posted on April 5, 2007 06:35:04 AM
and let our STATE department handle foreign affairs.
Then again....liberals have NEVER been any good at foreign affairs.
pelosi...STAY OUT of things you know NOTHING about.
========
Pratfall in Damascus
Nancy Pelosi's foolish shuttle diplomacy
Wash POST
Thursday, April 5, 2007; A16
HOUSE SPEAKER Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) offered an excellent demonstration yesterday of why members of Congress should not attempt to supplant the secretary of state when traveling abroad.
After a meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Ms. Pelosi announced that she had delivered a message from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that "Israel was ready to engage in peace talks" with Syria. What's more, she added, Mr. Assad was ready to "resume the peace process" as well.
Having announced this seeming diplomatic breakthrough, Ms. Pelosi suggested that her Kissingerian shuttle diplomacy was just getting started. "We expressed our interest in using our good offices in promoting peace between Israel and Syria," she said.
Only one problem: The Israeli prime minister entrusted Ms. Pelosi with no such message.
"What was communicated to the U.S. House Speaker does not contain any change in the policies of Israel," said a statement quickly issued by the prime minister's office.
In fact, Mr. Olmert told Ms. Pelosi that "a number of Senate and House members who recently visited Damascus received the impression that despite the declarations of Bashar Assad, there is no change in the position of his country regarding a possible peace process with Israel."
In other words, Ms. Pelosi not only misrepresented Israel's position but was virtually alone in failing to discern that Mr. Assad's words were mere propaganda.
Ms. Pelosi was criticized by President Bush for visiting Damascus at a time when the administration -- rightly or wrongly -- has frozen high-level contacts with Syria. Mr. Bush said that thanks to the speaker's freelancing Mr. Assad was getting mixed messages from the United States.
Ms. Pelosi responded by pointing out that Republican congressmen had visited Syria without drawing presidential censure. That's true enough -- but those other congressmen didn't try to introduce a new U.S. diplomatic initiative in the Middle East.
"We came in friendship, hope, and determined that the road to Damascus is a road to peace," Ms. Pelosi grandly declared.
Never mind that that statement is ludicrous: As any diplomat with knowledge of the region could have told Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Assad is a corrupt thug whose overriding priority at the moment is not peace with Israel but heading off U.N. charges that he orchestrated the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri.
The really striking development here is the attempt by a Democratic congressional leader to substitute her own foreign policy for that of a sitting Republican president.
Two weeks ago Ms. Pelosi rammed legislation through the House of Representatives that would strip Mr. Bush of his authority as commander in chief to manage troop movements in Iraq.
Now she is attempting to introduce a new Middle East policy that directly conflicts with that of the president.
We have found much to criticize in Mr. Bush's military strategy and regional diplomacy. But Ms. Pelosi's attempt to establish a shadow presidency is not only counterproductive, it is foolish.
============
Calling it 'foolish' is nicely stated. To me she should be impeached.
"While the democratic party complains about everything THIS President does to protect our Nation": "What would a Democrat president have done at that point?"
"Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack."
posted on April 5, 2007 06:45:24 AMThen again....liberals have NEVER been any good at foreign affairs.
We all know how successful Bush has been in his negotiations over the past 6 years. His method of diplomacy is to not to talk to countries if it gets to difficult for him.
To me she should be impeached.
You can impeach Pelosi right after Bush and Cheney get impeached.
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- The duty of a patriot in this time and place is to ask questions, to demand answers, to understand where our nation is headed and why. If the answers you get do not suit you, or if they frighten you, or if they anger you, it is your duty as a patriot to dissent. Freedom does not begin with blind acceptance and with a flag. Freedom begins when you say 'No.'
posted on April 5, 2007 06:52:55 AM
I know you can't GRASP that pelosi had NO authority to do what she did.
NONE.
She's NOT part of our state department, NOR this administration.
One has to actually get ELECTED by the voters to act as President...or on his behalf. LOL
Not that you'd grasp THAT at all. tsk tsk tsk.
So far NO ONE has elected HER president. LOL
And she LIED....guess you're ignoring THAT FACT.
By doing what she did....she could be the cause of MORE problems with Syria.
And I'd HOPE you'd KNOW that for DECADES this has been American policy.....not JUST by this administration.
Try and pick up a couple of brain cells somewhere.
You are so misinformed.
"While the democratic party complains about everything THIS President does to protect our Nation": "What would a Democrat president have done at that point?"
"Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack."
posted on April 5, 2007 07:26:28 AM
pelosi's LIE is making world news today.
Good....let all see her for what she is.
========
Apr. 5, 2007 0:34 | Updated Apr. 5, 2007 0:52
PMO denies peace message to Assad
By HERB KEINON
The Prime Minister's Office issued a rare "clarification" Wednesday that, in gentle diplomatic terms, contradicted US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's statement in Damascus that she had brought a message from Israel about a willingness to engage in peace talks.
