Pelosi smears CIA in desperate effort to save herself

In a confused news conference that saw the Speaker of the House resorting to referring to a prepared statement at times, Nancy Pelosi made a last-ditch effort to defend her partisan attacks on waterboarding when she herself was seemingly briefed and had no problem with the practice at the time. Her story has evolved from “she never knew” to “she only knew they might do it” to “well, there’s nothing she could do about it.”

Now, in the most shameful chapter in this saga yet, Pelosi ridiculously claims that the CIA lied to her. It’s quite telling that Democratic House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who earlier suggested Pelosi should be part of any waterboarding investigation, doesn’t ride to her defense, that Sen. Joe Lieberman is laughing at the assertion, and that Pelosi’s timeline is contradicted by several sources, including her own aide. This is a dangerous blame game that Pelosi is playing, and her shameful accusation against the CIA is an outrageous charge that signals a hopeless desperation to save any face at all.

The fact that Pelosi is in any trouble at all is due to the hard-core left’s unbending opinion of certain tactics that are meant to protect our cities and keep our citizens safe. Allahpundit says it much better than I can:

Anyway. The true beauty of this fiasco is that it’s only because the left is so absurdly, radically absolutist on this subject that Pelosi’s in any trouble at all. All she’d need from them in order to be free and clear of this mess is an acknowledgment that, yes, it’s perfectly understandable that her top priority in the year after 9/11 was protecting the country from another attack by any means necessary. She meant well but, in her zealousness, took a step that shouldn’t have been taken. If they said that, she could cop to having okayed waterboarding, issue the obligatory “I was blind but now I see” apology, and the uproar would be over. But progressives could never be that rational about this subject, so she’s left to twist in the wind and deny everything in order to flatter their sanctimony. Delightful.

With the way Democrats are scrambling to distance themselves from Pelosi’s remarks, the writing’s on the wall as far as her Speakership is concerned. After making such shameless accusations, Pelosi has proven herself to be a hypocrite and a liar, and by no standard does she deserve to wield the Speaker’s gavel any longer. If she had any remaining honor, she would apologize and step down. What will actually happen is that she’ll dig in her heels and be proven a fool. So much the better.

And remember this – on the tombstone for Pelosi’s political career will be this epitaph: “With civility and bipartisanship, we’ll have the most ethical and transparent Congress in history.”