Thursday, January 4, 2007

Speaker(ess?) Pelosi

One of the many nice perks of being unemployed is it allows me a lot of time to watch C-SPAN and in recent days it's been a real treat. (And yes, in case you're wondering, I know exactly how big of a political-dork this makes me.)

Not only have I been able to watch 2 very moving funerals for President Ford, but today I got to be witness to history, as Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was sworn in as the first woman (and first Italian-American) to be elected Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

It's blogworthy because President Ford's grandkids read some very moving prayers and today, there were a ton of members' kids in the House chamber, including what looked like all of Speaker Pelosi's grandkids, as votes were taken and the members of the 110th Congress were sworn in en masse.

They were all well-dressed and polite and after giving what I thought was a very moving and inspiring speech, including all the token mentions of bipartisanship, Rep. Pelosi invited all the children who wished to touch the speaker's gavel to come down to the podium and stand beside her. Besides the occasional mischief making -- one kid tapped the microphone a few times to hear it thump, but nothing on par with Andrew Guiliani at his father's first mayoral inaugural -- you could see in the eyes of some of the young girls, the inspiration inherent in knowing that they too could one day reach these heights of power in the government of the United States.

And as far as the headline goes, if you don't get it, go watch the Michael Douglass classic Falling Down.

PS-Class act by the rumored to be gay Rep. David Dreier (R-CA) for calling attention to the first female chairwoman of the House Rules Committee, Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY). For the record, I've always like Rep. Dreier's appearances on Bill Maher's HBO show, I just wish he'd stop being such a little sellout when it comes to his sexual orientation, that's all.

PPS-If you're interested in other closested GOPers, check out this list, on the left side, as you scroll down a little. Matt Drudge and Armstrong Williams, who knew?

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