Pelosi: McCain's choice of Palin "poor judgment"

STAMFORD, Conn.—House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the nation's highest-ranking female politician, said Saturday that GOP presidential candidate John McCain exercised "poor judgment" by selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate.

Pelosi told reporters she missed Palin's television interview Thursday because she was attending a bocce tournament in Hartford.

However, she said, she heard that the Alaska governor's responses to ABC News reporter Charlie Gibson demonstrated "poor judgment," The Advocate of Stamford reported Saturday.

"But more importantly, it's poor judgment on the part of John McCain. We're talking about a heartbeat away from the president," Pelosi said. "He knows better."

Pelosi was visiting Stamford to headline a fundraiser for Jim Himes, a Democrat who is challenging incumbent Republican Christopher Shays in Connecticut's 4th District.

Although Democratic leaders have criticized Palin for her perceived lack of experience in national issues and foreign affairs, Pelosi had stopped short Friday of assessing Palin.

Instead, she said candidates should be judged on their ideology rather than their gender.

"But let's be clear: Don't say, 'Here's a woman, elect a woman,'" said Pelosi, whose position as House speaker places her second in the line of presidential succession behind Vice President Dick Cheney.

What she wants in a female candidate, she said Friday, goes beyond gender: "It's not just a woman, but a woman who shares our views."

On Saturday, she joined Himes at the Stamford home of Richard and Susanne Gonzalez, a middle-class family struggling with financial issues.

Pelosi and Himes said they wanted to focus on what they called kitchen-table issues of everyday Americans, including job losses, health care costs and other expenses that Pelosi said are battering the "fragile existence" of the middle class.

Pelosi's visit to Stamford also put her in the hometown of Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democrat-turned-independent whose outspoken support of GOP presidential candidate John McCain has angered Pelosi and other Democrats.

Pelosi has called Lieberman's characterizations of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama "totally irresponsible."

Lieberman was the Democratic vice presidential candidate in 2000.

He continued to caucus with Senate Democrats to help them maintain their 51-49 majority after he won re-election in 2006 as an independent. However, he skipped last week's caucus luncheon and said he will not attend them for a while.