Welcome to Congress, Jackie Speier- UPDATED with video
By Nicole Belle Thursday Apr 10, 2008 11:50am
(the first part is her swearing in...her statement is at approx. 8:00 in)
In office two days and shows more spine than the rest of her Democratic colleagues.
It didn't take long for Jackie Speier, the newest member of the U.S. House of Representatives, to put her straight-ahead style on display. Just as quickly, some of her new Republican colleagues greeted her with a sample of Washington-style partisanship.
Speier, who won Tuesday's special election to complete the term of the late Rep. Tom Lantos, went right to work with a speech calling for action on a process to bring the troops home from Iraq. She mentioned Sen. John McCain's observation that the United States could be in Iraq for 100 years. "History will not judge us kindly if we sacrifice four generations of Americans because of the folly of one," she said.
Some Republicans booed. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, walked out of the chamber. Speier, an 18-year state legislator known for taking on tough issues and interests, was nonplussed at the mini-controversy.
"The truth is, I think it was a minority of Republicans that were booing - and they represent a minority of Americans who still support the war," Speier said by phone Thursday.
Quick, can we figure out a way of cloning her?
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Here's hoping she doesn't become jaded over time.
She looks pretty hot.
Well....it's about damn time SOMEONE started bustin GOP nutsacks!
BTW, “History will not judge us kindly if we sacrifice four generations of Americans because of the folly of one” is a great line and observation.
OUTSTANDING! Take a lesson from her, the rest of you Dems in Congress!
Democratic leadership is working on removing her spine as we speak !
Brian from Bloomingdale @ 2:
How old are you 15 or 75?
liberalHUSSEINmoderation @ 3:
You're implying they HAVE nuts. BIIIIG mistake.
bizona @ 4:
Yuppers...methinks that would look good on t-shirts, stickers buttons....branded into Bushies forehead.
Dear Rep. Speier,
To be booed by these pathetic cowards is an extraordinary compliment. Whatever direction those assholes vote....please vote exactly opposite and you'll do fine.
Ow, did the Repugs stamp their feet in a tizzy. Poor, poor Repugs, full of their own crapulence. Did they go crying to mommy. What a bunch of A-holes!
Chico Hussein @ 8:
You can still have nutsacks and not have nuts. Much the same as you can have a back and no spine.
ThunderMonkey @ 12:
good point.
Chico Hussein @ 8:
Oh shit....my bad....
and Necadawg...I'm 37, and I think she's right easy on the eyes...not exactly my type, but not a hideous woman for sure.
I think the Repugs better start thinking about their future. They are going to become a minority very, very soon. I think they will become the way of the Whigs.
Ooooh...I want her to have my baby!!!
But seriously...I could care less if she was uglier than homemade sin...as long as she's doing the job she was hired to do (snappin GOP necks!)...what difference does it make?
liberalHUSSEINmoderation @ 14:
She's doable.
P.D. @ 15:
I think so too...but they're gonna fight like a cornered animal before they're put down.
I see the GOPers acted with their usual class and civility.
Mr. Obama, we might have a running mate for you.
Jackie rocks. We've known her here in the Bay Area for a while now. With all due respect to the late Tom Lantos, who was a better Congresscritter than most, it was time for a change.
The Repugs nutsackless 18% are no match for Speier's mighty ovaries!
And everytime they fight they become more shrill. They alienate people just by opening their mouths. Their antigay and woman bashing bellicose manner is going to leave them in the dust.
Fainally, a democrat with BALLS! And she is a woman! Lets send this to all thegutless Democrats in Congress.
Chico Hussein @ 8:
I agree that appearances can be deceiving - The Dems have managed to walk upright without spines for a while now.
On some web-sites they are saying what a huge mistake she made. What crap! It's OK to have a Repug act like an animal but if she speaks her mind, Tsk, Tsk. Pure drivel.
Duros Hussein62 @ 21:
Now tha'ts the best damn idea I've heard all week!
Joe Max @ 22:
Yes, but are her mighty ovaries of freedom more than a match for SUPERDELEGATE!!
