At a breakfast meeting sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor this morning, Nancy Pelosi said that a Senate filibuster of the FISA bill would be “healthy and wholesome” for public debate, but she’s “not encouraging” it. “I don’t think [the FISA bill] dishonors the Constitution,” she said, arguing that “exclusivity was more important than retroactive immunity” for telecom companies. Telecoms should not “take this as a compliment,” she said. “They have come out of this tainted.” Did Hillary Clinton lose the nomination because of sexism? “Being a woman has a positive upside in the campaign, probably offset by more sexism, I don’t know,” Pelosi said. “I’m a victim of sexism myself all the time, but I just think it goes with the territory.” Will Pelosi hold a vote on Mike Pence’s bill to ban the Fairness Doctrine? “I won’t…. The interest in my caucus is the reverse,” she said. “I support the Fairness Doctrine.” (Look out Rush Limbaugh, and other radio-talkers!) Pelosi was also asked about public financing-which she supports “across the board”-and how House Democrats’ campaigns are coordinating with Barack Obama. Answer: He’s been asked to raise money. Pelosi came ready to talk about energy policy. Upon arrival, her staffers passed out a press release on energy, which included proposed “Use It Or Lose It” legislation that would compel “the oil industry to start drilling or lose permits on the 68 million acres of undeveloped federal oil reserves which they are currently warehousing, keeping domestic supply lower and prices higher.” But apparently this was just too tedious for the reporters. By the time the breakfast had ended she had not fielded a single question about energy policy. Or about the war in Iraq, for that matter. Pelosi cited these two issues as the primary reasons for public disapproval of Congress. Too bad she didn’t get a chance to talk about them.
