FACTCHECK.ORG

Sliming Pelosi

Internet rumormongers spread misinformation about her husband, her tax plans, her plane rides and a "mental deficiency."

 

Email To A Friend

Please fill in the following information and we'll email this link.

Separate multiple addresses with commas

SPONSORED BY
 

Summary
Pelosi has taken her place with Obama and Palin as a favorite target of false claims in chain e-mails, judging by the examples our readers send us.

Here's the truth about some of the bunk being thrown at her by anonymous Internet rumormongers:

Her husband does not own a $17 million stake in the parent of a company whose American Samoa plant she tried to exempt from minimum wage laws. That claim stems from a Wikipedia hoax.

She does not routinely fly about in a 757-size jet that she demanded from the Air Force. She normally flies on the same type of executive jet as her Republican predecessor.

It's untrue that she's calling for a 100 percent "windfall" profits tax on stock profits or retirement savings. That malicious hoax has been going around for at least two years but has recently been revived in a slightly different form.

And it's not true that she couldn't figure out that the voyage on which Captain Cook died was his last. That one – the most recent example – tries to pass off a joke lifted from a 48-year-old gag book as a true story about Pelosi.

The anti-Pelosi attacks increased after Democrats won a bigger majority in the House in last year's election. In earlier articles, we debunked waves of anonymous Internet misinformation about the Democratic presidential contender and the Republican vice presidential pick. Now, it is the speaker's turn.

Analysis
Rep. Nancy Pelosi has been a target of Internet bunk ever since Democrats seized control of the House from Republicans and first made the San Francisco congresswoman speaker two years ago. The attacks on her were eclipsed for a while by other false Internet rumors being spread about Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, after he became a presidential candidate (see "Sliming Obama" Jan. 10, 2008). Then came a sudden wave of mistaken and made-up claims about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, after she burst on the national scene as the Republicans' choice for vice president. (See "Sliming Palin," Sept. 8, 2008.) Lately, however, we've seen a new wave of bogus attacks on Pelosi.

A Cooked-Up Story
Bogus e-mail circulating about Nancy Pelosi

Label

Newsweek Top Stories
NEWSWEEK's 20/10
NEWSWEEK's 20/10

Our decade-in-review project recalls the highs and lows of the last 10 years.

Obama's Promises
Obama's Promises

Is the new president fulfilling his campaign pledges? Or falling short?

The Decade in 7 Minutes
The Decade in 7 Minutes

Video: A fast-paced review of the best and worst moments. Don't blink.

Accidental Celebrities
Accidental Celebrities

From Levi Johnston to Elian Gonzalez, these people never expected to be in the spotlight.

Discuss

Sponsored by

Member Comments

  • Posted By: m.mcc @ 01/17/2009 11:20:40 PM

    ROFLMAO???. Snarly Harley, you're hysterical. I don't see how anyone could take you seriously. It looks like you're getting flustered and testy and having considerable trouble effectively expressing yourself. I'm told this is actually fairly common among two digit IQ narcissists.

    Your profanity and name-calling are great debating skills especially when you stammer and run out of meaningful and intelligent things to say. Of course, that's assuming you have anything meaningful and intelligent to say in the first place and there's scant evidence of that. Your contributions to the discussion thus far have been, shall we charitably say, somewhat shallow.

    BTW, and not that it really matters, but you're once again woefully wrong in your assumption that I'm a Republican and that I'm a Bush lover. Here's a news flash for ya', Snarly. There are a few of us Democrats who have no love for Bush who didn't vote for Obama. I didn't vote for Bush either and have some real problems with some of his actions and policies as well as those of some of his cronies. I would have had no problem with impeachment or other legal action IF there were strong enough legal grounds to make it stick, which I seriously doubt there are. What I wouldn't want to see is an unwinable partisan witch-hunt like the one the Republican's pulled on Bill Clinton. The rancor and distraction that would go along with it would be disastrous. We've got way bigger fish to fry right now.

    Now go on back to your corner and continue sucking your thumb??????..Or what is more likely, some other body appendage that provides you with the same thrill you seem to get from making a total jackass of yourself.

  • Posted By: m.mcc @ 01/17/2009 4:33:38 PM

    READ the post first, you pompous ass!

    The reference made was to some alleged meeting in 2002, well before the invasion of Iraq and LONG before Pelosi was "Madam Speaker"???. and I did make every effort to substantiate this and could not. Which leads me to suspect that this may be yet another false smear, only this time coming from the delusional left rather than the right. So if it's true, prove it and I'll be fine with it.

    If you've even remotely followed Pelosi's career and her politics you'd realize that if she felt she had a winnable case against Bush when she became speaker in 2006 she would have pulled the trigger. I have absolutely no doubts about this because she hates the man and has always been ruthless in her quest for both personal attention and a Democratic stranglehold on government. Add to that the Democratic majority in both houses and there's few other conclusions you can come to other than she didn't feel she had a winnable case for impeachment. With Obama lavishing praise on Bush yesterday, I seriously doubt that he's going to instigate or support any attempt at legal action either. So it's time to give it up and move on.

    Now that he won your vote and your devotion, it must drive you far left whack-jobs crazy to see your messiah moving even ever so slightly toward the right. :D :D

  • Posted By: m.mcc @ 01/16/2009 8:59:34 PM

    I wonder if you could post some references supporting these views and accusations as they apply to Pelosi? I've been unable to find anything on this. Oh, and please don't bother posting if the material can't be substantiated. I'm really not interested in extremist bloggers opinions that can't be independently verified.

    BTW, CNN is reporting this evening that Obama thinks Bush did the best job he could and that he thinks Bush is a "good guy". Looks like the road to trial for Bush got a lot longer today. Hmmm, must be something in the air or water in Washington that make them all stick together, huh?

Reply

Report Abuse

Enter comments if any for reporting abuse

 

A new ad goes too far when it says Medicare will be "bankrupt" in eight years.