"Yes, No, I Don't Know?"

Should we be consistent in what we say? There is a phrase that says, "Let your yes, be yes; and let your no, be no." What does this mean? We all know about the "myth" of used car salesmen; they never tell you the truth, they say anything to make the sale. We don't know if their "yes means yes". I remember during the Presidential campaign between George Bush and John Kerry the term "flip-flop" became quite popular; this possibly helped contribute to John Kerry's defeat. On several occasions, Kerry was shown speaking on two sides of issues, thus giving the perception that he had no real position on any issue, or he was just saying what people wanted to hear. Mr. Kerry had no consistency in his statements; therefore he couldn't be trusted.

I have recently been talking about the proposed mosque in New York. There are very strong feelings on both sides of this issue. Some people are quite verbose in their opposition to its construction; while others are equally verbose in their support. This is a tribute to our 1st amendment. Opinions are like buses; there is a new one coming along every 15 minutes. In America, we all have our points of view, and we all want to be heard.

Last week, Nancy Pelosi was quite verbose about the people who are voicing their opinions about the mosque. She said there should be an investigation into those who oppose the building of the mosque. After this statement, many questions were raised about Ms. Pelosi's view of protest in America. We all remember Ms. Pelosi's statement that "tea party members" were "astro-turf" and wanted to "disrupt" the public dialogue; yet, in 2006, when speaking to a group of anti-war activists, she said "I am a fan of disruptors". It seems Ms. Pelosi loves protest as long as it is protest that she agrees with.

She now seems to be backing off of her statement to investigate those who protest. She has amended her words saying "I support the statement made by the Interfaith Alliance that we agree with ADL that there is a need for transparency (they love that word) about who is funding the effort to build this Islamic center. At the same time, we should also ask who is funding the attacks(?) against the construction of the center". Ms Pelosi, like Mr. Kerry, appears to be trying to get on both sides of this issue. What does this tell us about Ms. Pelosi? Now that national polls show America is overwhelmingly opposed to this building, and the democrats are sinking in public approval, she must appear a populist without making a commitment to the issue. Consistency and integrity are the real issue here. It appears Ms. Pelosi has very little of either of these qualities. Can you say "FLIP-FLOP"?