Speaker Nancy Pelosi's tour to promote her book Know Your Power: A Message to America’s Daughters has turned into a debacle for Pelosi. 

The only "power" Pelosi seems to "know" is the power to arrest people who pay $30 to buy her book and ask her a question she doesn't like. Her only "message to America's daughters" is STFU.

When it comes to dissent, Pelosi is no different from George Bush or the Chinese government. Fortunately San Francisco voters have a choice: after an enormous grassroots effort, peace mom Cindy Sheehan will be on the ballot against Pelosi.

Pelosi was greeted at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles by activists who were outside and inside. Below are their reports and photos:

Marcy Winograd, who got 36% of the vote in a 2006 primary against BushDemocrat Jane Harman (D):

Pelosi thanked her host, American Jewish University, proclaimed her support for Israel as a Jewish state, and then talked about the importance of women owning their power – this from the woman who upon assuming her role as Speaker of the House declared impeachment off the table, thus immediately surrendering her power to hold the Bush administration accountable for war crimes.

Mid-way through Pelosi's somewhat surreal Know Your Power: A Message to America’s Daughters book chat in Los Angeles -- Peter Thottam, founder of the LA Impeachment Center -- couldn't take the small-talk and platitudes anymore.

Jumping up, a few seats back from the stage, Thottam shouted, "Who gave you the right to destroy the Constitution and take Impeachment off the table? Our first, second, fourth, fifth and eight Constitutional amendments are being annihilated. 1 million Iraqis are dead. 5,000 Americans including Cindy Sheehan's son. We've spent over 1 trillion taxpayer dollars on a war that should never have been started. Our constitution is being destroyed, Nancy. Bring back our Constitution... Bring it back ..."

Security moved in on Peter, took him away, arrested him and threw him in jail for the night. He is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 4th.

Quote from Peter Thottam -- Security Guard called the LAPD officers and made a citizen's arrest. Spent the night in jail. The police officers were sympathetic and agreed about the role of big money in Congress. They agreed that Pelosi and these reps are just tools.

Seconds after Peter's challenge, I shot up, two rows back from the stage, smack dab in the center of the audience, asking, Nancy, were you fully briefed on torture? Were you briefed on torture? Then came Jodie Evans, co-founder of Code Pink, holding out a copy of the US Constitution, offering it to Pelosi, just in case she missed the repeated mentions of impeachment as a remedy for abuse of power. Security moved in on Jodie, too, whisking her out of the auditorium at American Jewish University, high atop Sepulveda, just past the fifty protestors who came to greet Pelosi with Impeachment is on Our Table and Out of Iraq Now! and No Attack on Iran! signs and banners.

During Pelosi’s entire book talk, some of us -- Sara Nichols, Jodie Evans, Linda Milazzo, Marcy Winograd, Tighe Barry – held up our Nancy books with messages we scrawled in big black letters on the inside cover -- Protect Iran - Honor Your Oath - Impeach! - Hold Bolton and Rove in Contempt -- Nancy, Torture? Torture? Torture? and more about specific articles of the Constitution which called for impeachment. Security personnel whispered, watched us -- seemingly unsure of how to respond to this act of subtle, yet distracting resistance.

At one point during her talk, Pelosi, visibly nervous, looked right at us, those of us sitting two rows back, front and center, and told us, almost apologetically, "I was an activist too, I am a progressive, I want the war to end, too. I want to get out of Iraq" and then -- "We need to move our troops into Afghanistan, not Iraq."

When Pelosi finished, no questions taken, no dialogue allowed, several of us shouted at her, Use your power, Nancy, to impeach these war criminals. Use your power! Do not be complicit!

CodePink's Jodie Evans:

Pelosi is on a tour for her book "Know Your Power". At the American Jewish University we had over 40 people outside with giant "Impeach" banners. The road to parking was lined with people and messages.

Twelve of us had tickets to get in. We met at 6:30 PM to discuss the order we would stand up with our messages at the booksigning. Some were chosen to wait for their time at the book signing after Pelosi's talk to get their questions answered.

Our cameras were taken away in the search before entering. As they were looking in my bag, they got distracted by someone else and I was waved by with, "You look harmless."

Eight of us sat on the second row in the middle, including Tighe, Sara Nichols, Marcy Winograd, Linda Milazzo and others. We wrote messages with our sharpie, such as: "Use your Power, Torture?" "You Knew?" "Uphold the Constitution" etc. on the back inside covers of the books. After Pelosi had started talking, we raised the books showing the messages. It was a row of dissent!

Pelosi was flustered, couldn't remember the questions asked and stammered. Then a security guard disrupted us and tried to get us to leave, gesturing and frowning; we didn't look at him or move but stayed seated for 20 minutes.

Then Pelosi started to talk about how good all the members of Congress are and Peter Thottam lost it and stood up screaming at her. He resisted those who were trying to drag him out. As he was being dragged out we were supporting his message and yelling out our own.

