Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com may have shifted to petty attacks on the House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, but that doesn't mean it's done with petty attacks on the previous leader, Nancy Pelosi. We've already noted how CNS briefly obsessed over a tiny provision in the omnibus budget bill naming a building after her and that she noted that money in the bill will help LGBTQ youth, but there's much more.
A Dec. 1 article by Craig Bannister complained that Pelosi marked World AIDS Day and reminded us (with boldface!) that most AIDS victims are icky gay people who presumably don't deserve health equity because they're icky gay people:
Democrats remain committed to creating “health equity” when it comes to AIDS, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday, in a statement commemorating this year’s World AIDS Day, December 1.
AIDS “disproportionately” infects LGBTQ communities, those of color and the poor, Pelosi says in a statement posted on the speaker’s website:
[...]
But, as HIV.gov emphasizes with bolded text, behavior, not health discrimination, appears to be at the root of the disproportionately high HIV rates among some subpopulations, as “ gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM) are by far the most affected group in the US”:
An anonymously written Dec. 23 article carried the headline "Nancy Pelosi: ‘As Speaker of the House, I Have Awesome Power’" -- as if to portray her as a power-mad megalomaniac (despite the fact that she was in the middle of voluntarily stepping down from House leadership). The anonymous writer did put her words in context in the article:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) reflected during her last speaker’s press conference on Thursday on how much power she has enjoyed in that position.
“As Speaker of the House, I have awesome power,” said Pelosi.
“Now transitioning to a different role, I expect to have strong influence, but not on my Members, just in terms of encouraging more women, for example, to run,” she said.
“But the Speaker of the House is a very big job, and just wrapping it up will take time, with the Library of Congress for the papers, with the Historian of the Capitol–of the Congress–in terms of interviews and the rest of that,” said Pelosi.
CNS continues to disapprovingly note (anonymously, of course) whenever Pelosi references her Catholic faith:
- Nancy Pelosi: ‘Spiritually, I Am Always Moved by Pope Benedict’s Powerful Encyclical, ‘God is Love’”
- Nancy Pelosi: ‘My Public Service Is Based on My Faith, Springs From My Faith’
The latter article made a point of adding: "In May 2022, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco notified Pelosi that because she persisted in advocating legalized abortion she could no longer receive Holy Communion in the Catholic Church. In doing so, Cordileone cited an instruction that then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had sent to the Catholic bishops of the United States in 2004." The anonymous writer failed to note that Pope Francis generally disapproves of denying Communion to Catholic politicians.
Another anonymously wreitten article, on Jan. 6, impllicitly took Pelosi to task for invoking the Catholic holy day of Epiphany to criticize the Capitol riot:
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.), the former speaker of the House, put out a statement on Jan. 6—which is the Catholic Feast of the Epiphany--calling on people to pray to ensure that this day remains an “epiphany” for America based on what happened on Jan. 6, 2021.
The statement was headlined: “Pelosi Statement on Two Years Since January 6th Insurrection.”
“Two years ago today, our nation watched in horror as a terrorist mob stormed the Capitol grounds in a violent attempt to subvert the peaceful transfer of power,” said Pelosi in her statement.
“January 6th marks the Feast of the Epiphany in the Catholic tradition,” Pelosi said. “As we commemorate two years since the insurrection, let us pray that this day continues to serve as an epiphany for our nation: to heal the wounds that remain and to preserve American Democracy, what Lincoln called ‘the last best hope of earth.’”
Three days later, CNS managing editor Michael W. Chapman wrote an article trying to whitewash the effects of the riot.
A Jan. 9 article -- anonymously written, of course -- complained that Jeffries said nice things about Pelosi:
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D.-N.Y.) said in a speech from the podium at the front of the House chamber on Saturday that Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) was the “greatest speaker of all time.”
“Before I proceed any further, let me begin by acknowledging the distinguished Gentlelady from the great state of California, the iconic, the heroic, the legendary Speaker Emerita, Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi,” said Jeffries.
“And without question in my mind, Speaker Emerita Pelosi will go down in history as the greatest Speaker of all time,” he said.
Pelosi, who was in the chamber, acknowledged the praise of her successor with a broad smile.
CNS apparently thinks this is a bad thing.
On Jan. 20, yet another anonymously written article groused about Pelosi's selection of quotes from Martin Luther King:
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) sent out a pair of tweets on Martin Luther King Day in which she quoted King as saying that God did not intend for a one class “of people to live in superfluous inordinate wealth.”
[...]
Earlier that day, Pelosi had sent out a tweet that said: “Dr. King wrote: ‘God never intended for one group of people to live in superfluous inordinate wealth, while others live in abject deadening poverty.’
“Let us draw strength from these words,” Pelosi said, “as we strive to realize Dr. King & Coretta’s glorious vision of justice, equality & peace.”
We can see why CNS might be upset about that.
