PentaPost reports, "In a speech before the Council on Foreign Relations, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) issued a broad critique of the Bush administration's foreign policy, restating her opposition to an attack against Iraq. 'I do not believe that going to war now is the best way to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction,' Pelosi said. 'Before going to war we must exhaust all alternatives, such as the continuation of inspections, diplomacy and the leverage provided by the threat of military action.' In her first major foreign policy address as Democratic leader, Pelosi suggested Bush has wasted the goodwill the United States received after Sept. 11, 2001. 'We cannot turn away from the network of alliances and international organizations that we have helped build,' she said."

"The Democratic Party lost an opportunity five months ago to avert the massive military buildup toward war against Iraq by failing to take a unified stand, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said on Friday. Pelosi, a California Democrat who voted against the October 2002 congressional resolution to back a possible U.S.-led war, told a foreign policy think tank [Council on Foreign Relations] that resident Bush 'is too far down the road and I don't think he's turning back. If the Democrats had spoken out more clearly in a unified vote five months ago in opposition to the resolution, if the people had gone onto the streets five months ago in these numbers in our country and around the world, I think we might have been in a different place today,' Pelosi said...Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri, Pelosi's predecessor as top House Democrat, voted for the resolution."

John Nichols writes that Rep. Nancy "Pelosi's combination of liberal values and strategic savvy--she learned her politics from her father, a New Deal Congressman who played the ward politics of Baltimore well enough to become mayor--has made her a favorite of Democrats who believe the party needs to distinguish itself from Republicans. Yet, as a senior Democrat who is rooting for Pelosi says, 'Nancy's got a great personality and she's great on the issues, and she could be a perfect leader. But if she's on the defensive about her politics she could do more harm than good. We can't afford to be incoherent for two more years. It'll kill us'... Dennis Kucinich, chair of the Progressive Caucus, of which Pelosi is a member, says 'The Republicans are in a clear majority. On a lot of issues we care about, we're going to lose. That's not the question. The question is: What do we bring to the votes? How bold will we be in standing up and articulating our differences with Republicans?'"

Robin Toner writes: "It seemed, to many Republicans, too good to be true: Representative Nancy Pelosi, an archetypal San Francisco Democrat, assumed the leadership of the House Democrats last week. Republicans cheerfully revived all the old stereotypes of the loony left -- the latte-drinking, culturally alien, soft-on-national-defense limousine liberals. In all the chortling, a few political realities got lost. Yes, Ms. Pelosi is a liberal's liberal, with a rating from Americans for Democratic Action of 100 percent and a district that gave just 15 percent of its presidential vote to George W. Bush. But she is no more of a liberal than Representative Tom DeLay, the new majority leader of the Republicans, is a conservative, with his zero ratings from the A.D.A. and the League of Conservation Voters. The two representatives represent the heart of their parties' caucuses in the House with far more ideological purity than either party would like to admit."

ABCNews.com reports: "House Democrats on Thursday made Rep. Nancy Pelosi the first woman ever to head a political party's caucus in Congress. In choosing Pelosi on a 177-29 vote, Democrats tasked the veteran California congresswoman with reviving a party stunned by election setbacks and facing a political landscape in which the White House and both houses of Congress are controlled by Republicans....Pelosi, who for 15 years has represented a strongly liberal district in San Francisco, has led opposition to the administration on such issues as Iraq, trade with China and the structure of the new Homeland Security Department. But she has also promised to reach out to more moderate and conservative members of her own party who say Democrats must not lose touch with the centrist voters who are determining the outcomes of elections....Pelosi too said Democrats will try to find common ground with Republicans, but on issues where they differ, 'we must stand our ground.'"

Want to do something tangible with your disappointment and outrage? It's shaping up that the new House Minority Leader will either be Harold Ford of Tennessee or Nancy Pelosi of California. Pelosi is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Ford is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of moderate-to-conservative lawmakers. This is a crucial crossroads: Does the Democratic Party go further to the right or do they go back to the roots of the Democratic Party? We must deluge our Democratic representatives with faxes and phone calls asking them to make sure the House Democrats don't go any farther to the right. This vote will happen next Thursday (11/14) so it is imperative that we organize and contact our CURRENT Democratic representatives (the old, not the new) and demand that they support Pelosi. Ford must be defeated resoundingly, otherwise he will form a right wing power bloc and split our House vote by siding with Republicans on important issues.

"Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California secured victory in the race for House Democratic leader on Friday when her only formal rival conceded defeat and offered an endorsement. Pelosi, 62, a liberal who represents San Francisco in Congress, will become the first woman to lead either party in either House of Congress when she is formally elected next week to replace Rep. Richard Gephardt. Pelosi triumphed over Texas Rep. Martin Frost who conceded defeat in a letter to members of the rank and file." Rep. Harold Ford (D-TN) may stay in the race. But the odds are very good that the House Democrats will be led by Pelosi, a true progressive!

John Nichols writes, "Pelosi's [opposition to the Iraq War resolution] placed her in direct opposition not just to the Bush administration but to Gephardt. And it stirred immediate discussion among House Democrats about what it might be like to be a genuine opposition party. An aggressive progressive, Pelosi has long argued that Democrats need to clearly distinguish themselves from Republicans on domestic and international issues. Now, she can point to Tuesday's election results -- in which Democrats who opposed the Bush agenda on taxes and war ran better than those who compromised with the administration -- as confirmation of her view... Pelosi is one of the most progressive members of the House, with a voting record that frequently displays 100% support for the positions advanced by organized labor, environmental and consumer groups. But Frost, despite his Texas roots, is no southern conservative." Surprisingly, the conservative in the race is 32-year-old Harold Ford Jr. (D-TN).

Democratic Whip Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is the #2 Dem in the House. She writes: "The decision of whether to send our brave men and women in uniform to war is the most solemn and serious choice we face as Members of Congress. Before putting our young people in harm's way, we must be certain there is no other recourse. Because I do not believe we have exhausted all diplomatic remedies, I cannot support the Administration's resolution regarding the use of force in Iraq. I am also extremely concerned about the impact of such action on our war against terrorism... As the ranking Democrat on the House Select Committee on Intelligence, I have seen no evidence or intelligence that suggests that Iraq indeed poses an imminent threat to our nation. If the Administration has that information, they have not shared it with the Congress. If we invade Iraq, we will show our military power. If we can eliminate the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction without invading, we will show our strength."