Caroline Kennedy Not Victim of Sexism, Pelosi Says
EmailDuring our exclusive "This Week" interview, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — the first woman speaker and the highest-ranking woman in government — said she didn’t think Caroline Kennedy had been a victim of sexism.
"Politics is a brutal business, it really is brutal. And once you put yourself out there as a possible candidate for an office, you know, you’re in the arena, the fight begins," Pelosi said.
Of Kennedy, she said, "She is great, highly intelligent, has done so much for education in New York, written books on our Constitution which is the oath that we take here. I think she would have been a great senator. But the fact is Governor Paterson had many excellent choices — people to choose from, some of them in the Congress, some outside, Caroline was among them, Kirsten is the one who is Senator Gillibrand soon-to-be. And we’re — all of her colleagues are very excited for her."
I asked if she thought Caroline Kennedy’s treatment smacked of sexism, as a recent Washington Post article suggested.
"Oh, I didn’t see it that way. But again, I’m not in New York, I’m not on the ground. I didn’t — no, I followed it peripherally," she said.
Pelosi said she has tried to name women to key committee assignments, including outgoing Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand, now the new senator from New York.
But I also asked Pelosi about her history of friction with Gillibrand.
"I don’t have an uneasy relationship with Kirsten," Pelosi argued."My concerns as Speaker of the House is of all the choices that he [New York Gov. David Paterson] had, this is a district that is important to us. We worked very hard to win this seat. And so, of course, I want to keep my numbers here."
Pelosi also argued more women are needed in Congress.
"I broke through the marble ceiling, forget the glass ceiling. In this Congress, it’s a marble ceiling. It’s over 200 years of pecking order that was very all-male and predicted long into the future. So I broke into that," Pelosi said.
"We need more women. When I came here, I don’t there were 20 women. That was 20 years ago. At the rate we’re going it’s going to take too long to get parity. We have to have some breakthroughs. And we have. And my election to speaker has — so huge. I always said it’s harder to be speaker than be president of the United States. Because the American people are more interested in having a female president than the male members of Congress are interested in having a female speaker. But I’m proud of them. They rose to the occasion," she said.
–George Stephanopoulos
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Thank GOD. When Ted Kennedy finally dies. It will mean the end of the KENNEDY ROYALTY Ruler ship. And they all look like disgusting drunken slobs.
Posted by: same I AM a Democrat | January 25, 2009, 9:25 am 9:25 am
Sexism???? Really!!!! What idiot thought of that one. Unqualifiedism more like it.
Posted by: samhiguchi | January 25, 2009, 9:34 am 9:34 am
Pelosi, tooting her own horn, not even acknowleging Hillary’s historic run… what a POS she is.
Posted by: Why are we in this handbasket? | January 25, 2009, 9:54 am 9:54 am
It’s harder for a woman to be Speaker than PRESIDENT? This woman is delusional. Speaker is voted from WITHIN the body, President requires the whole nation of good ole boys to endorse you. Please!
Posted by: a reader in ga | January 25, 2009, 9:56 am 9:56 am
Same I AM a Democrat:
I think it is wiser to keep quiet, if you have nothing good to talk about a person.
Posted by: RS | January 25, 2009, 10:02 am 10:02 am
a reader in ga and why are we in this handbasket have it right, it is harder for a woman to be president than speaker…from what I could tell (and I’m not on the ground, to user her phrase) Pelosi worked very hard to marginalize and/or defeat Hillary, perhaps to preserve her “bragging rights”.
Caroline Kennedy lost my support for anything she wants to do next when she stood on that stage next to Obama when he lied about his parents meeting at the march on Selma. She and Uncle Ted did not bat an eye. Obama’s retelling of history did not shock me as much as their non-reaction did.