I love when dems talk tough, now let's see em back it up.......... thats what I thought..........
liberalHUSSEINmoderation @ 17:
sorry, outsourced Sin is the ugliest! Support Homegrown Sin...keeps our Domestic Sin Producers Employed!
Sin American!
Liberal AND Proud @ 28:
or the "VAGINATOR"?
Note to the SF Chronicle:
"...was nonplussed at the mini-controversy..."
Nonplussed means speechless.
To quote Inigo Montoya:
"You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means."
chris @ 29:
Chris, you're answering yourself again.
Verdillac @ 30:
Dear GAWD!!! What were I thinkin?
Now if only Pelosi and Reed would follow suit. What the Hell! The Pres is now at 28%, What are they waiting for! I guess they are truly balless.
Necadawg Says @ 7:
I thought, "great now Paris Hilton is here!"
What I don't understand is why her state isn't mentioned. We read where Issa is from, but not her? Why? Are we to treat her as eye-candy, as Brian has already picked up on, or as a real asset to out party. If we expect the Brians of the country to treat her with respect, we better introduce her properly and with respect.
liberalHUSSEINmoderation @ 19:
A cornered ferret, to be precise.
Issa well known Ca. coward and liar lower than whale shit. I wish he would take that long walk off of one of those short piers in California.
Marcus, you just insulted all the ferrets of the land. LOL
P.D. @ 35:
Hmm...his poll numbers actually match the amount of time he spends working.
P.D. @ 26:
It definitely wasn't a Jean Schmidt moment if that is what they were implying! For one she wasn't lying or making up facts. She slapped the whole lot down!
P.D. @ 39:
Aaah...a ferret is just a weasel with better manners.
if only she could take pelosi's seat.
Would Republicans have applauded if she called McCain a coward like they did when a Republican called Murtha a coward?
Left&Left @ 33:
Dems always talk about bringing the troops home but they don't have the balls to cut funding, of course most of the voted FOR the war so......
Yeah, Why doesn't Bush just sail off in the sunset and take Cheney with him? Go back to Crawford and wait to see what the International Tribunals will do to them.
Marcus Aurelius @ 37:
Nope, they're gonna "retire" and get out while the getting is good, and march en-masse right over to K-Street and try to pimp their credibility. Didn't one of them proudly point to the Abermhoff Mariana Islands slave trade as the kind of US Immigration policy we should try to emulate? That's a sign of things to come!
Speier is my new rep here in CA-12. I voted Green. Speier now has to win in Nov. This week, again, I am more sick of House and Senate Democrats than I have ever been. I'll be calling Speier soon to 'ask politely', or scream bloody murder, to STOP THE FUNDING. We'll see how that goes.
Wow. GOOD FOR HER!!!!!
So, we have the ACLU and one Dem with spine.
Sad.
Ah Chris, your bringing my buzz down.
Hey, she got Issa to walk out of Congress! Can she figure out a way to keep him from coming back? Maybe apply the formula to a couple dozen more corrupt wingtards?
Left&Left @ 33:
Oh-oh, Left & Left, if Chrissy's having conversations with himself, maybe there's cause for concern?
Where can we send her an email letting her know how proud we are for what she did?
"The truth has a well known liberal bias" - Stephen Colbert
So, he cut-and-run (Tm)....how typical.
chris @ 29:
I love it when Reich-wingers talk tough.....then send someone else's children to die.
I LOVE THIS WOMAN!
As asinine as McCain's comment was he clearly wasn't suggesting that we "sacrifice four generations of Americans because of the folly of one,” Propping up South Korea's dictatorship was a mostly bloodless affair and Germans have been at most ambivalent about our bases and remain so today. I would welcome criticism of our overseas bases on principle, and McCain's notion that Baghdad will or even could turn out like Ramstein is perfectly worthy of ridicule, but her comment seems like a bit of a cheap shot.
Moreover, how sad are we? She made a little speech on the floor of the Congress and took a position shared by the overwhelming majority of the country. That's not exactly an act of heroism. She "bravely" stood up to some boos from the most despicable whiney jackasses in the country. I'm thankful, of course, but I'm not casting any statues just yet.
Well said Dr. Hussien.
