House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi did her best song and dance Sunday on “Face the Nation,” but host Bob Schieffer was not buying what she was selling.

Schieffer wanted to know what the Democrats planned to do about runaway spending and persistently high unemployment, but received some pretty vague answers from the highest ranking Democrat in the House.

On Mitt Romney’s charges that the economy is now Obama’s and that he has failed America:

Pelosi: Well first of all I don’t stipulate to that set of facts that Gov. Romney just said, Mitt Romney just said because the fact is that this deficit came to us largely from President Bush.  But it’s no use going there.  We have to go forward. It’s a question of what is the president and those that are aspiring to be president going to do about the future to create jobs, good paying jobs. What are they going to do about the education of our children, the security of our seniors, the strengthening of the middle class, reducing the deficit reducing the deficit.

Schieffer: But the president has been there 2 1/2 years. I mean why hadn’t he done that yet?

Pelosi: Well he’s done a great deal with it.  I think if he hadn’t taken the actions he did that the situation would be worse. He pulled us from the brink of a financial crisis, from an economic crisis and we had to dig out of a deep debt. And we also had to make it clear that we’re not getting into this situation again.

Yes it is true that Obama came into office facing a deficit, but Pelosi conveniently neglects to mention that starting in FY 2008 the Democrats controlled the process even if they didn’t control the White House. So Obama largely inherited a budget that started with a Democratic Congress.

And rather than cut spending, the Obama budgets have increased spending to record levels and piled on more debt than we can ever hope to repay.

Schieffer, unsatisfied with Pelosi’s excuses, then brought up a statement that she made in January 2008  about President Bush’s economic policy:

Schieffer: You were talking in kind of a different way when unemployment went to 5% under George Bush.  What you said then was that Americans were struggling with skyrocketing energy prices, gas was only $3 a gallon then. And you said “This morning’s jobs report confirms what most Americans already knew-President Bush’s economic policies have failed our country’s middle class.”  I mean aren’t Republicans entitled to say.  You know if gas was $3 and unemployment was 5% and, and the president has failed the American people. Don’t they have a right to say that this president has failed the American people?

Pelosi: Well if you want to go into the past we can talk about the past all you want.  The public wants to know about the future. What are you going to do to create jobs, good paying jobs in this country.

Let’s not talk about how wrong she was in the past and how bad the present is compared to Bush’s time in office, but instead let’s focus on the future where there is hope that if the Democrats can just get some of their legislation passed…

Oh, wait a minute. What legislation?

Schieffer: But the fact is that the Congress has been in session since January and it’s done basically nothing.

Pelosi: Well you can talk to Mr. Boehner about that.

Schieffer: So it’s all their fault?  It’s not your fault?

Pelosi: No, but they set the agenda.

The more Pelosi spoke the more frustrated Schieffer seemed to get, as he couldn’t understand why the Republican control of Congress prevented the Democrats from proposing legislation that might help solve the unemployment problem.

Pelosi’s answer to that vexing question?:

“We’re not in the majority in the House. And so you’re saying to me why haven’t we brought something to the floor to create jobs? I think that’s a better question asked to the Republicans because they control the agenda.”

There isn’t really a need to ask the Republicans why the Democrats haven’t brought any job-creating proposals to the floor. The reason is clear –  they prefer to demagogue against the GOP plan than to offer a plan of their own.

Schieffer deserves credit for not rolling over and playing dead and for not allowing Pelosi to spread her half-truths to the nation about why the Democrats are missing in action this year in the budget process. In the Senate it’s been more than two years since the Democrats, who control that part of Congress, have passed a budget.

Pelosi’s appearance yesterday certainly didn’t help her cause, as Schieffer exposed the Democrats as being devoid of any ideas on how to fix the country’s most basic economic problems.

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About the author

Don Irvine
Don Irvine is Chairman of Accuracy in Media. He is active on Facebook and Twitter. You can follow him @donirvine to read his latest thoughts.

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8 Comments for Pelosi Blames GOP for Unemployment [Video]

Wildbird

More mindless braying from the mindless liberal demacrat who can trust these mindless liberal wanks

CMSgt USAF Retired

Typical democratic play book, “always blame someone else if it goes wrong, take the credit if it goes good, even if it was someone else’s idea”.

Pelosi needs to resign….

Erik Osbun

Wrong Nancy, the president has made the economy worse by his actions. Any continuation of the policies of the present administration ( the head of which you improperly vetted for the office ) will MAKE THE FUTURE WORSE FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. Your idea of the present and the future is poppycock, Nancy. Going forward with you is an approach to the cliff blindfolded.

Wildbird

Always expect the demacRAT party to always looks for scapgoats and always expect the lapdog press to oblige them all the time becuase they are partners in crime

Taxpayer

If Ms. Pelosi blames the GOP and their control of the House for current conditions and lack of improvments, and blames the last President for everything.
Should we not blame the Dems when that had control for the House under Bush and got us into this situation.
Guess her abilty to recall the past is challenged..

JG

Pelosi is mentally unstable, in my view, and I know that view is shared by legions of people and has been for a long time. Her constant irrationalities and incoherent and rambling nonsequitors in the presence of a microphone are more than enough evidence of this. Only the slowest among the populace – or the thoroughly kool-aid-drunk (or those receiving pork back home in SF) – could be blind to her ineptitude for serving in public office. Kudos to Bob Schieffer for not playing the role of fawning media sycophant in this interview. Hopefully a few more people were watching it that didn’t already see Pelosi for what she is…and now do.

Ted

There’s absolutely no doubt that eight years of the profligate G. W. Bush and his GOP-dominated Congress … raising the debt ceiling some seven times from $3.4 trillion to $12.4 trillion to accomodate their incrdible spending of borrowed money to finance two specious wars, an unfunded tax cut primarily benefitting the rich, an unfunded Medicare prescription drug program, unfunded expension of the U.S. government by some 400,000 direct and contract employess … and incompetent regulation of speculation on Wall Street … DID LEAD to the fiscal and economic mess (INCLUDING UNEMPLOYMENT) that we now find ourselves in.

And … the mess that Bush took eight years to concoct is NOT going to get remediated in just two, three or four. Hoover’s similar mess took nine years and a four-year-long World War to remediate.

I’m not completely happy with obama’s efforts … but he was dealt the worst hand possible … WORSE than the one Hoover dealt Roosevelt … simply because Roosevelt didn’t have to come into office and manage the (and pay for) the previoius guy’s two very ill-advised invasions of foreign countries … costing some $6 billion or more per week for some ten years!

Shari

Interesting comments from Pelosi. Must be very frustrating to interview someone who continually avoids directly aswering the question. I think Schieffer should have pushed her more on directly answering the questions. I loved the answer that the reason why a jobs bill is not being proposed is because the Republicans control the agenda. Just because they control the agenda, doesn’t stop the democrats from coming up with a bill and proposing it. She explifies this “victim mentality” that liberals tend to have. Very sad that people like this are supposed to represent our country. I think my 15 yr old cat has more common sense about these issues that most of the folks in Congress.