WSJ: Cafta Recriminations - Nancy Pelosi is contemplating revenge against the 15 Democrats.

Wall Street Journal ^ | August 1, 2005 | Editorial (full text)

[OESY]

The political recriminations from the cliffhanger passage of the Central American Free Trade Agreement last week are even worse than we thought. Nancy Pelosi, the House Minority Leader, is contemplating revenge against the 15 Democrats who had the nerve to vote for hemispheric growth and progress.

The San Francisco Democrat called a caucus gripe session in the wake of last Wednesday's vote, and an article in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call suggested that Democrats who voted yes may lose their favorite committee assignments. Our John Fund reports on OpinionJournal.com that Democratic leaders are especially mad at two Black Caucus Members from New York, Edolphus Towns and Gregory Meeks, for voting aye. Apparently if you're from the financial capital of the world, you're not supposed to favor free trade.

Given that they may face retribution for doing the right thing, we thought we'd list and salute the other 13 Democrats who supported Cafta: Vic Snyder of Arkansas, Melissa Bean of Illinois, Dennis Moore of Kansas City, William Jefferson of the port of New Orleans, Ike Skelton of Missouri, Jim Cooper and John Tanner of Tennessee, Ruben Hinojosa, Solomon Ortiz and Henry Cuellar of Texas, Jim Matheson of Utah, James Moran of Virginia and Norm Dicks of Washington.

Mr. Cuellar, who holds the seat that runs from San Antonio down to Laredo, was especially gutsy in voting aye. He won a bitter primary last year and has already been targeted by unions for next year because of his Cafta vote. "Since he's a freshman, we think he's pretty vulnerable," Chuck Rocha, political director of the United Steelworkers, recently told Congress Daily. We trust the business community will appreciate that Democrats who break with their party's new liberal isolationism deserve support.

[madison46]

Well, we can welcome them to the the GOP side then ;-)

[oyez]

is contemplating revenge against the 15 Democrats who had the nerve to vote for hemispheric growth and progress.

Those guys must be petrified with fear.

[blackeagle]

Wow... I thought I was never say this, but go
Pelosi

[GRiver]

I wonder how many of them are up for re-election in '06?

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

Politics sure makes strange bedfellows.

I'm writing off the GOP permanently over CAFTA.

Pelosi and her cohorts are insane, but their vote was right for all the wrong reasons.

[Mo1]

Nancy Pelosi, the House Minority Leader, is contemplating revenge against the 15 Democrats who had the nerve to vote for hemispheric growth and progress.

Go For It Nancy!!

Keep pushing folks and eventually they will start pushing back

[Dolphan]

All of them.

[AntiGuv]

I wouldn't wanna claim James Moran. He can just retire..

[Savage Beast]

Many good things have happened to the Republican Party in recent years. Nancy Pelosi is one of them.

[Racehorse]

I'm writing off the GOP permanently over CAFTA.

Permanently?

With all due respect, who will you write on?  Reading between your lines, I probably agree with you about CAFTA and the Republican stake in it.

I feel trapped, more or less, because I see no viable alternative to the Republicans.  I sure as heck will not support a third or fourth party movement, because I do not wish to see the Democrats take heart at the prospect of making a come back.

[infocats]

"The political recriminations from the cliffhanger passage of the Central American Free Trade Agreement last week are even worse than we thought. Nancy Pelosi, the House Minority Leader, is contemplating revenge against the 15 Democrats who had the nerve to vote for hemispheric growth and progress."

Apparently, Pelosi is a real isolationist in sheep's clothing. Wasn't she the one primarily responsible for erecting "the information wall" between the F.B.I. and C.I.A. that allowed 9 / 11 to happen?

[Sam the Sham]

Only 35% of the American people support free trade agreements. In this fight, all the passionate intensity was on the anti-CAFTA side. In this fight the lobbyists won and the American public lost.

The Dems have everything to gain from being the party that fights to protect American jobs and businesses.

[Zacs Mom]

"With enmity, hostility, antagonism and rancor for all"

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

Nobody.

The "lesser" has gone out of the two evils argument.

[verity]

And unions.

[Maria S]

Pelosi is pro-unions; that's the only reason she's against the cafta issue. She's a socialist, for goodness sakes!

If you like Pelosi, you'll love the following. She will screw up national security, too!