Posted by: leighmcv | January 25, 2009, 10:30 am 10:30 am
SYRACUSE!!!! It is a democratic city; come visit ask Joe Biden he went to law school here, ask the mayor, ask all the people who worked so hard for OBAMA. I just returned from the Inauguration: I’m 60 years old I waited in the cold, I went for 8 hours to the concert at Lincoln Memorial, I stood in the line at the Silver gate and was part of the two million who were silent and listened and cried with happiness about our NEW and DECENT PRESIDENT. I’ve lived in Syracuse for 18 years.. ASK OUR NEW CONGRESSMAN DAN MaFFEI, invite him on to tell you about SYRACUSE….WE worked hard as democrats…learn about our city, learn about SU, we ARE STAYING DEMOCRATS because the choice is devastating…..A SYRACUSE RESIDENT WHO DIDN”T LIKE THE COMMENTS
Posted by: Janis McDonald | January 25, 2009, 10:37 am 10:37 am
Syracuse? I missed the part where your town was criticized…
Posted by: leighmcv | January 25, 2009, 10:53 am 10:53 am
“Politics is a brutal business, it really is brutal.”
How “brutal” is it, Madame Speaker?
http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/head-shot/
Posted by: dragon | January 25, 2009, 10:55 am 10:55 am
She certainly thinks highly of herself.
Posted by: rachel | January 25, 2009, 11:21 am 11:21 am
Pelosi= an Idiot, I am not going to pay 300 million to let the democrats continue their sex scandals and provide them with condoms..NOR am i going to give my tax dollars to a bunch of Illegal aliens to sod the friggin MAll
America..SAFE NO MORE
Posted by: who says what | January 25, 2009, 11:33 am 11:33 am
The governor should NOT appoint Senators. Gov. Paterson “teased” many before making a selection….”like dangling a carrot in front of”…..routine. The IL governor has made a mockery of his position and there was much discussion about seating his choice for the senate. Rhode Island passed a bill that doesn’t let the governor appoint a senator. Why don’t the other 49 states?
Posted by: Senior | January 25, 2009, 11:38 am 11:38 am
The governor should NOT appoint Senators. Gov. Paterson “teased” many before making a selection….”like dangling a carrot in front of”…..routine. The IL governor has made a mockery of his position and there was much discussion about seating his choice for the senate. Rhode Island passed a bill that doesn’t let the governor appoint a senator. Why don’t the other 49 states?
Posted by: Senior | January 25, 2009, 11:38 am 11:38 am
Excuse me. If you “correspondents” are going to bring up the issue of sexism and candidates, you are going to have to defend the way you treated Gov. Sarah Palin. You have no moral high ground there.
Still I congratulate you, Mr. S., on finally challenging a Democratic bigwig this morning. You asked a tough question or two of Speaker P.
Now, when Sam Donaldson questions anything about the new president with some healthy skepticism, I’ll know that our Press is waking up from the Midsummer Night’s Dream love affair in which they’ve been lost.
Posted by: CS | January 25, 2009, 12:16 pm 12:16 pm
When Donaldson said the man?? who is going to be the head of the IRS shouldn’t be confirmed, I thought George’s head spun around?? Was this something they weren’t to speak about? This jerk who didn’t pay his taxes and had or has an illegal alien working for him should be kicked out like a dog with his tail between his legs. This man must be on drugs, like all the other RICH bastards who don’t have to pay their taxes. I think everyone who runs for office should be audited. If Kennedy had an illegal alien working for her, how many does uncle Teddy have working for him. Who does all the house work and yard work. Kennedy probably doesn’t pay for anything. Rich Bastards. PeeLousy also look at her background.
Posted by: Wayne | January 25, 2009, 12:47 pm 12:47 pm
They want all the illegal aliens to keep coming to this country so they can employ them to pick their grapes. I wonder if anyone in D.C. knows this country (us tax payers) paid $54 Billion for just kidney dialisis for illegal aliens last year? Run “kidney transplants illegal aliens”, and you will see an article in a Seattle newspaper that is shocking! It’s about an illegal alien who got dialisis for yrs then a kidney transplant, then is back on dialisis. Real it, we should be out in front of everyone of our elected official’s offices’s with signs voting them out, and at our border’s with guns. Anchor babies should be kicked off as being citizens of this country also.