According to the statement, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert emphasized in his meeting with Pelosi on Sunday that "although Israel is interested in peace with Syria, that country continues to be part of the Axis of Evil and a force that encourages terror in the entire Middle East."
Pelosi tells Assad: Israel ready to talk
Olmert, the statement clarified, told Pelosi that Syria's sincerity about a genuine peace with Israel would be judged by its willingness to "cease its support of terror, cease its sponsoring of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad organizations, refrain from providing weapons to Hizbullah and bringing about the destabilizing of Lebanon, cease its support of terror in Iraq, and relinquish the strategic ties it is building with the extremist regime in Iran."
The statement said Olmert had not communicated to Pelosi any change in Israeli policy on Damascus.
Pelosi, who met in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar Assad over the objections of US President George W. Bush, said she brought a message to Assad from Olmert saying that Israel was ready for peace talks.
"We were very pleased with the reassurances we received from the president [Assad] that he was ready to resume the peace process. He was ready to engage in negotiations for peace with Israel," Pelosi said after meeting Assad.
She said the meeting with the Syrian leader "enabled us to communicate a message from Prime Minister Olmert that Israel was ready to engage in peace talks as well."
According to officials in the Prime Minister's Office, however, this was not what transpired during her meeting with Olmert.
The officials said Olmert had told Pelosi that he thought her trip to Damascus was a mistake, and that when she asked - nevertheless - whether he had a message for Assad, Olmert said Syria should first stop supporting terrorism and "act like a normal country," and only then would Israel be willing to hold discussions.
The first part of that message, the officials said, was lost in what was reported from Damascus on Wednesday.
Pelosi said the congressional delegation she led raised the issue of kidnapped IDF soldiers Gilad Schalit, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev and conveyed "the importance of Syria's role in promoting peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis."
She also said she had pressed Assad on Syrian support for Hamas and Hizbullah.
--
In a related development, Bahrain's Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed al-Khalifa told the Bahrain daily Al-Ayam on Tuesday that the Riyadh Arab League summit set up "panels to communicate with all influential parties, including Israel, to activate the Arab Peace Initiative."
According to the Bahrain News Agency, Khalifa said the Arab League has formed "working teams to communicate with all parties, including Israel, the United Nations, the US, China and the European Union."
He said the team would make contacts with Israel "within a month," and that contacts with Israel would be made by countries "that have ties" with it, while the other Arab nations would contact the US and the EU member states.
A source in the Prime Minister's Office denied knowledge of any working groups that would be calling Jerusalem.
============
So once again....we get to SEE, FIRST HAND, how the liberal mind just can't process what is ACTUALLY SAID....vs how they tell others what was said/what happened...incorrectly.
Happens here too all the time. It's a brain disconnect of some kind....lol
"While the democratic party complains about everything THIS President does to protect our Nation": "What would a Democrat president have done at that point?"
"Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack."
Ann Coulter
[ edited by Linda_K on Apr 5, 2007 09:57 AM ]
posted on April 5, 2007 08:00:08 AMI know you can't GRASP that pelosi had NO authority to do what she did. NONE. She's NOT part of our state department, NOR this administration.
Neither was the GOP delegation that went to Syria. Typical Neo-con, that doesnt mind when people in the Republican party do the exact same thing, it is no big deal.
One has to actually get ELECTED by the voters to act as President...
If you remember, the voters chose Gore over Bush. So during Bush's first term, Bush was just pretending to be President since he was not ELECTED BY THE VOTERS
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- The duty of a patriot in this time and place is to ask questions, to demand answers, to understand where our nation is headed and why. If the answers you get do not suit you, or if they frighten you, or if they anger you, it is your duty as a patriot to dissent. Freedom does not begin with blind acceptance and with a flag. Freedom begins when you say 'No.'
posted on April 5, 2007 09:35:50 AM
Another uninformed liberal, LD, shows that he too continues to live in the past.
LOL...on Bush winning the 2000 election.
Yes, I remember so well....listen to all the WHINING about it for FOUR years. And the liberals said they'd show him by electing someone else in 2004.
WAKE UP ....it didn't happen. The voters RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT Bush.
LOL LOL LOL
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"While the democratic party complains about everything THIS President does to protect our Nation": "What would a Democrat president have done at that point?"
"Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack."
Ann Coulter
[ edited by Linda_K on Apr 5, 2007 09:42 AM ]
posted on April 5, 2007 09:40:24 AM
"Neither was the GOP delegation that went to Syria. Typical Neo-con, that doesnt mind when people in the Republican party do the exact same thing, it is no big deal."
WRONG AGAIN....misinformed one. lol
They didn't LIE about what Israel said. They didn't try to CHANGE foreign policy.
