Nancy Pelosi will be the Speaker of the House of Representatives when the new Congress convenes in January. She will be the first woman and the first Italian American to hold that position.
Funny, she doesn't
look like the most dangerous woman in America, does she? Well, that is probably because she's not. She is a wife, a mother and a grandmother. She grew up in a political family; her father was a United States Congressman and the Mayor of Baltimore; but she did not enter politics until she was 47 years old, when she was elected to represent the California 08 in a special election to fill the seat vacated by the death of Rep. Sala Burton in early 1987. She was elected to a full term in 1988, and has been reelected eight times.
You are going to hear a lot about
San Francisco Values coming out of the right-wing punditocracy between now and January. They will try to make this sound like a bad thing. It is not.
Nancy Pelosi, unlike many of the family values crowd, is still on her first and only marriage. She and her husband have five children and their sixth grandchild is due momentarily.
She supports a woman's right to choose and she opposes the gay marriage bans that are all the rage these days.
I guess San Francisco values mean you have real family values, you really value your family, and you uphold the constitution to boot.
I'll take it. Can we get a few more Representative Pelosi's please?
While the right-wing talking heads are telling you how liberal she is, remember that in San Francisco, they think she's a moderate.