Posted by: Wayne | January 25, 2009, 12:58 pm 12:58 pm
I just ran Pee-Lousy’s biog. Her father was congressman for 5 terms, then mayor of Baltimore for 12 yrs. Her brother was mayor of Baltimore, how many yrs?? Nancy went to college, and was a housewife, and mother? She wasn’t even a socker mom? She did and does live in San Francisco though, and has grape orchards. She did after elected promote millions so poor illegal aliens can go to our college’s free, and she did, I wonder why, “vote to give money to veterans on the GI Bill”, so she at least did 1 good thing. Now she is 3rd in line to be PRESIDENT?? WOW. They just need to give everyone a tax refund, forget about the big check to everyone who don’t pay any taxes. GIVE THE TAX PAYERS A REFUND. They will spend it.
Posted by: Wayne | January 25, 2009, 1:22 pm 1:22 pm
Many republicans are such arrogant fools and it clearly shows when they open their selfish mouths and begin conveying what lies within. When Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction to invade a country in an unprovoked war they ran to his defense and minimized a war crime. They stood proudly by his side while he absolutely devastated this country’s economic base through his arrogant and self-serving leadership. We will get to see the most brain washed of the bunch blast every detail from day to day trying to make a negative out of a positive and radically exaggerating any mistake made by democrats in an attempt to find some reason for their existence. The fact is the republicans have had control of Washington and have done everything they wanted for the past eight years. We can now clearly see what trickle down economics and deregulation of everything in the name of less government has done. Too much of anything often ends up bad. Wise republicans are praying that an Obama led Washington can save our economic system without destroying the value of the dollar. But there will still be the Tokyo Rush led group of trouble makers out there blasting away…. The bottom line is that Ted Kennedy has been a major rudder in the US Senate. The Kennedy family has been a symbol of community service for the past fifty years during my life. Families who are reared within the political circle often understand what needs done and how to get there. Politics is more often than not, is a thankless job. I commend Caroline Kennedy for even throwing her hat in the ring. But stepping into that glass house can be overwhelming to most anyone…. It is likely anyone might change their mind facing a radical pack of rabid republicans digging, poking & prodding you at every turn. More Democrats must get involved willing to stand up against these republican terrorists when good people are willing to enter the political arena.
Posted by: Ed C. in OK | January 25, 2009, 3:43 pm 3:43 pm
Let’s see:
Pelosi (a woman) is discussing whether appointing one woman or the other involves sexism…THIS is liberalism at its best…
That’s why this cop wrote 14 tunes that slap the Left @www.
conservativemusiconline
.com
Posted by: Truscott | January 25, 2009, 5:25 pm 5:25 pm
Nancy Pelosi is sucks.
I really really don’t understand why Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Democratic party have been persistently stuck on the ABORTION which IS MURDER as well as
Timothy Geithner(former NY States Trasury secretary), Charles Rangel(D-Rep NY, Tax Fraud, my district), and Caroline K. Schlossberge who have spawned a huge tax problems in NY.
Posted by: DNC must be changed | January 25, 2009, 7:03 pm 7:03 pm
The bottom line is that Ted Kennedy has been a major rudder in the US Senate. The Kennedy family has been a symbol of community service for the past fifty years during my life
Ed C,
So if a drunk young republican senator drives off a bridge killing a young woman, Your going to sing his praises and push for him to be elected to the senate for life?
Come On now….
Oh by the way, can you imagine today’s media going after JFK & RFK for their extra-cirricular activities?
The media blasted Palin like no one ever been before and she had no such issues such as the Kennedy’s.
Posted by: Mike_C | January 26, 2009, 1:07 pm 1:07 pm
“Oh by the way, can you imagine today’s media going after JFK & RFK for their extra-cirricular activities?”
The same could be said for the vast majority of men (and women) in power, anywhere, at anytime in history.