Can't you READ????
here it is for you again. NOT at ALL the 'same thing'
"but those other congressmen didn't try to introduce a new U.S. diplomatic initiative in the Middle East."
posted on April 5, 2007 10:50:22 AMAnother uninformed liberal, LD, shows that he too continues to live in the past.
Yep that is why Linda has to bring up everything that Clinton did during his presidency. That is also why when it comes to the war Linda has to bring up the fact the Democrats originally voted for the war. Well, that was over five years ago.
And the liberals said they'd show him by electing someone else in 2004. WAKE UP ....it didn't happen. The voters RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT Bush.
Just like your great prediction of the Republicans maintaining control over one of the houses of Congress. NOW SHUT UP BECAUSE IT DIDN'T HAPPEN. THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN AND WANT A CHANGE WITH THE WAY THE WAR IS GOING.
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- The duty of a patriot in this time and place is to ask questions, to demand answers, to understand where our nation is headed and why. If the answers you get do not suit you, or if they frighten you, or if they anger you, it is your duty as a patriot to dissent. Freedom does not begin with blind acceptance and with a flag. Freedom begins when you say 'No.'
posted on April 5, 2007 10:59:25 AMNOT at ALL the 'same thing' "but those other congressmen didn't try to introduce a new U.S. diplomatic initiative in the Middle East."
Listen miss Canadian language idiot, you do not know what is said in those talks. Your right winged biased news sources didn't even mention anything about the Republican led delegation going to Syria bet yet you are going to believe everything they post about Pelosi's trip. You are such a brainwashed sock puppet. So gullible that you will believe anything that is printed.
WASHINGTON — Longtime Republican Senator Arlen Specter said he will visit Syria despite loud objections by the Bush administration, saying the situation in Iraq is so dire that it is time Congress step up to the plate and see what it can do.
Specter, who has been in the Senate for 26 years, said in an interview late Friday he is planning a trip to the Middle East that will include Israel and Syria. The senator said he and other Republicans are concerned that the administration's policies in the Middle East are not working and that other Republican members may follow him.
"I've talked to my Republican colleagues, and there is a disquiet here," Specter said.
The visit, coming after a trip by Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, would be a direct affront to the White House. The United States has limited diplomatic ties with Syria because of its support for Hezbollah and Hamas, which the U.S. calls terrorist organizations. President George W. Bush has expressed reluctance to seek help from Damascus on Iraq until the Syrians curb that support and reduce their influence in Lebanon.
Specter's interest in Syria is nothing new. He has visited Syria 15 times since 1984 and even attended the funeral of Assad's father. The senator visited with then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in 1990 and has tried repeatedly to engage officials in Iran, although to no avail.
The White House sharply criticized Nelson, a Democrat, for visiting Syria despite Nelson's assertion that the meeting was helpful. Nelson said Syrian President Bashar Assad said he was willing to help control the Iraq-Syrian border, where foreign fighters cross into Iraq.
"We think it's inappropriate," White House spokesman Tony Snow said Thursday of the planned congressional trips to the region. In addition to Nelson and Specter, Democratic Senators John Kerry and Christopher Dodd were expected to visit Syria.
"The concern here, among other things, is that this does not strengthen the hand of democracy in the region ... but instead allows the Syrians to dodge the real responsibilities they have," Snow said.
White House spokesman Alex Conant said late Friday that Snow's comments hold true for Specter as well.
The diplomatic push from Congress found revived inspiration from a bipartisan panel that recently recommended the U.S. engage Iran and Syria on the war in Iraq. Bush has remained cool to the proposal by the Iraq Study Group, which was led by former Republican Secretary of State James A. Baker III and former Representative Lee Hamilton.
In recent days, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asked Specter in a telephone call not to go to Syria, the senator said. But Specter, who had acquiesced to similar requests before, said time was up.
"I deferred to them a year ago, and I deferred to them last August," Specter said. "And if there were any signs the administrative policy (in the Middle East) was working, I'd defer to them again."
Specter said he was not under the impression he would walk away with a diplomatic deal or believed he was stepping on anyone's toes. But, he added, lawmakers could conduct fact-finding trips that could help inform discussions and still leave foreign policy negotiations up to the White House.
"I now believe that with the report of the independent study group and the administration policy, which is not working, there should be a fresh look at it by Congress," said Specter, who chairs the Judiciary Committee and is a senior member of the Appropriations panel.
Specter has challenged the Bush administration's position on other matters as well, including the White House policy toward terrorism suspects.
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- The duty of a patriot in this time and place is to ask questions, to demand answers, to understand where our nation is headed and why. If the answers you get do not suit you, or if they frighten you, or if they anger you, it is your duty as a patriot to dissent. Freedom does not begin with blind acceptance and with a flag. Freedom begins when you say 'No.'
posted on April 5, 2007 12:52:34 PM
MAYBE THE WASHINGTON POST SHOULD STICK TO GETTING ITS FACTS CORRECT FIRST.