Brains, blond and backbone. I like this woman.
myboysherman @ 58:
Actually, he was. But he doesn't consider it folly to do so. That's one of the differences between McCain and the Democratic presidential candidates.
Dr. Hussien Matt @ 56:
Sort of like Clinton, Biden, Dodd and countless other Dem's did right?
Reslugs are just jealous that their bimbo women are bleach blonde dogs.
Leslie, I love how the media tries to clean up McCain's messes, but endlessly talk about Obama's bowling score.
P.D. @ 11:
So true, PD. Whether it's "oh, so you want Saddam back?!'", or "so you care more about protecting terrorists than protecting Americans?!" or the countless others, childish comebacks are all the Rethugs have, while our finest citizens continue to bleed and die. pathetic.
chris @ 62:
Who's the President?
Dr. Hussien Matt @ 66:
P.D. @ 64:
Gawd, I can't throw enough things at my poor TV.
chris, do you work for the RNC?
What about her for future pres?
Getting booed by the Republicans is something every Democrat in congress should strive for. That's one way to know you are doing the will of the American people. Wear it like a badge of honor.
"Quick, can we figure out a way of cloning her?"--here is a quicker short order method of fixing USA problem(S)--replace Pelosie/Reid with Jackie Speier
Liberal AND Proud @ 42:
what manners, not fun sitting on the couch and one runs past behind and nips you on the spare tire under your shirt, then bounces off laughing.
“History will not judge us kindly if we sacrifice four generations of Americans because of the folly of one,” speier said
why does that ring a bell?
oh right:
According to a top official, Ashcroft asked aloud after one meeting: "Why are we talking about this in the White House? History will not judge this kindly." [in reference to the admin devising, planning and encouraging torture]
that said-
i wholly support rep speier in her endeavor.
but, fuck all... this just shows how bad things have gotten. the fact that this is a remarkable event (which it is) is sad and pathetic. this should have been the daily activity of the, so-called, opposition party, oh, about 5 years ago. better late than never, i guess.
Leslie, I find myself beating up inanimate objects since this President took office.
Dr. Hussien Matt @ 66:
He's only the Decider when it's convenient. Otherwise, it's everyone else's fault...like the General's, his staff...or the other baseball team owners, the players, his boss, his boss' boss.
No, nothing is ever George Bush's fault.
chris @ 67:
Who's the President? Don't you [anti-Americans] believe in accountability? Who's the President?
P.D. @ 74:
Please don't kick the dog.
And you know what pisses me off Samson, Ashcrofts statement was buried by the press.
Chrissy is the typical low-life that blames the gun manufacturer and the gun store, but not the shooter.
Dr. Hussien Matt @ 76:
Who's the President? Don't you [anti-Americans] believe in accountability? Who's the President?
Chris, why don't you just say..."I know you are, but what am I"...or "eat my shorts".
LOLOL!
Nice
Leslie, I would never hit a living being. Repugs, maybe.
Dr. Hussien Matt @ 79:
Or my favorite conservative finger pointing statement..."she wanted it"!
Liberal AND Proud @ 83:
Chrissy: Listen officer, if General Motors didn't want me to go 120 MPH, they wouldn't have put it on the speedometer. It's not my fault!
Maybe the chicken shit corporate democrats can learn something from her.
Necadawg Says @ 7:
I am 57..she look pretty hot
maybe all those rethugs that booed should enlist and stay in Iraq for 100 years I also wonder what they have for a service record maybe the closest they got to the service is going to the green zone and bocou security they only support the troops in name only
P.D. @ 78:
no doubt.
fuming.
ashcroft's statement and the whole rice-rummy-tenet-cheney-powell torture cheerleading squad.
criminals.
all of them.
oh, whoa, wait, did obama throw a gutter ball?!?!?!? now THAT is important.
(completely OT: the surge is a complete failure)
Doug @ 44:
As far as the Repugs are concerned, McCain carries his sizable sack around in a custom made wheel barrow - A wheel barrow lined with the fur from 100 seal pups, padded with the entrails of 1000 kittens, gilded with Nazi gold, and completed with handles carved from the ivory of poached African gray elephants and hot rod flames painted in the blood of Iraqi orphans. All of this, of course, has been built by the tiny, skilled hands of 7 year old Chinese artisans in a run down Shanghai warehouse. McCain demands only the finest travel accomodations for his titanic testicles.
