happened yet. There’s 60 votes needed in the Senate, a President’s signature that’s needed to change what’s happening in Iraq. But we cannot let those obstacles be barriers to our changing the course there.

So my message to the netroots at this point would be, let’s work together to show that unity with the American people, who want this war to end, to convince the Congress and the President that it has to come to an end.

We cannot wait until November 2008 or January 2009. It’s too far away. Too many lives will be lost. Too much reputation for our country will be destroyed. But we have to act soon. It’s long overdue. But we have to work now. And I fully appreciate the frustration of the netroots on the war. I share it. And as I say, let’s work together to change the thinking of those forty-some people that we have to win ten over in order to end the war.

Look, this 60 votes business is nonsense. Congress could have effectively defunded the war by simply not advancing a spending bill that covered it. The President would have been forced to order a withdrawal. The fact is, they were scared at the prospect of defending this position against the President and other Republicans who would accuse them of “not supporting the troops.” So they funded the war, and were accused of not supporting the troops. Fantastic. She says she’s “as disappointed as anyone,” yet she was out front trying to spin her total cave-in as a victory. I have the DCCC fundraising emails to prove it.

But now Pelosi says that we can’t wait until November 2008 or January 2009 because between now and then too many soldiers will die and our reputation will be further damaged. How many is too many, and how much reputation is too much to lose? No wonder Congressional approval is so low, even among Democratic voters: the leadership is bumbling around and obviously thinks they can fool their supporters into thinking that darkness is light.