Washington Post Misleads, Contradicts Own Reporting, To Attack Pelosi
The Washington Post editorial page today published a vicious editorial attacking Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), calling her “ludicrous” and describing her bipartisan trip to Syria as an “attempt to establish a shadow presidency.”
The editorial rests on two claims, both of which are baseless.
1) Pelosi passed an incorrect message from Israel to Syria. Pelosi said yesterday that she gave Syrian officials the message that Israel is “ready to engage in peace talks.” The Post falsely claims, “The Israeli prime minister entrusted Ms. Pelosi with no such message,” misinterpreting a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s office that simply reiterated its position that talks with Syria will not take place until Syria has taken steps to end its support for extremist elements. There is no evidence that Pelosi failed to communicate this message. In fact, Pelosi’s delegation specifically pressed the Syrian president “over Syria’s support for militant groups and insist[ed] that his government block militants seeking to cross into Iraq and join insurgents there.”
2) Pelosi is attempting to “establish a shadow presidency.” This claim is directly contradicted by the Post’s own reporting this morning, which states, “Foreign policy experts generally agree that Pelosi’s dealings with Middle East leaders have not strayed far, if at all, from those typical for a congressional trip.” Pelosi herself has “described the trip as little different than the visit paid to Syria the same week led by Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-VA),” and she went to great lengths to express her unity of purpose with President Bush on terrorism issues. The Post’s own reporting today also cites several instances of members of Congress meeting with foreign leaders during the past 30 years. As ThinkProgress noted yesterday, in contrast with Pelosi’s trip, previous congressional actions abroad attempted to directly undermine President Clinton.
Fred Hiatt and the Post editorial page get it wrong on Pelosi just like they got it wrong on the recent Iraq legislation, the U.S. Attorney scandal, the CIA leak investigation, the decision to invade Iraq, and on and on and on.
Digg It!
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- The duty of a patriot in this time and place is to ask questions, to demand answers, to understand where our nation is headed and why. If the answers you get do not suit you, or if they frighten you, or if they anger you, it is your duty as a patriot to dissent. Freedom does not begin with blind acceptance and with a flag. Freedom begins when you say 'No.'
posted on April 5, 2007 01:08:13 PM
Oh gee....the liberals are just going to have to continue being publically humiliated in front of the world then. [including the rino] lol
Just like pelosi has now been.
LOL...don't like the WA POST article???? TOO BAD.
When the Prime Minister of Israel has to 'diplomatically' tell the WORLD SHE LIED lol lol lol that he said NO SUCH THING as she claimed....she's the one who is shamed/takes the embarassment for over stepping her limitations. Not this administration NOR the WH.
SHE was humiliated in front of the WORLD. No one else.
Catch a clue.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"While the democratic party complains about everything THIS President does to protect our Nation": "What would a Democrat president have done at that point?"
"Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack."
Ann Coulter
[ edited by Linda_K on Apr 5, 2007 01:14 PM ]
posted on April 5, 2007 01:51:30 PMLOL...don't like the WA POST article???? TOO BAD.
Not when they can not get their so called facts correct.
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- The duty of a patriot in this time and place is to ask questions, to demand answers, to understand where our nation is headed and why. If the answers you get do not suit you, or if they frighten you, or if they anger you, it is your duty as a patriot to dissent. Freedom does not begin with blind acceptance and with a flag. Freedom begins when you say 'No.'
posted on April 5, 2007 06:12:38 PM
Oh Logan, you know the repugs in here don't give one little bit for the TRUTH.....when they're proven wrong they just deny, deny, deny....how else could they still support bushit.
Ya, I bet the blood lusting, slaughter crazed, torture happy, repugs who hate our soldiers so much that they wish they were in war forever....are terribly disappointed when diplomacy works......
how they hate America !!!!
[ edited by mingotree on Apr 5, 2007 11:38 PM ]
posted on April 5, 2007 08:47:56 PM
GREAT example, Bear, of JUST what the wacko liberals want to do.....lick the shoes of our ENEMIES. tsk tsk tsk
Calling for and working towards our DEFEAT in Iraq....and getting friendly with terrorists nations that have called for the destruction of Israel.
PROMISING America they would NOT stop funding our troops.
Then this week doing a FLIP-FLOP, as is USUAL liberal behavior, and NOW saying they will put up a bill to stop funding them.
What in the hell is the matter with them?
Why would they want to see America FAIL?
I hope in the next 19 months the voters WAKE UP and see they're WORSE than ANY enemy America HAS.