In case you were wondering just how big McCain's balls are, here's an interesting tidbit of John McCain trivia: That giant lump you see on his face is not gout or goiter - His body has run out space in between his legs for his gonads and has adjusted accordingly.
Does that sound cowardly to you?
The sad part of this, is that those reich-wingers were booing an American that wants to protect our troops and get them out of harms way. ....Just more proof that reich-wingers hate our troops...
myboysherman @ 58:
OK.
We have in the neighborhood of 800 foriegn bases. It's imperialism plain and simple. We *do not* have "strategic defensive interests" in that many places. Typically we have bases either where we left them at the end of WW2 (Japan, Germany) or where we're propping up a locally unpopular government that is friendly (read "buys our guns" or "sells us oil" or both) to us.
Empires fall. They *always" fall. If we can get closer to the promise of being a moral principled country, the American experiment has chance at lasting. The way we're going we'll be a third world corporatocracy by the time todays kids are retiring.
P.D. @ 82:
It wouldn't do any good if you did. [Plus, you'd be arrested.] Just as acting out our frustrations on inanimate objects doesn't do anything good either. Commenting here helps though, marching, signing petitions, writing Congress, voting, etc.
Dr. Hussien Matt @ 84:
"No where on the box does it say not to put spaghetti in the DVD player".
"How the heck was I supposed to know I had to feed the dog. They didn't tell me that when I bought him."
"If they didn't want me to climb into the tiger pen, the zoo should have put up a bigger fence."
unsurebtwilling, that would take courage. And one thing I have noticed, Repugs always question everyone else's patriotism, but they never put themselves in harms way. It is always someone else's children.
P.D. @ 94:
But they wear flag lapel pins.
AND SHE'S A DECLARED SUPER-DELEGATE FOR HILLARY CLINTON - YOU GO GIRRRRRRRL! RIGHT ON, JACKIE!
Liberal AND Proud @ 80:
Chris, why don't you just say..."I know you are, but what am I"...or "eat my shorts".
LOLOL!
Pathetic, come back to me after you've learned a thing or two
Liberal AND Proud @ 93:
"no one said not to put a gerbil in there"
chris @ 62:
Oh sweet jebus' peirced sides chris! You repugs just CANNOT fuckin take ANY responsibility for anything, can ya? Always blamin Clinton for EVERYTHING...You make me sick! Pull your empty head out of your ass! Sure there are a FEW dems who are as evil and corrupt and hawkish as you repugs, but the mess this country is in...the blame can be layed squarely on the shoulders of the GOP and their enablers (YOU!). You realize that you all are traitors, right? Have a nice day. Turncoat!
Oh Yes! We can't forget the lapel pins! I need a shot of something alcoholic.
Rahm_Emanuel_Is_A_Tool @ 91:
yes. yes. and, ummmm, yes!
almost w/o exception "strategic defensive interests" is our 'excuse' for dismantling democracy, propping up strong men, and setting up proconsul-esque military bases.
america foreign policy: spreading depostism for decades.
She was the best legislator the dems had in California, very no-nonsense about privacy, education and the budget. She should be running for Governor next time if the ol' boys club hadn't got behind Geramendi for Luet. She got locked in to Clinton early but I am sure will support Obama vigoriously when he is the candidate.
Good for her!
Now - why is it so Goddamned hard for our lame democratic candidates for President say the same thing?
just sayin....
she looks like a conservative/republican/christian.
But that is very closed minded of me to make assumptions on first glances.
Jackie Speier will visit each Democrat, one at a time. She will point out exactly where their spines are located, and explain how important it is for each of them to begin using them!
Can we get a complete list of exactly who walked out when Jackie spoke? That speaks louder than words about where their patriotism lays. Each of them should be removed from office as soon as possible. They are all on the wrong side of any intention of trying to put our country back together!
Thanks for speaking up Representative Speier.
