nancy pelosi

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As episodes of embarrassing self-deception go, The Huffington Post outdid itself on Thursday when they celebrated what would be considered a gaffe had it been said by anyone with an "R" after their name.On Thursday, John McCormack, a reporter with The Weekly Standard, asked House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to clarify her opposition to a House Republican bill which would ban late-term abortions except in cases relating to the health of the mother. McCormack framed the bill as a response to the crimes committed by late-term abortion provider Dr. Kermit Gosnell. His question resulted in Pelosi sneering that McCormack was both "enjoying" and "savoring" the opportunity to discuss murdered infants. Bristling over McCormack's transgression, Pelosi declared that, while Gosnell's crimes were abhorrent, the abortion issue was "sacred ground" to her as a Catholic. The always deliberative Huffington Post declared Pelosi the clear winner of this exchange. After summarizing the case of the unscrupulous Philadelphia abortion doctor, McCormack asked Pelosi, "What is the moral difference between what Dr. Gosnell did to a baby born alive at 23 weeks and aborting her moments before birth?" You're probably enjoying that question a lot. I can see you savoring it," Pelosi answered scornfully. "What was done in Philadelphia was reprehensible and everybody condemned it. For them to decide to disrespect a judgment a woman makes about her reproductive health is reprehensible. Next question." So what's the moral difference?" McCormack followed up. They are saying that there's no abortion. It would make it a federal law that there would be no abortion in our country," she replied. "You're taking the extreme case." After attempting to extricate herself from the interaction with McCormack, Pelosi bristled over his premise. "[A]s a practicing and respectful Catholic, this is sacred ground to me when we talk about this," Pelosi said. "I don't think it should have anything to do with politics. And that's where you're taking it and I'm not going there." This rather petulant display was cheered by The Huffington Post reporter Nick Abrams who declared Pelosi the victor in a "smack down" with McCormack "House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D- Calif.) wasted no time in shaming a reporter's question during her press conference on Thursday," Abrams insisted. If you find contrived prickliness compelling, certainly the clear champion in this exchange would be Pelosi. The congresswoman's exaggerated reaction to a supposed slight is less relevant, of course, than the substance of her less-than-stellar response. One imagines that, short of spitting on the floor like an affronted housewife in Goodfellas, HuffPo would have handed Pelosi the gold no matter what she responded.