Then it quieted and Pelosi talked about how she was upholding the constitution and I leapt up and said, "No you aren't!" and offered her Kucinich's 35 articles of impeachment, Bugliosi's book and Susskind's book about how Bush has broken the law. I cited her comment on the TV program "The View" [about asking for reasons for impeachment] and told her I was delivering what she asked for.

Security tried to shut me up but Pelosi said she, Pelosi "came from the streets" and I had a right to speak, until finally, she started yelling at me that she WAS upholding the constitution and that impeachment would fail. By then security had made it to the middle of the row and dragged me out.

The police escorted me to where Peter was in handcuffs and I told them I did not resist and she had told me to speak. Security told the police that was true so I was escorted to my car and told if I was found on that property that night I would be arrested. As I left there were still 20 activists outside with the Impeachment banners, they had just ordered pizza and were staying until she drove past with her 2 daughters.

After I left, in "popcorn" progression everyone else got up with their question and message, the host finally said it is over because these people have been too disruptive, and the pinkers went to get books signed. The event organizers cut off the signing before our team got to the table.

Here's Jason Leopold and Alan Breslauer in The Public Record (click link for video):

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's appearance Monday at a West Los Angeles college to discuss her recently published book was marred by dozens of protestors and several angry outbursts by audience members who demanded Pelosi immediately authorize a House committee to hold impeachment hearings against President George W. Bush.

The Speaker made it clear she would not support any effort to hold impeachment hearings against President Bush saying that the president "will be gone in a hundred days."

Halfway through her discussion at The American University of Judaism, where more than 300 people paid $30 each to hear Pelosi speak about her upbringing and her family's impact on her political career as detailed in her book Know Your Power: A Message to America’s Daughters, the topic shifted to Congress's historically low approval rating and how it reflected on Pelosi’s tenure as Speaker.
American University of Judaism's Rabbi Robert Wexler, who moderated the 75 minute discussion, asked Pelosi to analyze a recent Rasmussen poll that found nine percent of voters dpolled believed Congress was doing a good job, far lower than President Bush's overall approval rating.

According to the results of the July poll, 72 percent of voters believe Congress is more interested in furthering their own political careers. Fourteen percent believe members of Congress are genuinely interested in helping people.

Pelosi responded to the statistics by defending her performance and the performance of her Democratic colleagues in Congress.

"I preside over the greatest collection of integrity and idealism," Pelosi said.

Prior to her appearance in West Los Angeles Monday evening, CNN’s Larry King interviewed Pelosi. She told King she was willing to drop her staunch opposition to offshore drilling and would likely allow the House to vote on the issue.

She said, in her opinion, the reason behind Congress’s historically low approval rating was largely due to the fact that Democrats could not muster up the votes to end the Iraq war, which the Democratic Speaker from San Francisco said she could not do much about because of the Democrats’ razor-thin majority in both Houses.

Wexler, however, continued to press Pelosi to elaborate on her response given that the Rasmussen poll suggested that a wide-range of issues beyond the Iraq war was responsible for Congress’s single-digit approval.
Pelosi, visibly flustered, said she was well aware that “much more work needs to be done.”

In November 2006, Pelosi explained the significance behind the record voter turnout that helped shift the balance of power in Washington for the first time in 12 years.

“People voted for change and they voted for Democrats who will take our country in a new direction,” Pelosi said during a victory speech in San Francisco on Nov. 8, 2006.

But Pelosi, who became House Speaker, never managed to exact the change she promised. She explained that she and her colleagues tried vigorously to pass legislation to end the war in Iraq.

"The public doesn’t want to know about process and 60 votes, they want outcomes, they want results," Pelosi said, explaining why Democrats could not end the war as promised prior to the midterm 2006 elections.

But Pelosi’s comments appeared disingenuous to many, since she was largely responsible for crafting an appropriations bill in backroom discussions with House Democratic leaders, passed in June, and then worked secretly with the White House budget director offering up concessions on Iraq war benchmarks if Bush would agree to the domestic spending attached to the final bill with little debate preceding a vote on the measure.

In fact, since the electoral victories in November 2006, the Democratic-controlled Congress has approved more than $300 billion in emergency spending bills for Iraq and Afghanistan without the benchmarks or withdrawal timetables that Pelosi and other leaders said they would demand.

When Pelosi launched into the reasons an administration led by presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain would be dangerous for the country, identifying the candidate's support for an endless war in Iraq and his intention to uphold many of the questionable constitutional interpretations relating to torture and civil liberties during the Bush administration, Pelosi said the only way to "dig our way out" is by electing Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee.

“Whether it’s the deficit or the challenges to the constitution we have to dig our way out,” Pelosi said, adding “this election is like death for life on this planet as we know it today."

Her response led Peter Thottam, founder of the LA Impeachment Center, to demand Pelosi "do her job" and pursue impeachment hearings against President Bush for launching a war on false pretenses.