==================
V.P. Cheney interviewed by Russ Limbaugh
----
RUSH: A couple of quick more things before you have to go. What's the administration's view today, what's the emotion, what are you thinking about Speaker Pelosi's trip to the Middle East, specifically the conveyance of the incorrect message to Bashar Assad in Syria about peace talks with Israel?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, it's not helpful. I made it clear earlier that I thought this created difficulties, if I can put it in a gentle form. Obviously, she's the speaker of the House and ought to travel to foreign nations and ought to conduct visits.
RUSH: She's not entitled to make her own foreign policy, is she?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: She's not entitled to make policy. She, in this particular case, by going to Damascus at this stage it serves to reinforce, if you will, and reward Bashar Assad for his bad behavior. He's done all kinds of things that are not in the interests of the United States, including allowing Syria to be an area from which attacks are launched against our people inside Iraq. He obviously was heavily involved, right now, in supporting an effort by Hezbollah to try to topple the government in Lebanon. This is a bad actor, and until he changes his behavior he should not be rewarded about visits by the speaker of the House of Representatives.
RUSH: Well, how much damage has she done by conveying to Assad that Israel is ready for peace talks when Israel is not ready for peace talks as Syria is currently constituted?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I think, clearly, she stimulated a reaction out of the Israeli. Prime Minister Olmert immediately made it clear that she was not authorized to make any such offer to Bashir Assad. Among other things, of course, the Syrians have not renounced their support for terror. The major terrorist organizations that are dedicated to the destruction of Israel, such as Hamas, are headquartered in Damascus, Syria. It was a non-statement, a nonsensical statement. It didn't make any sense at all that she would suggest that those talks could go forward as long as the Syrians conducted themselves as a prime state sponsor of terror.
RUSH: You are a reserved individual --
THE VICE PRESIDENT: (chuckles)
RUSH: -- and very professional, and you've been doing this a long time, but I'm asking this for people in my audience as well as me. How do you feel when this...? Don't you get enraged when this kind of thing happens?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: (chuckles) Well, I've been around a long time. I'm obviously disappointed. I think it is, in fact, bad behavior on her part. I wish she hadn't done it, but she is the speaker of the House, and fortunately I think the various parties involved recognize she doesn't speak for the United States in those circumstances. She doesn't represent the administration. The president is the one that conducts foreign policy, not the speaker of the House.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"While the democratic party complains about everything THIS President does to protect our Nation": "What would a Democrat president have done at that point?"
"Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack."
posted on April 5, 2007 09:55:53 PM
GOOD....another republican REMINDS old progressive pelosi that she's NOT CIC.
And that SHE doesn't speak for the PM of Israel
ROFLOL
Mitt Romney Rips Pelosi Trip as 'Outrageous'
Breaking from NewsMax.com
Mitt Romney Rips Pelosi Trip as 'Outrageous'
GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Wednesday called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip to Syria outrageous and accused Democrats in Washington of playing politics with Iraq.
"Washington is a broken place right now, dysfunctional in some respects, which has been evidenced by the trip by Nancy Pelosi to Syria, but also evidenced by the failure to deal with overspending," the former Massachusetts governor said at a news conference in the Iowa statehouse.
Romney's comments came as Pelosi met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus over White House objections, and as President Bush and the Democratic congressional majority struggle over the Iraq war. Democrats want to include in a war-spending bill a date for U.S. troop withdrawal. Bush has threatened to veto any measure that includes a timetable.
"I'm going to suggest that the Democrats in Washington provide the funding necessary to support the foreign policy which is established by the president of the United States. It is not up to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to dictate to the commanders in the field or to the commander in chief," Romney said.
Asked whether he backed Bush's veto threat, the GOP candidate said he would let the president make his own decision on the tactics he employs to ensure troops are funded. But he took the opportunity of the question to assail Democratic maneuvers in Congress.
"They can have an up or down vote but putting pork projects into a bill or putting in place various nonbinding resolutions in the bill, these are confusing and unnecessary," Romney said.
He then reiterated his support for increasing troop levels in Baghdad.
Romney brought up Pelosi's trip twice, both times unprompted. "Frankly, the decision of Nancy Pelosi to go to meet with Assad in Syria is one which I find outrageous," Romney said, the second time.
Defying Bush, Pelosi, D-Calif., met with the Syrian president Wednesday in an attempt to pressure the Bush administration to open a direct dialogue with the Middle Eastern country.
Democrats say the administration's attempts to isolate Syria have failed to force the Assad government to change its policies.
-------
Associated Press.
=======================
so the dems want to 'engage' the terrorist nations that SUPPORT our enemies. That support hamas/etc. Kiss their axx.
What great proof of how ANTI/un-American they are.
posted on April 6, 2007 12:07:07 AM
I think bear's cartoon more accurately depicts linduh at a man's feet trying not to get hit again.
