Turkey’s political hot potato burned Pelosi

By Associated Press | Saturday, October 20, 2007 |
| U.S. Politics

The two meetings House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attended before a vote on
a resolution labeling the massacre of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey a
genocide foreshadowed the biggest political misstep of her
speakership.

In the hours before a House panel approved the resolution Oct. 10,
Pelosi was told in a tense meeting with Turkey’s ambassador that the
vote would endanger his country’s alliance with the United States. She
had a warmer session with an Armenian cleric and representatives of
Armenian-Americans, who have a large presence in her home state of
California. In both, she made clear she intended to bring the
resolution to a full House vote.

Since then, Pelosi, 67, has been in retreat. Her vow to bring the
measure to a vote outraged Turkey, which recalled its ambassador and
threatened to cut off the use of its military bases to resupply U.S.
troops in Iraq.

On Oct. 17, Pelosi said "it remains to be seen" whether the vote would
occur after more than a dozen lawmakers pulled their names from the
measure and some Democrats asked her to drop it.

"It’s a good resolution but a horrible time to be considering it on
the House floor," said Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas, one of the
Democrats who withdrew his support.

"She dug in her heels to find that she didn’t have her members with
her," said Rep. Ray LaHood, an Illinois Republican. "If you get too
far out in front of them, it can be embarrassing."

The turnaround is the first major failure for Pelosi, who has
successfully muscled through the agenda she set out when she became
leader of the Democratic majority in January.

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