"Who gave you the right to take the constitution and shove it down the toilet? Who gave you the right to take impeachment off the table? Nobody told them to do this,” Thottam shouted at Pelosi moments before Secret Service agents removed him from the packed auditorium and turned him over to officers with the Los Angeles Police Department. “One million Iraqis are dead. Five thousand Americans are dead. You have destroyed the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth and Eighth Amendments."

Pelosi seemed stunned by the outburst, but the way she addressed Thottam’s charges further fanned the flames and led to additional verbal protests over her decision not to hold the administration accountable for what many individuals in the audience believe are High Crimes and Misdemeanors by President Bush.

When a member of the activist group Code Pink stood up and insisted Pelosi brush up on her reading regarding evidence of the Bush administration's long list of alleged constitutional violations, Pelosi reacted angrily.

"I take an oath of office to uphold the constitution of the United States and don't tell me that I don't do that,” Pelosi said, using hand gestures to emphasize her disdain over the impeachment demands. "Why don't you go picket the Republicans in Congress that will not allow us to have a vote on the war. This is not very effective. Not very effective."

"As Speaker of the house, the third highest office, first is the president, then vice president, and then Speaker, I take my responsibilities deadly seriously,” Pelosi said. “I try to promote bipartisanship but that's not what the other side wants."

Before Election 2006, Pelosi declared impeachment “off the table,” in part, to avoid alarming centrist voters. Now, with Democrats hoping to gain additional seats in Election 2008, a similar political calculation applies, fearing a backlash against a last-minute drive to impeach Bush and Cheney. Bush knows that Pelosi long ago rejected impeachment proceedings, the one instrument included in the Constitution for Congress to wield against a President who has abused his powers.

Pelosi's refusal to consider impeachment hearings or cut off funding for the Iraq war prompted antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan last year to launch a campaign for Pelosi's congressional seat. On Monday, San Francisco election officials said Sheehan has obtained enough registered voters on her petitions to be placed on the November ballot. Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in Iraq in 2004, is running as an Independent.

At the conclusion of Monday evening’s presentation, Pelosi signed books but refused to answer questions about her policy decisions. The Public Record asked Pelosi whether she would authorize the full House to vote on contempt charges against former White House political adviser Karl Rove, who has refused to comply with a congressional subpoena to testify about his role in the alleged political prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, a Democrat.

Immediately following his query to Pelosi, The Public Record's Alan Breslauer was grabbed by Secret Service and dragged away from the table where Pelosi was signing copies of her book. The Speaker did respond to Breslauer's question, however, saying a vote on contempt charges against Rove is "up to [House Judiciary Committee Chairman John] Conyers."

Attorney Peter Thottam:

Police booking.  Interesting process.  Call me if you need details.  I think Linda Sutton may have audio.  She and Dorothy were both sitting next to me.

Essence of the comment (made after hearing Pelosi's hour long stream of b.s./nonsense/gender role anectodes and her inane comments about how truly great her fellow congressional reps were ('all but 50' of the 460 plus Congressional House of Rep members) :

"I am going to vomit.  Who gave you the right to destroy the Constitution and take Impeachment off the table?  Our first, second, fourth, fifth and eight Constitutional amendments are being annihilated.  1 million Iraqis are dead. 5,000 Americans including Cindy Sheehan's son. We've spent over 1 trillion taxpayer dollars on a war that should never have been started. Our constitution is being destroyed, Nancy.  Bring back our Constitution... Bring it back  (being dragged out of the room)..." [there may have been more, I'm not sure.  Linda Sutton was taping]

Security Gaurd called the LAPD officers and made a citizen's arrest.   Spent the night in jail.  The police officers were sympathetic and agreed about the role of big money in Congress.  They agreed that Pelosi and these reps are just tools. 

Would do it again?  Absolutely.  One of the best things I've ever done.  The look on her face was priceless.  Deer in the headlights X 10?

We are far too passive and non-confrontational. Kumbaya moments?   People are dying...

Who are we kidding.  I plan to resign and turn in my bar license.  Laws?  Who are we kidding.

I know Jodie spoke afterwards.  Ditto w/ Jennifer.   Jodie wasn't booked.  I'm not sure about Jennifer.

Insights on others?  Pelosi/Congress needs to hear from Millions like us...  Enough w/ the street protests.  Enough with the cyberspace email streams...

I just got out of the Pacific Division station.  Just caught a cab and got your voicemails (they gave me back my confiscated cell phone about one hour ago).  Gotta rush to the airport.  I have a plane to catch.

The system is clearly non-functional.  It doesn't work.  The media is a circus.  A side-show.  They lie.  They lie.... They lie.   The disconnect b/w  Nancy Pelosi (and many of the people in that audience) w/ what is going on here in the U.S. and abroad is apalling.  This clown is Speaker of the House?  I plan to make the failure of impeachment and of Congress a center-piece in my September 11th talk with Bowman, Griffin.  Damn it...

I have an appearance in court Sept. 4th.  I'll let you know how it goes.