Nancy Pelosi Backs Alcee Hastings to Head Intel Committee
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/7/31/135622.shtml

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi wants Florida Congressman Alcee Hastings, who was impeached as a federal judge in 1989, to be vice chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Time magazine's Joe Klein reported on Sunday.

"There's an ugly fight brewing in the House among Democrats about the House Intelligence Committee, which may have larger implications about the Democrats and national security," Klein told NBC's "Chris Matthews Show."

"Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader, wants to dump Jane Harman, the ranking Democrat who is a moderate, and replace her with Alcee Hastings," Klein said.
Appointed to the bench by President Carter in 1979, Hastings was impeached and removed from office in 1989 on two counts, perjury and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

The Florida Democrat, an African-American, blamed "institutional racism" for the charges lodged against him.

Hastings was elected to the House in 1992.

[guitfiddlist]

..Dennis Moore of Kansas City...

We can expect a lot of lupins out of this Cafta deal.

[jmaroneps37]

Nice to start off a week and a month with news of trouble in the evil donkey's barn.

[jackbenimble]

I wonder how many of them are up for reelection in '06?

A term in the House is two years so the ENTIRE House stands for reelection every two years including 2006. In contrast to the Senate with 6 year terms and only 1/3rd of its members up every two years.

[mmercier]

When the rats are eating each other you do not need to hire an exterminator.

This is so sweet.

[Dane]

Wow... I thought I was never say this, but go Pelosi

Nah, you have been sayiong it all along.

[Dane]

Only 35% of the American people support free trade agreements. In this fight, all the passionate intensity was on the anti-CAFTA side. In this fight the lobbyists won and the American public lost.

The Dems have everything to gain from being the party that fights to protect American jobs and businesses

The "passionite intensity" was from socialist democrats as yourself.

The everyday common sense was on the pro-CAFTA side.

[chris1]

Ain't that the truth! The GOP sort of knows that it can squash and real third party and knows that they are the only game in town for people like us.

[jackbenimble]

The GOP sort of knows that it can squash and real third party

If the GOP "knows" that then they are idiots with short memories. Come to think of it, that is probably the case.

A third party can't win but it can sure make the GOP lose like in '92 and like it did for the Dims in 2000. If the GOP doesn't get its act together on illegal immigration very soon I'll be voting 3rd Party. I think the only way we are going to get action from the GOP is if they fear losing or experience a loss. The lessor of evils argument is not cutting it anymore.

[Dane]

A third party can't win but it can sure make the GOP lose like in '92 and like it did for the Dims in 2000.

Go ahead jack, jump over the candlestick and burn bridges(as well as your posterior) if you think it will make a difference.

Your hero buchanan tried in 2000 and failed.

[zeugma]

I sure as heck will not support a third or fourth party movement, because I do not wish to see the Democrats take heart at the prospect of making a come back.

Both parties bank on that sentiment.

[Racehorse]

Both parties bank on that sentiment.

Yes.

But, what political movement would not?

The situation is much like Longstreet, in the movie Gettysburg, contemplating the likely success or failure of Pickett's Charge.  In the end, he concludes, its a mathematical calculation.  The larger force wins.

As best I can reckon it, the only way to send the message without weakening the middle, is to defeat a few Republicans in local and state elections.

[skinkinthegrass]

HA! HA! LOL!....All of them are. They're term is two years only, unless your a Kennedy 'Rat..then its' a lifetime appointment...relative to relative.

[Alia]

Sure.. instead of making them stare at a wall for an hour; they'll have to look into her eyes, as punishment.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

Nancy Pelosi, the House Minority Leader, is contemplating revenge against the 15 Democrats who had the nerve to vote for hemispheric growth and progress.

What's the old expression? Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

[The South Texan]

"Well, we can welcome them to the the GOP side then ;-)"

The Democrats can keep Solomon Ortiz.

[Ladysmith]

...ewww! That is too weird!

[SoFloFreeper]

James Moran, that liberal LUNATIC from Virginia voted AYE??

Wonders never cease.

[SoFloFreeper]

all of them are up for reelection in 06.

[Charles H. (The_r0nin)]

"Heaven hath no spite like love to hatred turn'd,
Nor Hell fury like a woman scorn'd."

[Doohickey]

All our squishy, feel-good, half-wit Republican billets are full.

