Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi (born March 26, 1940) is the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A Democrat, she is the first woman to lead a major political party in either house of Congress and became the first female Speaker of the House on January 4, 2007. She has represented California's 8th District since 1987 (it was numbered the 5th District until 1993).

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• The American people voted to restore integrity and honesty in Washington, D.C., and the Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history.
  • Post-election comments, 2006-11-7. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/07/AR2006110700473.html

• Members of Congress I have the high privilege and distinct honour of presenting to you, his excellency Bertie Ahern (/ei/hern), the Taoiseach, the Prime Minister of Ireland
  • Referring to Bertie Ahern (Ah-hern) at a joint meeting of the US Congress at Capital Hill in Washington (April 30th, 2008) http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0430/ahernb.html

• Why should we put a plan out? Our plan is to stop him. He must be stopped.
  • Referring to George W. Bush on Fox News (March 17, 2005)

• [T]hey had to make up that story about weapons of mass destruction. Because that was the only thing that would sell to the American people, and that wasn't true.
  • The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (November 30, 2005)

• As many of you know, I come from San Francisco. We don't have a lot of farms there. Well, we do have one—it's a mushroom farm, so you know what that means.
  • To The Agribusiness Club of Washington (July 24, 2006)

• Maybe it will take a woman to clean up the House.
  • Interview with Barbara Walters (December 13, 2006)

• A woman is like a teabag. You can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.
  • Interview with ABC News, as quoted by Hilary Clinton.

• I say to my colleagues never confine your best work, your hopes, your dreams, the aspiration of the American people to what will be signed by George W. Bush because that is too limiting a factor.
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    • I have said it before and I will say it again: Impeachment is off the table.
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        • Am I going to have to use my ‘Mother of Five Voice’ to be heard?" (to an inattentive audience while campaigning)-Quoted in the October 23, 2006 issue of Newsweek
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            • The word 'campaign' is a war term. So when you go into a campaign you just prepare to go to war. If you think this is an exercise in civic activity...then you are going to be surprised.-1985
            
            
            • This president goes into office with more expectations than any president I can ever remember in my lifetime.-2008
            
            
            • I didn't know you were Catholic. (to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson as he got down on one knee to beg Pelosi to find Democratic support for the bailout bill)-2008
            
            
            • Your recent meetings with Chinese dissidents at the White House are to be commended. However, your participation at the opening ceremony of the Olympics will send a signal to the Chinese people and the international community that could be misperceived as your approval, and that of the American people, for the draconian policies of the Chinese government. Therefore, it is essential that you unambiguously speak out for human rights and meet with the families of jailed prisoners of conscience while you are in Beijing. (In a letter to President Bush prior to his 2008 trip to Beijing's Summer Olympic Games
            
            
            • With Americans worried about losing their jobs, their savings, their homes and their chance at the American Dream, the New Direction Congress will work in a bipartisan way to lift our economy and help America's middle class.
            
            
            • By making college more affordable for all and more accessible for minority students, the first new higher education authorizing legislation in a decade will help strengthen our nation and America's middle class, and spur a new age of innovation and ingenuity in our country.
            
            
            • "Why don't we just leave this room today forgetting the word 'earmark'?"-June 2007
            
            
            • "Can we drill your brains?"(responding to attendants who interrupted her speech by chanting "Drill here! Drill now!")
            
            
            • The proposed Bush regulations put politics above the health care needs of Americans.
            
            
            • Every aspect of our lives must be subjected to an inventory...of how we are taking responsibility.