U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi gets warm reception at Bush Library

The national debate over whether religious institutions should be forced to provide their employees with contraception was never an issue of church and state, U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Monday during a visit to Texas A&M.

"Those same people who were saying it's an issue of church and state are now saying, 'We don't think any insurer should provide free contraception,'" she told a packed crowd of 600 at the George Bush Presidential Library Center. "They really revealed themselves."

President Barack Obama imposed a rule that effectively would have required large Catholic institutions like hospitals and schools to offer free contraception. Amid protest from Catholic bishops, his administration shifted the costs to insurance companies.

Pelosi, a devout Catholic, called the issue of contraception intensely personal, one she and her mother disagreed about. Pelosi said she has never addressed the current debate at such length, but did so Monday because of her respect for the audience.

"The issue is not about contraception. It's about women's health," she said to applause.

San Francisco, which Pelosi has represented in the House for 25 years, is a world away from Texas A&M, which has a reputation as being one of the country's more conservative universities.

And Pelosi, 71, was hosted by the Bush School's acting dean, Andrew Card, who served as chief of staff for six years to President George W. Bush, whose presidency Pelosi has described as a failure.

But the softball dialogue Monday lacked even a moment of tension and was warm. The only controversial topic -- contraception -- was submitted in advance by an audience member.

Card said that Pelosi -- the first female Speaker of the House and the first woman in U.S. history to lead a major political party in Congress -- broke the glass ceiling for women.

"We don't have to agree with her," Card said. "We don't have to support her. But we should all respect her for how she brings the noble call of public service to reality."

Pelosi returned the warmth, starting her talk with a "Howdy!," ending it with a "Gig 'em!" with thumb extended, singing the praises of the Aggies' greatest legend, war hero and former president Earl Rudder, and noting the public service of Card and former President George H.W. Bush, who attended with wife Barbara.

"It is a great privilege for each and every one of us to spend President's Day with President George Bush," Pelosi said. "His name and his presidency are synonymous with the word 'civility,' something badly needed."

The event was sponsored by the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation.

Also in attendance were Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, A&M System Chancellor John Sharp, Texas A&M University President R. Bowen Loftin and former Congressman Chet Edwards, who Pelosi singled out for his work on veterans issues. Both Lee and Edwards are Democrats.

Outside, eight or so protesters from the student group Texas Aggie Conservatives stood in front of the Bush Library's seven-ton statue of horses trampling over the Berlin Wall's rubble. One student was clad in a Grim Reaper outfit; their signs read "Pelosi Job Killer," "D.C. Kills Jobs," and "Pelosi Does Not Speak for Catholics."

Nearby, local Democrat Gerald Rieger sat on a bench, waiting to enter the building and sighing as he gazed at the Grim Reaper.

"They ought to be in class," Rieger said. "Pelosi's a job killer? How would he know? Most kids don't even know what's going on."

Pelosi isn't the only prominent Democratic visitor to Texas A&M this week. James Carville, a liberal pundit and former lead strategist for President Bill Clinton, will join his Republican political consultant wife, Mary Matalin, Friday to talk about Washington and the presidential election.