Mazie Hirono, Nancy Pelosi, Cindy Sheehan

I just got a mailer from Mazie Hirono, with a list of her accomplishments so far in the U.S. Congress as Representative from my district in Hawaii.

Voted over 500 times. Voted to...
End the war in Iraq ( H.R. 1591)
Increase funds for the Community Oriented Policing Services program (H.R. 1700)
Make it easier for workers to organize (H.R. 800)
Increase health care funding and outreach programs for service members and veterans (H.R. 67 and H.R. 1538)

Introduced Bills: legislation that would...
Honer Patsy T. Mink and Title IX (H. Res. 406)
Help Filipino families reunify (H.R. 1287)
Study the feasibility of creating national parks in Ka'u on the Big Island and the North Maui Coast (H.R. 1798 and H.R. 2618)

Worked on important issues: co-sponsored over 250 bills that would...
Reduce prescription drug costs  under Medicare (H.R. 4)
Extend the Hawaiian Home Ownership Opportunity Act (H.R. 835)
Combat global warming (H.R. 1500 and H.R. 620)
Increase access to Head Start (H.R. 1429)
Reduce college costs (H.R. 5)

Submitted over 100 funding requests for Hawaii projects, such as...
Expanding James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge
Cleaning up the dump in Bellows Air Force Base
Providing additional resources for Hawaii's public schools
Building a mass transit system on Oahu and a bus system on the Big Island

Note that there is nothing earth-shaking here, but everything she does works in the direction of peace, prosperity, a clean environment, and equity. Of course  her top priority is ending the war, as she stated when she ran for office. 
I am sure that Nancy Pelosi's record would look similar, which is why I agree with Brandon that Cindy Sheehan should not be challenging Pelosi in the primary and running for her seat. This is too much like the proverbial liberal shootout (first, you get in a circle...). We need to take on our enemies, not our friends. But as a legislator, Pelosi, like  Hirono,  can't let other matters slide while she's working to end the war. It's the same as  housekeeping. You have to fix those meals and do that wash, no matter what's happening.

We have to back her and other liberals, not subvert them.

Yes, we have fascism lurking on our doorstep, with its demands for perpetual war and subordination to its monomaniacal agenda, and it is frightening. Still, we have to fight the degradation of American life on every front and proclaim our belief in gradualism and the rule of law. We can look to Germany as an example of what happens if the people do not wholeheartedly support democracy. If the democrats and liberals had stood up and defended parliamentary democracy during the Weimar period, Germany might have avoided becoming a fascist state. As it was, the communists and the fascists fought it out and the fascists won. Liberalism will always look weak and wishy-washy in comparison to  the extremes.
Pelosi, like Hirono,  is a liberal. She just does her job, and I think that she is admirable. If I get indignant, that's fine. I'm not in her position. She represents a large  constituency and needs to be responsive to the needs and desires of this ongoing democracy at  both the local and the national level. Sheehan has got the big issue, the Iraq War,  in her sights. She does her job best by sticking to her last, not attacking a workhorse legislator like Pelosi.
Now if Pelosi would like to introduce Articles of Impeachment, that would be grand. If Sheehan forces her hand on that, that could be good. But it would not be good to destroy Pelosi's political career.

Comments

[Brandon]

Infighting is a big problem. The common goal is ending the war, though people's reasons for opposition (pacifism, keeping America out of foreign entanglements, anti-imperialism) may differ. (See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_the_Iraq_War).