Since her attitude is that diplomacy or talking things through is for wimps...her marriage must've been a he!l of a battle ground!
posted on April 6, 2007 06:58:14 AM
Linda get her news from Rush. Now there is another unbiased source of factual news.
Three peas in a pod - Tweedle Dee, tweedle Dum and Rush - WHAT A JOKE.
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- The duty of a patriot in this time and place is to ask questions, to demand answers, to understand where our nation is headed and why. If the answers you get do not suit you, or if they frighten you, or if they anger you, it is your duty as a patriot to dissent. Freedom does not begin with blind acceptance and with a flag. Freedom begins when you say 'No.'
posted on April 6, 2007 07:13:34 AM
An April 5 article in the New York Post asserted, "From the campaign trail in Iowa, GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney slammed Pelosi's diplomatic excursion," before offering Romney's quote:
"I just don't know what got into her head, to be completely honest with you," he said.
"Her going to a state which is, without question, a sponsor of terror, and having her picture taken with Assad and being seen in a head scarf and so forth is sending the wrong signal to the people of Syria and to the people of the Middle East."
News reports in the Associated Press and the New York Post, and an editorial in Investor's Business Daily, quoted Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney criticizing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) by saying that "being seen in a head scarf and so forth is sending the wrong signal to the people of Syria and to the people of the Middle East," without noting that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and first lady Laura Bush have both done the same when visiting the Middle East.
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- The duty of a patriot in this time and place is to ask questions, to demand answers, to understand where our nation is headed and why. If the answers you get do not suit you, or if they frighten you, or if they anger you, it is your duty as a patriot to dissent. Freedom does not begin with blind acceptance and with a flag. Freedom begins when you say 'No.'
posted on April 6, 2007 09:03:17 AM
USA Today
Opinion
Pelosi steps out of bounds
Fri Apr 6, 6:56 AM ET
Democrats in Congress have been busy flexing their foreign policy muscles almost from the moment they took power in January, for the most part responsibly.
But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record) crossed a line this week by visiting Syria, where she met with President Bashar Assad.
She violated a long-held understanding that the United States should speak with one official voice abroad - even if the country is deeply divided on foreign policy back home.
Like it or not (and we do not), President Bush's policy has been to refuse to negotiate with Syria until it changes its behavior. That behavior is malignant. [b]Syria has long meddled destructively in neighboring Lebanon and is widely seen as the bloody hand behind the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. Syria has aligned itself with
Iran and supports the violently anti-
Israel groups Hezbollah and Hamas. It foments violence in Iraq by allowing suicide bombers and jihadists to cross the Syria-Iraq border[/b].
Pelosi surely knew that as speaker - third in the succession line to the presidency - her high-profile presence in Damascus would be read as a contradiction of Bush's no-talkpolicy. No matter that she claimed to have stuck closely to administration positions in her conversations with Assad, smiling photos of Pelosi and the Syrian president convey the unspoken message that while the U.S. president is unwilling to talk with Syria, another wing of the government is.
Assad made good use of the moment.
Also along was House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., who said the meeting was "only the beginning of our constructive dialogue with Syria, and we hope to build on this visit." That suggested Democrats are going beyond unobjectionable fact-finding and getting-to-know-you conversation into something closer to negotiations, undermining U.S. diplomacy.
If there's any justification for Pelosi's trip, it is that foreign travel by members of Congress is important. Many come to office with little knowledge of the world and soon need to make important decisions about it. This was starkly evident in December when the congressman Pelosi chose to head the critical House Intelligence Committee revealed that he didn't know the difference between Sunnis and Shiites - knowledge critical to understanding Iraq and the war on terrorism.
The speaker presumably is better informed. Pelosi said she made the trip because the bipartisan Iraq Study Group urged greater engagement with Syria. That argument is strengthened by the fact that Assad also got visits this week from several House Republicans, who defied White House requests they not go. "I don't care what the administration says on this," said Rep. Frank Wolf (news, bio, voting record), R-Va. "I want us to be successful in Iraq. I want us to clamp down on Hezbollah."
But Wolf can travel to Syria virtually undetected. Pelosi has an international profile. That guarantees her heavy media coverage but multiplies the price of a misstep, which she quickly made when she created confusion about how eager Israel is to resume peace talks with Syria.
Israel immediately clarified her remarks.
Pelosi's office defended her trip by noting that the "administration's cold-shoulder approach has yielded nothing but more Syrian intransigence." As true as that is, the place for Pelosi to make the case is not in Damascus. It's not up to the speaker to unfreeze relations with Assad.
================
READ THE ABOVE CAREFULLY, SYBIL AND LD. THERE IS NO DOUBLE STANDARDS AS YOU FALSELY claim there have been.
YOU'RE WRONG once again.
