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Ear to the Ground

It Only Took 218 Years

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Posted on Jan 5, 2007
Pelosi
Paul Szep

Nancy Pelosi’s new job as the first woman speaker of the House has been something of a footnote to the Democrats’ success in the midterm elections, but her truly historic ascension has inspired women and men alike—even Republicans.

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, took his four daughters to the swearing-in: “It’s a good role model for all women, and my daughters can see that they can get to the highest levels of government.”


Washington Post:

This was the visual they had dreamed about for years, for decades, for a lifetime. A woman standing on the wooden dais before the high-backed leather chair of the speaker of the House, the gavel in her hand, the American flag draped behind her.

And when Nancy Pelosi made American history yesterday and was formally elected speaker, the raucous cheers that rang through the House chamber came from young girls in Mary Janes, working women in business suits, elderly ladies carrying canes and more than a few men. For hours after the formal swearing-in, the ascension of Pelosi was the topic throughout the corridors of the Capitol. Several women said they looked forward to the State of the Union address later this month because Pelosi would be in the speaker’s chair and a woman would share the television screen with the president.

“For our daughters and granddaughters, today we have broken the marble ceiling,” Pelosi told cheering members of the House and their families who crowded into the chamber as the Democratic leader was formally elected speaker of the 110th Congress. “For our daughters and granddaughters today, the sky is the limit.”

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By MARIAM RUSSELL, January 8, 2007 at 10:27 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Is her constituency the people of her district or the money that got her into politics and elected and re-elected?

I will believe that she is representing the wishes of the people of the United States when I start to see the change that said people voted for.

Electing women only makes a difference when they do not buy into the very bullshit that needs changing. Explain where the difference is with people like Margaret Thatcher, Golda Mier, and Kay Bailey Hutchinson? They sound and act exactly like the men around them, except when they set out to out-ugly said men.

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By Fadel Abdallah, January 7, 2007 at 1:39 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry! But the title of the piece, “It only took 218 years,” is indeed a fitting satirical comment on how slow progress is made in this bastion of always bragged about democracy.

I know that in many third world countries, and particularly in two so-called backward Muslim countries, women have reached the positions of prime ministers. In comparative perspective, Ms. Nancy Pelosi’s reaching the position of the Speaker of the House should not be a reason for celebration, but a time for self-criticism of how slow progress is made in this one super power ‘democracy’ of the world.

One reason I am not celebrating, but rather saddened, is the fact that this Nancy Pelosi was one of the first sad souls jumping at, criticizing, and distancing herself from the peace laureate and intellectual giant President Jimmy Carter, for his truth-telling book, “Palestine: Peace not Apartheid.”

Pandering to the Zionist control of American politics and affirming it is rather another sad day in the ever declining fortunes of America. I feel so sorry and cheated for both the $ 300 I donated to the Democratic Party and the hopes I had for better future for America.

The two party system and their fortunes certainly rise and fall with time, but there is one sad permanent reality about American politics; that’s it is always controlled by the Zionist influence. Indeed Congress is an Israeli-occupied territory; and as a result of that there is shame, not honor, for the Spaeker of the House, whether man or woman!

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By PARAMASVARAN Kandiah, January 6, 2007 at 2:44 am Link to this comment
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What can one say except to say “HEARTIEST CONGRATULATIONS” to the Lady Speaker and to all the girls and women of the United States. Women are already taking the leadership role in many countries. Women - as Mothers - have a soothing touch. Perhaps God has seen that the time has come for the soothing touch to pervade the whole globe and bring about some sense to the mad rush for wealth and the exhibitionism of aggressivism and inflated ego.

It is possible also that this appointment would be the precursor to the Presidency of the United States so that the women at the helm can bring about a much more moral based society as a whole.

The Mother - women - have the innate compassion and the grace to soothe the violence that now encompasses our lives.

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