On rare occasions, good writing grabs us, clutching us tightly. This moment, the writing belongs to Carolyn Lochhead, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle Washington Bureau. Just in case any of you are not clear, this is US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s moment, not President Obama’s.

Pelosi says Rahm Emmanuel wanted her to back down, taking a smaller version of health care reform that she calls “kiddie care”. Like Rep Bart Stupak and the Catholic bishops, Pelosi also has beliefs, as a devout Catholic.

Lochhead has given Pelosi the literary tribute she deserves:

In January’s darkest days, after Democrats had lost their filibuster-proof Senate majority, President Obama publicly hinted that he might vastly scale back his ambitions on health care, and top House Democrats all but declared the project dead. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said no.
“We will go through the gate,” she said. “If the gate is closed, we will go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we will pole vault in. If that doesn’t work, we will parachute in. But we are going to get health care reform passed for the American people.”
Today, thanks largely to a San Francisco Democrat driven by a profound faith in Catholicism and in the ideals of the Democratic Party, Democrats stand on the brink of enacting a $940 billion health care overhaul that they have dreamed of but failed to achieve for more than half a century.

Pelosi is gambling everything on what is expected to be a razor-thin vote: her speakership, Obama’s presidency, and the political careers of Democrats in swing districts. Polls show the public deeply divided and tilting against the legislation.
To all the men who have said that women don’t have the right stuff, that we’re chickenshit when the chips are down, you take back your words. Win or lose, Nancy Pelosi makes a mockery of the argument that women can’t play hardball and with heart.

Win or lose, Nancy Pelosi, we’re proud of you. The President is quite frankly, your guy on the sidelines at this moment.

If you win, you’ll take a bow and pass him the baton. He’ll have the headlines. Either way, you’ve won for women.

Your opponents say we women have no rights to speak of… that the possibility of creation is worth more than we are as fully-developed human beings. I am equal to a fertilized egg. Nothing more and nothing less. My intelligence, my mind, my accomplishments mean nothing. I am equal to a fertilized egg, who will preferably be a boy in the majority of the world’s populations.

Five Republicans on the Supreme Court of the United States agreed that women meant something in America. The Catholic bishops and Rep Stupak say ‘no’. I am worth the value of my eggs.

Nearly half of pregnancies among American women are unintended. Four in 10 of these unintended pregnancies are ended by abortion within the laws of the United States.

27% of these abortions are for Catholic women, when 24% of Americans are Catholic. Perhaps more men are Catholics than women. Or Catholic women don’t use contraception, also banned by the bishops, which is why Catholic women need more abortions.

Catholic nuns across America, who are opposed to abortion, say “pass this bill”. The patriarchy, led by Rep Stupak and the Catholic bishops say ‘no’. Stupak told Maureen Dowd:

“When I’m drafting right-to-life language, I don’t call up nuns.” He followed that with more scorn for sisters, telling Chris Matthews that the nuns were not influential because they rarely try to influence — which makes no sense — and because “they’re not the recognized spokesperson for the Catholic Church.” He listens to the bishops, he said, and antiabortion groups. via NYTimes

The Pope’s men get no punishment for their sins. God will take care of them eventually. The ‘sins’ of women will not be tolerated in this life.

With the full weight of the Catholic Chuch and principles higher than the existing laws of America bearing down on you, Nancy Pelosi, we never saw you sweat. Like Stupak, like the nuns, you also have principles.

Whatever happens, Nancy Pelosi, you’ve vote my vote on being the woman with the brass balls. We need more of you in America, where the light of liberated women is dimming, as an example of all that’s wrong with the country.

The Conservatives want their country back, and they have every intention of taking it. Curtailing women’s rights in every possible aspect is part of their mission. I worry for the young women of my family. Anne

Update

on 2010-03-22 12:52 by Anne

We’re posting post-Sunday analysis of Nancy Pelosi here and will write our own review in a couple days. I must say that news of new GOP rally site to ‘Fire Pelosi’ raises a new perspective around this fall’s elections. The Catholic bishops have already fired up many women who are tired of being pushed around.

Perhaps Pelosi will become a symbol for a gender battle ready to begin all over again in America. With numbers of American women sliding in government, it may be time for a Women’s Party. American women aren’t keeping up with the progress of women worldwide. Those statistics are unquestioned and affirmed in every study, looking at the lives of American women from every measureable lens.

Nancy Pelosi bets the House on health care Politico

GOP site rallies to ‘Fire Pelosi’ after health care passes CNN

Pelosi emerges as powerhouse in D.C. CNN