"While the democratic party complains about everything THIS President does to protect our Nation": "What would a Democrat president have done at that point?"
"Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack."
posted on April 6, 2007 10:10:40 AM
No, linduh, you little boot licking beaten up well-trained whipped little woman....I'm right and you're stretching....
Pelosi can do whatever she damn pleases and doesn't need DICK or Dopey's permission...SHE has no fear like you, you scared obedient little rabbit
Media reported White House criticism of Pelosi Syria trip, but not its silence on GOP-led trip
In reporting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is planning a visit to Syria accompanied by a bipartisan congressional delegation this week, several media outlets highlighted White House criticism of Pelosi's trip but did not note that a Republican-led delegation met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on April 1 -- nor did they note the White House's inconsistency in criticizing Pelosi for her trip but remaining silent on the GOP-led visit.
As the weblog Think Progress noted, during a March 30 White House press briefing, deputy press secretary Dana Perino attacked Pelosi for her decision to spend time in Syria as part of a Mideast tour. Perino stated: "I know that Assad probably really wants people to come and have a photo opportunity and have tea with him, and have discussions about where they're coming from, but we do think that's a really bad idea." But the White House did not criticize Republican lawmakers who were separately slated to visit Syria. Indeed, on April 1, Reps. Frank Wolf (R-VA), Joseph R. Pitts (R-PA) and Robert Aderholt (R-AL) traveled to Damascus and met with Assad, two days before Pelosi's scheduled trip.
Several media outlets subsequently reported the White House's criticism of Pelosi without noting this inconsistency:
On the April 2 edition of CNN Newsroom, CNN Beirut bureau chief Brent Sadler reported that Pelosi's "Middle East shuttle with a bipartisan delegation has drawn fire from the George Bush Republican White House" because Pelosi "plans to meet later this week with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus." Sadler did not mention the Republican-led trip to Syria, although, during an earlier report on the April 2 edition of CNN's American Morning, Sadler did report: "Pelosi shrugged away that criticism, saying that, just 24 hours ago, a Republican three-person delegation also passed through Syria and met with Syria's President Bashar al-Assad."
In an April 2 article (subscription required), The Wall Street Journal reported that "White House officials continued yesterday in their public rebuking of the speaker for the Syria visit." But the Journal did not mention the Republican delegation's reported visit to Syria or the inconsistency of the White House in its criticism.
In a March 30 post on The Politico's Congress weblog, The Crypt, Politico staff writer Patrick O'Connor repeated the White House's attack on Pelosi but did not mention the Republican-led trip. O'Connor wrote: "The White House criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Friday for stopping in Syria during her trip to the Middle East. ... 'We discourage members of Congress to make such visits to Syria,' White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. 'This is a country that is a state sponsor of terror.' " Shortly before O'Connor's entry was posted, Bloomberg published an article on its website mentioning the Republican-led trip to Syria.
As Media Matters for America documented, on the April 1 edition of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday, Weekly Standard editor and Fox News contributor Bill Kristol echoed the White House's attack on Pelosi. Several other Fox News personalities have similarly criticized Pelosi while ignoring the Republican-led trip:
On the April 2 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, co-hosts Steve Doocy, Gretchen Carlson, and Brian Kilmeade sharply criticized Pelosi, while ignoring the Republican-led trip. Doocy asked: "What the heck is she doing in the Middle East?" adding, "This has got the White House flummoxed." Doocy later said, "[I]n our first hour today, about two hours ago, we had this as a question of the day, whether or not you thought she [Pelosi] was actually being helpful and mediating, or do you think she was meddling. The answer, overwhelmingly, meddler." Earlier in the show, on-screen text teasing the segment read: "Syria-ous mistake?"
On the April 1 edition of Fox News' Hannity's America, host Sean Hannity said that Pelosi "decid[ed] to spend her spring break frolicking with Tehran's terrorist minions." The accompanying on-screen text read: "Wrong Time for Pelosi to Hang with Terror Sponsors." Hannity did not note the Republican-led trip.
Also, on the April 1 edition of CBS' Face the Nation, while interviewing White House counselor Dan Bartlett about U.S.-Middle East relations, host Bob Schieffer did not challenge Bartlett for asserting: "We did ask her not to go. We did not believe it would advance the diplomatic efforts in the Middle East. I think most Americans would not think that the leader of the Democratic Party in the Congress should be meeting with the heads of a state sponsor of terror." Schieffer reported that "the president hasn't been too anxious to talk to Syria about what's going on there. Apparently she is."
The selective criticism by some in the media of Pelosi's planned visit to Syria mirrors conservatives' attacks on several Democrats who traveled to Damascus in December 2006. As Media Matters noted, numerous conservative media figures assailed Democratic Sens. Bill Nelson (FL), John Kerry (MA), and Christopher Dodd (CT) for meeting with Assad but ignored Sen. Arlen Specter's (R-PA) meeting with the Syrian president later that month."""