Marcus Aurelius @ 32:
nonplussed
adjective
filled with bewilderment; "at a loss to understand those remarks"; "puzzled that she left without saying goodbye" [syn: at a loss]
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
Issa should walk out, even his own party has abandoned him and he was the hatchet man who got the votes to get Gray Davis out of office, so ARNOLLLLLLLLD could come in and let Cheney's energy task force throw the whole country into a depression welcome aboard Jackie, give em hell, you are right about your opinion!
Marcus Aurelius @ 32:
M.A. -
The links are just FYI....I think you're probably fighting a losing battle. I hate when people use "myself" for "me" or "I" but I realize it's probably going to go into public usage and then it's accepted...
http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=Nonplussed
http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/nonplussed?view=uk
Dr. Hussien Matt @ 76:
Who's the President? Don't you [anti-Americans] believe in accountability? Who's the President?
Dick somebody or other. Am I close?
Issa walka outta...hopa he neva returna.
"Speier, an 18-year state legislator known for taking on tough issues"
She's better know for taking five rounds from gun toting cult members and waiting 22 hours for help to arrive.
I'm a big time Jackie Speier fan, have been for awhile now... You go grrrl!!!! JD
Maybe Speier can assist Pelosi with bringing the impeachment table down from the attic?
Ruthless People @ 113:
It wouldn't be up there except they had to move it from the basement to make room for water tanks and stretching racks.
Samson- @ 101:
-start rant-
Imagine repurposing some of those bases for the good.
* When the locals don't have water, pump them ours. We won't miss it.
* When the locals have high infant mortality, bring them into the base clinic. We can spare it.
* When the locals get flooded or earthquaked out, fly in supplies with Blackhawks. They're just sitting idle.
* When the locals are being raped and murdered, let the 101st Airborne put a stop to that. Better than what they're doing now.
* When the locals are being oppressed, don't sell their oppressors guns. Denounce themm and support the opposition.
You'd better believe that when Al Quaida asked for haven, the locals would throw them out on their ear.
"But the Americans are our *friends*!"
FOX would call this weakness. I call it true strength.
Then again I've always been a dreamer...
-end rant-
I loved when she talked about the concerns of Main Street. Her district is San Francisco! From the Castro Street leather crowd to the Haight-Ashbury hippies, I doubt there is even a street named "Main Street" in San Francisco! :)
While serving as a congressional staffer for Congressman Leo Ryan and was shot 5 times while leaving Jonestown in Guyana and waited 22 hours for help to arrive. I guess a few thin skinned GOP troglodyte's won't rattle her.
Shes my new hero. Can we get the other Dems to take lessons from her?
Is Jackie Speier married? Cuz I think I'm in love...
Ruthless People @ 116:
No, Nancy Pelosi's district is San Francisco. Jackie Speier represents San Mateo, which is just south of the city on the peninsula. And there is a Main Street in San Mateo.
And as a proud San Franciscan, I can tell you that there IS a Main Street in the city as well. My husband's law office used to be at Main and Mission and I'd walk the four blocks from my office on New Montgomery to have lunch with him.
As to the rest of your stereotypes, it's clear you haven't spent much time here if any to think we're all a bunch of gays in leather (that's Folsom Street by the way) or hippies on Haight (which existed 30+ years ago and has now been gentrified, with the exception of the runaway street kids trying to sell you oregano as pot).
Stereotyping is NOT a liberal concept.
Ruthless People @ 116:
Main Street in SF: http://www.google.com/search?q=main+street%2C+san+francisco&ie=utf-8&oe=...
Wow. What a difference in experience, capability, and quality from that of the GOP. They vote people in who run cement companies, who have brothers who are movie stars, but are themselves near do wells, gaining their seats by hook and crook, for that is what they are: crooks who BUY their seats with corruption in their hearts.
Jackie Speier is the antithesis of these rotted to the core GOPrs. When can we dispense with the PRETEND politeness and get these thugs out of office? Do their districts NOT REALIZE we blame them for sending the likes of, oh say, Tom DeLay to Congress? Have they not tracked the FACT that business went cold in their districts when they sent these people? They may gain some corrupt dollars, but honest citizens will refuse to do business with districts who give us rotten politicians.
Remember, Congress is far more important than just one lone monkey and his henchmen at the top.
