How stupid is Nancy Pelosi?

This stupid. In my last post, I linked to Hot Air's item about the GOP revolt in the House over Pelosi's refusal to allow a vote on domestic drilling. That post links to this News Busters item which includes a transcript of a George Stephanopoulos interview with Pelosi in which Stephanopoulos asks over and over in various ways why she won't permit a vote. Some of her more vacuous statements are rebutted here.

Free our oil, Mr. President. We're sitting on 700 million barrels of oil. That would have an immediate effect in ten days. What our colleagues are talking about is something that won't have an effect for ten years and it will be 2 cents at the time.

She's talking about the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. This is a reserve of oil kept in case of national emergency. We've got a big problem, but it hardly constitutes an emergency. The last time anything was released from the SPR was after Hurricane Katrina. Releasing oil from the reserve would be a band-aid approach that ignores the long-term problem.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But if you feel you have the better arguments, why not give a straight up or down vote for drilling?

PELOSI: Because the misrepresentation is being made that this is going to reduce the price at the pump. This is again a decoy, it’s not a solution.

Wrong...demonstrably wrong. When President Bush revoked the executive order placing a moratorium on offshore drilling, the price of oil per barrel on the commodities exchange dropped by over $20 per barrel in a week. And that revocation had little meaning without Congressional action. Commodities markets are based on future expectations, and the market was reacting to sentiment favoring increased domestic production.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So what exactly are you trying to say? You say you might allow a vote as part of a comprehensive package, but you won’t allow a vote on --

PELOSI: We have put on the floor. Free our oil. Strong bipartisan support for that. Use it, don't lose it. Strong bipartisan support for that. End undue speculation, strong bipartisan support for that. We've talked about these things. Invest in renewable energy resources so that we can increase the supply of energy for our country. Strong bipartisan support for that.

The present high cost of oil is an economic drain on all sectors of the economy. This reduces investment dollars without which research and development of new, sustainable energy sources grinds to a halt.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But why not allow votes on all that? ... If they want to offer a drilling proposal, why can't they have a vote?

PELOSI: They'll have to use their imagination as to how they can get a vote and then they may get a vote.

Uh...what?

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Another kibitz from Mark:

I just love how Pelosi trots out the need to release oil for the strategic reserve. The very request proves that she knows we have a supply problem. Yet will she allow anything to actually increase supply? Not now, not ever.

But is it stupidity? Probably not. I think it's absolute arrogance. She just knows that she'll have a Democrat in the oval office and a filibuster proof majority in the Senate after the fall elections, so why do anything? And if McCain wins, or the Dems do not get the supermajority in the Senate, it will be the fault of Karl Rove, the rightwing blogosphere, and Diebold. It will not be the fault of the Congressional leaders who have brought their approval ratings to their lowest point in history.

Update: Would you buy Mary Kay cosmetics from this woman?