"We Don't Have a Set of Shared Values"

Greg Sargent, via Digby:

Nancy Pelosi's extremely blunt assessments of the true motives of Republicans are why her supporters love her and her enemies hate her with equal passion, and on a conference call with bloggers just now, she unleashed a slashing attack on the House GOP's new anti-abortion push that may churn up emotions on both sides.

Pelosi -- who promised a huge fight against House Republicans over the issue in the days ahead -- didn't hold back one bit, claiming the new legislative push by Republicans "disrespects the judgment of American women."

"I don't know if they ever give that a thought," she added.

Pelosi described the GOP push as the "most radical assault" on women's reproductive rights "in our lifetimes." And she was equally blunt in her assessment of right-wing assaults on family planning.

"They are at a different philosophical place," she said, characterizing their view as: "all engagement has to result in a child." Pelosi noted that contraception and family planning is "not consistent with their belief that it's all about procreation."

Digby comments:

That's right. And it's why there is no "common ground" to be found on this issue. I know that's uncomfortable for many good liberals who just want more than anything to not have a fight with Republicans on ... well, anything. But it's either fight or get rolled over.

I feel fairly confident that the progressive House Democrats are not going to falter on this. But the Senate is where this kind of deal making really happens and if it gets there, I'm not entirely sure that it won't pass. So Pelosi is calling for liberals to man the barricades.

She has good reason to be worried. It's going to be very difficult for the GOP to deliver the kind of government the Teabaggers are demanding. The Democrats are likely to cave, of course, on some things that we hold very dear. But Obama will not let them do too much damage to his signature health care plan and the planned cuts in social security won't manifest themselves for some time. They need to give these people something they really, really want and I would guess that, as usual, female sacrifice will fit the bill. It's not like it's "important" and selling out women always sends a positive "signal" to all those independents and Villagers who must be appeased with a constant stream of nonsensical bullshit, that the Democrats are in tune with Real America.

More of this please:

Pelosi added that the unreconcilable philosophical differences between Republicans and Dems on abortion left Dems no choice but to adopt a scorched-earth approach to the war ahead. "We don't have a set of shared values," she said. "We have to fight this out in the public domain, so when we move to the Senate it has no popular support."

You can't compromise with people who want you dead.