Original Blog Entry: Pelosi confident on midterms: 'I'm not nervous at all'

truesee — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 02:11:14 GMT

Pelosi strikes confident note on midterms: 'I'm not nervous at all'

By Elise Viebeck - 08/01/10 10:27 AM ET

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) defended House Democrats' prospects for November on ABC's This Week Sunday, saying that her members have a series of legislative victories to take home to constituents in August.

Christiane Amanpour, the new host of This Week, quickly confronted the Speaker about comments made by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs' comments in June that Republicans could be successful in their effort to reclaim the House.

I don't spend a whole lot of time thinking about what the president's employees say about one thing or another, Pelosi said of Gibbs' remark.

We feel very confident about where we are, whether that's well known to that gentleman [Gibbs] or not, she added later.

House members begin their district work periods on Monday.

Pelosi was reticent when asked how she would have voted on the $33 billion supplemental appropriations bill for Afghanistan and Iraq, which passed the House 308-114 on Tuesday.

Amanpour noted that 102 Democrats voted against the measure this year, or 70 more than last year. Many were members of the leadership or committee chairmen.

Members who voted against the bill have said that there was less pressure than last year from Democratic leadership to support. Pelosi had said in advance that it would be a different kind of vote.

Pelosi explained on Sunday that there were varying degrees of expression in the 'nay' votes.

How does this [the war] figure into our protecting the American people? Is it worth it? That's the question, she said.

She also responded to Vice President Biden's recent estimate that a 2011 drawdown could amount to as few as a couple thousand troops.

I know it's not going to be turn out the lights and let's all go home on one day, she said. But I do think the American people expect it to be somewhere between that [a full-scale withdrawal] and a few thousand troops.

In discussing ethics charges against Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), Pelosi gave no personal opinion.

What we have done is to wait and see what the [House Ethics] Committee decides. I respect what they do. I'm totally out of the loop. It is independent. It is confidential, classified, secret, whatever.

Source:

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/112035-pelosi-on-midterms-qim-not-nervous-at-allq

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