How will Pelosi respond?

It's been a harsh 48-hours for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Since she ended her interview with Tom Brokaw on Meet the Press this Sunday, she has been:

• widely criticized on conservative and Catholic blogs (including this one)
• excoriated on public radio by Rush Limbaugh (my point is that her gaffe is well-known)
• publicly corrected by the Archbishop and auxiliary bishop of Denver (where the democrats are currently hosting their national convention, incidentally)
• refuted by 10 Catholic members of Congress in an open letter (and more to follow, I'm told)
• ... and finally, two competent chairmen (cardinal & bishop) have disowned her statements on the front page of the U.S. Bishops website in a press release.

Quite simply - she can't ignore this breadth and authority of backlash. She must respond, and she has put the democrats in the difficult position of having to watch her respond during their national convention.

To make matters (for her) worse, she has already claimed to be competent in her field. So she can't use the defence that she was ignorant. Neither can she use the defense that she came across the wrong way, because who is so incompetant as to be unable to come across on a matter they are supposed to know inside and out?

Where does that leave her? In the position of having lied either about the actual position of the Church, or about her claim that her position is a legitimate one within the teachings of the Catholic church.

Stay tuned, this is one to watch.

update: more pressure building as the AP chimes in. Pelosi's camp is laying low:

"A Pelosi spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment."