House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi slammed Republicans at the Saturday Morning Forum of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in Chicago for not living up to the Gospel of Matthew.
Pelosi said President Barack Obama, in providing food through the food stamp program, is doing what the Gospel of Matthew 25:35-40 asks us to do -- to take care of the least of our brethren. So when Republicans derisively call him the "Food Stamp President", it's a positive and not a negative, she said.
She also endorsed Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. for re-election. Jackson faces a tough primary fight March 20th against Democratic Rep. Debbie Halvorson. There are ethics questions involving former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's attempted sale of President Barack Obama's Senate seat and allegations of donor funds used to purchase an airline ticket for a woman friend of Jackson's.
Besides Pelosi's endorsement, Jackson has been endorsed by the Chicago Tribune. However, the other Chicago daily, the Chicago Sun-Times has started a new policy of no endorsements of anyone.
Of great importance to Pelosi is the Voting Rights Act of 1965. She is concerned it may be in jeopardy especially because of comments that have been made by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, she said. She did not specify what those comments were.
Tomorrow marks the anniversary of the Bloody Sunday march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Pelosi says every school child should visit Alabama because what happened there is part of our history and part of our freedom story. Sunday's marchers will target Alabama's new voter ID law.
In another shot at the Republicans Pelosi said, "We don't agonize. We organize." She thanked the Hyde Park neighborhood where Rainbow PUSH Coalition is located for playing a part in President Obama's path to the White House. Never before, she said, has an opposing party announced that its goal when a new president took office, was to make sure he fails. Yet that is what happened with President Obama and the Republican party, she said.
When Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. asked Pelosi where this meanness was coming from, she replied "From fear. Afraid of what's coming. Trying to hold back." Rev. Jackson emphasized that when the Cotton Curtain came down, it wasn't just good for the South but for everyone and for the business community in particular since it enabled the South to host the Olympics and be the home to professional sports teams, stimulating the southern states' economies.
Pelosi lauded the establishment of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau saying, "Wall Street recklessness caused joblessness on Main Street" and that the new agency will function as "the cop on the beat for consumers in America."
Talking of kicking open the door further, Pelosi asked, "What do we want to see happen because we have the people in place?" Pelosi exhorted, "Know your power. The only way we can contend with Big Money is with people."