Posted by: Silky | January 26, 2009, 1:18 pm 1:18 pm
Strange,
I dont think either President Bush would be one caught with his pants down outside his marriage. Certainly Reagan was not a big risk in that area. Or Ford, Nixon, or even Carter or LBJ.
Pretty sure no one was concerned about Margret Thatcher or Golda Meir in that way either.
Should I go on Silky?
Posted by: Mike_C | January 26, 2009, 5:06 pm 5:06 pm
“The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism, but under the name of liberalism, they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program until one day America will be a Socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened. ”
-Norman Thomas
Posted by: Michelle | January 26, 2009, 8:55 pm 8:55 pm
Nancy Pelosi is crazy – plain and simple.
Posted by: SarahR | January 27, 2009, 6:24 am 6:24 am
“Should I go on Silky?”
Not that you have any possible way of knowing, but even if you were right about them (which surely one of them had a mistress(es)), that is hardly an appropriate sampling of the vast majority of all men and women in power in history.
Posted by: Silky | January 27, 2009, 10:43 am 10:43 am
LOL,
wow, your amazing, you “know” all these leaders “must” have had a mistress…..why is that???
So that you can feel better about Clinton & Kennedy?
Do you think that vast majority in Congress right now have extra-marital lovers? What ever you do don’t tell Barney Frank’s mate! Who would Ted Kennedy be with nowadays? I guess we could not be upset if Hillary had a beau on the side now could we? Do you think Paul Pelosi might disagree with you ? Perhaps Landra Reid might not be happy with your grasp on this subject!
So in your deep knowledge of this, what precentage = vast majority? 75%, 85%, 95%…?
Inquiring minds want to know…..LOL
Posted by: Mike_C | January 27, 2009, 2:32 pm 2:32 pm
Wayne, I’m certainly no fan of Nancy Pelosi, but in the interest of fairness, she was no less “qualified” to run for Congress than many of her colleagues in the House.
While she could afford not to work, for years she was very active in Democratic party politics and was chair of the party in Northern California when she ran for Congress.
So Pelosi didn’t get to Congress by being a woman — she got there by being a party operative running for a seat safe for her party. Lots of men — and Republicans — do that, too.
I used to live in her district but didn’t vote for her. (I’m a Libertarian.) But the voters in her district have the opportunity every two years not to return her to Washington.
Posted by: Katia | January 28, 2009, 10:28 am 10:28 am
Im glad we have an expert on sexism in Pelosi. What an arrogant fool.
Posted by: zeke | January 28, 2009, 8:46 pm 8:46 pm
g.steph. crying at inaugeration. i could throw up. geo, get some class, get some dignity, get some professionalism, get some objectivity. you are a disgrace.
Posted by: coopfivetosix | January 29, 2009, 2:04 pm 2:04 pm
Carolyn Kennedy was the least qualified woman to ever throw her hat in the ring for a major political position. How can it be sexism that she did not get the position? I am glad she is not my senator. She is nothing but a debutant and society woman. What happened to Hillary Clinton, Geraldine Ferraro and Sarah Palin was sexism over and over again.
Posted by: Dawn | February 3, 2009, 12:08 am 12:08 am
lol its seem funny all the dems with tax problems but they want to raise ours when they dont want to pay there own until there cought and that pelosi is nothing but power hungry and should be removed!!
Posted by: jennifer | February 4, 2009, 9:35 pm 9:35 pm
I am amazed with Pelosi. She endorsed Obama and now she says we need more women in politics? Where was she when Hillary could have used her endorsement? These people are hypocrites of the largest type…
Posted by: KC_1971 | February 5, 2009, 1:16 pm 1:16 pm
We really need to pray 4 our leadership and ask God to help us. Otherwise, we are going to bring about the quick demise of this nation. Remember, Obama & Pelosi are just a couple of misguided human beings who need righteous counsel to make the correct decisions. Let’s come together and stand 4 what is right. I am still young and don’t want to end up like Iran. Our future kids deserve to live in nation that still believes in the Declaration of Independence.
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