Last week’s Shout Bits posited that Speaker Pelosi had become so radical and bitter that she was doing damage to her own party. We predicted that the Democrats would cast her out if she continued to be a liability.

Speaker Pelosi must think her district is in danger next year. That is the only explanation for her absurd raving – she is trying to roust her base for the next election. Of course San Francisco will never elect a Republican to the House, but she could face a challenger if she exposes her left flank. While the idea of the House Speaker losing inside her base seems absurd, San Francisco politics are the most absurd, and anything can happen. Either Pelosi is mentally unstable or her CIA bashing, and right wing conspiracy theories are to shore up her local politics.

Most recently, Pelosi has complained that Republicans are carrying swastikas and shouting down her colleagues. As has been reported, both of the known swastika incidents were used to compare Obamacare to Nazism, and were not any sort of pro-Nazi statement. For Pelosi to conveniently ignore that subtlety is pure hypocrisy since her pals at Code Pink have been using swastikas to smear Pres. Bush (43) for years. Playing the Nazi card is almost always a left wing tactic. Of course using a swastika in an ad hominem attack is crude and offensive, so perhaps this incident will cause Pelosi and other leftists to stop using such incendiary imagery themselves.

Not likely. To Pelosi, a Nazi is a right wing extremist, like Bush. The truth that Nazis would oppose socialized health care is self evident to any educated progressive. It might surprise San Francisco’s Botox darling to learn that the real Nazi’s were among the first to provide universal health care (and fluoridated water too). Also, Nazi’s were Nazi-like in fighting tobacco and other public health issues. Sound familiar?

Even though the socialist policies of the Nazi’s have parallels to the policies of Pelosi and Pres. Obama, comparing the US’s far left with Nazis is unfair. Nazi-like control over people’s lives is a natural and necessary consequence when the government becomes responsible for individuals’ welfare. Once the government must pay for health care, the government must also become responsible for fighting tobacco, outlawing trans-fats, and any number of other nanny programs. Pelosi and Obama won’t round up the Gypsies and Jews for extermination, but they are paving the way for unprecedented government intrusion in private lives. In fact, there are several examples of intrusive socialist governments that are not hostile or murderous, such as Singapore, Denmark, Sweden, or India. Of course that does not mean the US should emulate them.

So, perhaps the left should be a bit more cautious when they throw out swastikas, because the swastika represents many of their own ideals and policies. In any event, the Nazi card is over used and only serves to display irrational vitriol. In addition to never calling Sen. Boxer “ma’am,” anti-socialist protestors also should stay clear of Nazi references.

The Pelosi swastika video confirms the obvious: she is an out of touch extreme leftist who despises and smears anyone to her right. Pity poor Nancy, she is caught between the harsh and radical ideals of her San Francisco base and the increasingly unflattering play she gets with mainstream America. She has no experience in moderation or compromise, and yet she sits two heartbeats from the Presidency. Should the Republicans make even modest gains in the House in 2010, look for the Democrats to throw her overboard without regret.

Speaker Pelosi and Pres. Obama may enjoy an unprecedented hegemony over Washington’s levers of power, but that did not stop them from working both sides of the auto issue. Back in May, Obama announced new fuel efficiency standards that will add about $1,300 to the cost of an average new car. Now, in July, Pelosi’s ‘Cash for Clunkers’ or C.A.R.S. plan offers up to $4,500 toward the purchase of cars that don’t meet the other law’s requirements.

Is the apparent conflict simply governmental incompetence? Maybe, but the one area where Washington is not incompetent is in parsing society to maximize a power grab. Pelosi knew that the $1,300 regulatory cost to improve efficiency would hit the middle class hardest, so the C.A.R.S. program targeted a sop to the middle class. Leaving well enough alone in the first place is not the Washington way.

How did Pelosi arrive at $4,500 is also a curiosity. A car loan lasts about five years, while the current $8,500 home subsidy applies to a thirty year mortgage. A $900 per year subsidy for a car versus a $283 per year subsidy for a home? Perhaps Pelosi realized that unions make cars more often than they do houses.

The impeccable skill of stealing while claiming to give is why they are called politicians, not geniuses. Geniuses would have realized that setting a$4,500 price floor on junk cars would easily create a run on the program. C.A.R.S. went through its authorized funding in less than a week. Meanwhile, every suitable dealership across the US has promoted C.A.R.S. as free money, even monetizing it like a California IOU.

Those dealerships picked a fickle business partner in Pelosi and Obama. Unlike a regular contract or promise, Washington is not obliged to follow through on C.A.R.S. past its $1 billion initial authorization. While the House has approved an additional $2 billion, there is no guarantee that the Senate will follow suit any time soon. Meanwhile, the businesses that marketed themselves based on C.A.R.S. are in limbo, along with people who are now waiting before buying a new car. Washington is better at symbolism and feel-good platitudes than results or accountability.

Of course $3 billion is just tip money to Washington, but the C.A.R.S. fiasco is illustrative. Why should Obama be trusted to reorder society based on his vision for expensive energy, socialized healthcare, and wealth redistribution when something as simple as C.A.R.S. failed after a week? Perhaps the various Bush era fiascos convinced voters that Bush was uniquely incompetent and that Obama was different. In fact, the same Bush era bureaucrats still are running most of Washington today. The same corrupt motives of power consolidation and special interest pandering rule Washington politics, and they will guarantee plenty of Obama era fiascos.

The C.A.R.S. fiasco should serve as a wakeup call to voters who are prepared to trust the Government with their health and prosperity. Under Bush, Obama, or whomever, the Government is an unreliable partner that is best avoided.