[zeugma]

My basic plan this next cycle is to vote against every running incumbant, regardless of party.

[ken5050]

Why is Pelosi trying to crack the whip now? Two words..Hillary Clinton..you can count on two things as gospel..dems will lose MORE House seats in 2006, and there is NO way in hell that Hillary wants to run for the WH in 2008 with Nancy Pelosi as House Dem leader...so right afytert the 2006 election, look for Rahm Emanuel to depose Pelosi..

[Maria S]

Keep up the flow of info! Love it, LOVE IT!!!

[Sam the Sham]

The everyday common sense was on the pro-CAFTA side.

Someone who wants to inundate this country with the violence, lawlessness, corruption, and poverty of Mexico just so he can have cheap labor is the last person in the world to look to for "common sense".

[Dane]

Someone who wants to inundate this country with the violence, lawlessness, corruption, and poverty of Mexico just so he can have cheap labor is the last person in the world to look to for "common sense".

Whew sammy shammy, I'll give you one thing, you are very good with posting on FR the hillary/tancredo talking points.

[stocksthatgoup]

Come on over to the Republican side!

....Given that they may face retribution for doing the right thing, we thought we'd list and salute the other 13 Democrats who supported Cafta: Vic Snyder of Arkansas, Melissa Bean of Illinois, Dennis Moore of Kansas City, William Jefferson of the port of New Orleans, Ike Skelton of Missouri, Jim Cooper and John Tanner of Tennessee, Ruben Hinojosa, Solomon Ortiz and Henry Cuellar of Texas, Jim Matheson of Utah, James Moran of Virginia and Norm Dicks of Washington.

[stocksthatgoup]

Free trade works every time. I love CAFTA

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

"Only 35% of the American people support free trade agreements. In this fight, all the passionate intensity was on the anti-CAFTA side. In this fight the lobbyists won and the American public lost."

As a Canadian, I hear a lot from the "anti-globalization" crowd about how vulnerable we are to the U.S. economic steamroller. They don't mention how our own industries benefit from trade -- nor how consumers everywhere benefit from lower prices.

The U.S. has nothing to fear, and much to gain from truly free trade. The U.S. economy is among the most resilient, dynamic, diversified, and innovative in the world. The U.S. creates goods and services the world needs. The U.S. needs global markets to capture economies of scale, and to concentrate on what it does best. The U.S. is becoming the head office, and design centre of world industry. This will make Americans rich, rich, rich. Lower paid jobs will be "exported" to less competitive countries; but, because of the flexibility of the U.S. economy, these adjustments will be made in small, manageable steps.

Countries with planned, calcified, rigid, and brittle economies -- such as those of several in "Old Europe" are the ones that will have to change or fall behind.

Free trade is not a "zero-sum game". All parties to a truly free-trade pact stand to gain as they maximize their comparative advantages.

(Note, I previously posted the above response on another thread, which covered several other issues besides trade.)

[Southack]

"The San Francisco Democrat called a caucus gripe session in the wake of last Wednesday's vote, and an article in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call suggested that Democrats who voted yes may lose their favorite committee assignments."

Ah yes...the "tolerance" of the Left on display again.

[Rodney King]

Only 35% of the American people support free trade agreements. In this fight, all the passionate intensity was on the anti-CAFTA side. In this fight the lobbyists won and the American public lost.

I'm conflicted on this issue. However, when the side that is against the majority of the country wins, the question always is: Did the country lose as the politicians voted for the special interests, or did the country win as the politicians bucked the people and risked their careers by doing what is right?

I don't know the answer.

[Southack]

"I'm writing off the GOP permanently over CAFTA."

Bye. See ya. You won't be missed.

Say "hello" to Chavev, Lula, and Castro while you're at it...because those dictators all wanted CAFTA to fail in order to keep those 6 Latin nations in CAFTA further apart from the U.S. in all aspects of trade, economics, and politics.

[pollyannaish]

That is one of the most unbelievable things I have ever read. Wow!

[Sam the Sham]

The benefits of free trade accrue to those who are mobile. The costs are borne by those who are immobile. Like that half of the labor force composed of regular Joe's who are no brighter than the regular Joe's of China or India or Mexico. They have to compete with guys who do precisely the same job they do and they will lose every time on price.