Speaker Pelosi Quietly Compares Rhetoric Over Healthcare To Era Around Milk Assassination

09/17/09-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
There is a rancor to the national debate over healthcare reform which reminds House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of the debate over gay rights in the era surrounding the assassination of Harvey Milk in 1978. Speaking to reporters, Pelosi said quietly “I have concerns about some of the language that is being used because I saw this myself in the late ’70s in San Francisco. This kind of rhetoric was very frightening.” She also stated that anyone who is stoking the fires of hateful or violent rhetoric must take responsibility for the consequences of their words.

Former San Francisco Supervisor Dan White was convicted of murdering Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. In his often rambling confession, White stated “I saw the city as going kind of downhill.”

The rhetoric has reminded a number of people of a number of different eras in American History including the era leading up to the Civil War. The rhetoric at least one crescendo when Representative Joseph Wilson called out in the House that President Barack Obama was lying when he stated that illegal immigrants would not be able to benefit from the public option. The outburst was in violation of rules dating to the founding of the nation which stated that no member of the Congress could call the President a liar on the floor of either chamber.

In 1977, Nancy Pelosi became involved in politics when she was elected party chair of the Northern California Democratic Party. Like many California politicians of that era, the assassinations of Harvey Milk and George Moscone left an indelible scar on Nancy Pelosi. During the press conference, the questioner asked Speaker Pelosi if the rhetoric worried her. She brought up the example of Milk and Moscone on her own, and when she did, she got both quiet and emotional. She would not answer any questions about what specifically reminded her of that era of San Francisco politics.