Hmmm....I'm not sure. I need to read more about her. I own a rescued pit bull and I have heard some really negative things about her and legislation she supports against pits. This is not a big deal to most people, I realize but, ever since they rounded up people's pet pits in Colorado (Denver?) and killed them, I try to pay a little more attention. I'm happy about her speaking up about Iraq, of course, much more important than anything else and I support anything that helps the poor soldiers and the Iraqi lives but, unbridled enthusiasm might escape me since my pit Honey is a member of my family.
Nicole Belle @ 120:
Cill out sister. Guess you didn't notice the :) :) :) at the end of my post?? Boy, I thought San Franciscans were laid back, guess that's another one of those mis-characterizations.
Bob @ 121:
Were you'll Bubba hanging out wearing his NASCAR tee-shirt no doubt!
Ruthless People @ 124:
Bob @ 121:
:) :) :) :) :)
Ruthless People @ 124:
:) :) :) :)
Hats off to Jackie Speier. The truth hurts, and the repug actions over the past 12 years have hurt this country profoundly.
A strong voice is what this Congress needs. A strong and honest voice, one that truly does represent the people.
God bless you Jackie, and never lose sight of what you shared in your opening speech today. Wish we had more representatives that were truly representing the people, and not the lobbyists.
Ruthless People @ 116:
there is a Main Street in San Francisco, moron. Its very close to Market Street. Which is where most of the banks are. Because, you know, SF is one of the biggest banking hubs in the world.
besides, she represents the "Bay Area" which is much bigger than spanging hippies on the corner of Haight & Ashbury. you wanna generalize the Bay Area, you should talk more about nerds making this internet you just used a possibility, and less about gays and hippies.
what are you, a midwesterner or something? ;-)
bizona @ 4:
Sure is.
I like this woman already!
Given her personal history and all she has endured, I doubt a little pissing and moaning and disrespect from some elected dickweeds will phase her one bit.
The voters in Darrell Issa's district need to hand this douchebag his walking papers, so he can enjoy retirement with his buddy Bush!
burnt @ 129:
No idiot ;-) I live in that other big liberal city, THE biggest banking hub. Perhaps you've heard of it, NYC? The Greatest City in the World? That one? And I live in Greenwich Village no less. Besides I didn't know it was possible for a gay person to stereotype other gay people? Another thin skinned supposed liberal who can't take a joke obviously ;-)
Speir has no fear. She was shot in Guyana and left for dead as Leo Ryan, D-Rep, was murdered.
She survived,(obviously), but developed a take-no-prisoners attitude to politics. She goes straight for the jugular.
If Pelosi can get her a chairmanship, she'll open the proverbial Can-o-Whoop-Ass
Can she represent me too?
I pray for her heart and focus and to have it guarded from the Washington monster that usually eats its young
Where can we donate to her?
Let other Dems know it is in their best interest to grow a pair
Why is everybody celebrating? Pelosi said the same shit lol.
"You go to church to find you some religion
And all you hear is connivin' and gossip and contradiction and
You try to vote and participate in the government
And the muh'fuckin' Democrats is actin' like Republicans"
"Beautiful Struggle"
-- Talib Kweli
Dr. Hussien Matt @ 55:
He cuts and runs when the truth slaps him in the face but will not have what it takes when the truth about Iraq comes to light I guess the mob mentality or is that hive mind they all think alike get back there and take it like a man you pussy
Leslie @ 96:
I wonder are those lapel pins the magnetic type hate to see a rethug stick themselves might let all the air out of their overinflated egos or heaven forbid they might actually bleed not red blood might you something in the way of green ooze
Dear Hillary -
THAT is what "ready from Day One" looks like.
Next time Repugs boo someone quoting McCain's "100 years" line ... they need to patiently wait, sympathetically nod their head, and agree: "I knoooooow! It's terrible, isn't it?"
Sorry: "they" = the speaker... !!
Rep Pelosi will get Jackie on the right track soon. The track of doing everything that the Republicans want her to do. Darrell Issa will see that Nancy Pelosi tells Jackie to behave like a good girl. Nancy will. Nancy will also apologize to Mr. Issa on the House Floor as she has done so many times before to Republicans.
There are just so many Republicans, what is a girl to do?
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