The efforts by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to prolong the Iraq War at least until September 2008 are a terrible betrayal of the movement against the war in Iraq and our troops. Her efforts to use Karl Rove style spin to portray this as an effort to stop the war show how far she will go to mislead Democrats and her overwhelmingly anti-war constituents.

Pelosi has all the power needed to block a vote on the supplemental appropriations bills the Bush regime is using to fund this illegal and unAmerican war. She refuses to use that power because she would rather side with Big Oil, Halliburton, and other corporations making money off of the war.

I remember living in the Bay Area when she was first elected. She was recruited by the Waxman-Berman political machine which was desperate to keep an openly gay man from being elected to Congress from San Francisco. Pelosi even resorted to gay baiting Britt during the campaign, attacking Britt as "gay socialist."

And, that homophobia carries through to today. Despite “representing” one of the most heavily queer districts in the country, Pelosi has done nothing on lgbt issues since the November elections. Instead, she avoids the subject all together.

And, one should not forget the racist comments she made about Hugo Chavez when he merely mocked the unelected tyrant currently occupying the White House. This shows how desperate Pelosi can be to cater to Bush. Then again, what should one expect from someone who refused to do anything about the thefts of the 2000 and 2004 elections.

She continued the pandering to Bush in her capacity as Speaker with her infamous proclamation that impeachment of Bush and Cheney is “off the table,” even though a majority of San Francisco voters expressed their support for impeachment in a 2006 ballot initiative.

Now, Pelosi has something terrible in common with Bush and Cheney. They don't just have the blood of our troops on their hands; they are bathing in it.