The article goes on and on with more repug DOUBLE STANDARDS.
posted on April 6, 2007 10:12:34 AM
Once again Linda uses another right winged newspaper to present "unbiased" facts to claim she is right.
USAToday is another conservative slanted newspaper.
The sense that Pelosi and her delegation have reinforced the Bush administration in Middle Eastern capitals doesn't come from her spokesman alone.
Rep. David Hobson of Ohio, the only Republican on the trip, confirmed to a Dayton Daily News reporter that Pelosi et al have presented a united front as far as U.S. policy towards Syria.
Here's the top of the story by Jessica Wehrman.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. David Hobson on Wednesday rebuffed Bush administration criticism of his trip to Syria with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying she has reinforced Bush administration policies in the region and possibly made progress toward peace in the Middle East.
Hobson of Springfield, the lone Republican on a seven-member tour of the Middle East led by Pelosi, D-San Francisco, said the speaker strongly reinforced Bush policy on Syria, urging Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to work to lessen the influence of terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah in the region, to stop the influx of suicide bombers into Iraq from Syria and to "not fall into the trap of being dominated by Iran."
Though the administration does not currently talk to Syria, Hobson said the delegation was adamant in urging Assad to support administration policy in the Middle East.
"I think we played a useful role," Hobson said in a phone call from Saudi Arabia. "We reinforced the administration's positions and at the same time we were trying to understand and maybe getting some voice to some things people wanted to say that maybe they were not comfortable saying to the administration. The jury's out ... but this was not an anti-administration trip at all."
Hobson, who has been generally supportive of the war in Iraq, said the war was not the subject of discussions in countries that also included Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press has a report that three Republican congressmen just returned from Syria as part of a separate fact-finding trip, supported the idea of members of Congress visiting Syria, despite Bush Administration protests.
Three Republican congressmen who parted with President Bush by meeting with
Syrian leaders said Wednesday it is important to maintain a dialogue with a country the White House says sponsors terrorism.
"I don't care what the administration says on this. You've got to do what you think is in the best interest of your country," said Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va. "I want us to be successful in Iraq. I want us to clamp down on Hezbollah."
..."This is an area where we would disagree with the administration," (Rep. Robert) Aderholt (of Alabama) said. "None of us in the Congress work for the president. We have to cast our own votes and ultimately answer to our own constituents. ... I think there's room that we can try to work with them as long as they know where we draw the line
Even Republicans agree Pelosi has been right to go on the trip.
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- The duty of a patriot in this time and place is to ask questions, to demand answers, to understand where our nation is headed and why. If the answers you get do not suit you, or if they frighten you, or if they anger you, it is your duty as a patriot to dissent. Freedom does not begin with blind acceptance and with a flag. Freedom begins when you say 'No.'
posted on April 6, 2007 10:20:03 AM
The REAL problem is that the bushits want desperately to slaughter and maim more Americans in wars with Iran and Syria.
If Pelosi or anyone else starts something that may stop war and SAVE American lives...the neocons and repugs will have a hissy fit....you know they won't be happy unless some OTHER American is getting blown to bits....
posted on April 6, 2007 11:01:46 AM
No....the REAL problem is that the liberals and wackos from the dem party have decided and taken it upon themselves to
call for the DEFEAT of America.
To show a willingness to make concessions to the terrorists nations who are EVIL....absolute EVIL. Smiling all the way.
"She, in this particular case, by going to Damascus at this stage it serves to reinforce, if you will, and reward Bashar Assad for his bad behavior. He's done all kinds of things that are not in the interests of the United States, including allowing Syria to be an area from which attacks are launched against our people inside Iraq. He obviously was heavily involved, right now, in supporting an effort by Hezbollah to try to topple the government in Lebanon. This is a bad actor, and until he changes his behavior he should not be rewarded about visits by the speaker of the House of Representatives.
==============
They're not American patriots as they claim....they're TRAITORS to our Nation.
Traitors.
On sure.... now an article showing how they supposedly ONLY gave the administrations side.....then they really didn't need to BOTHER if that were true.
Honest citizens KNOW better than to believe that BS.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"While the democratic party complains about everything THIS President does to protect our Nation": "What would a Democrat president have done at that point?"
"Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack."
Ann Coulter
[ edited by Linda_K on Apr 6, 2007 11:07 AM ]
posted on April 6, 2007 11:12:56 AM
Haha! linduhmouse, keep trying but the TRUTH is...
The REAL problem is that the bushits want desperately to slaughter and maim more Americans in wars with Iran and Syria.
If Pelosi or anyone else starts something that may stop war and SAVE American lives...the neocons and repugs will have a hissy fit....you know they won't be happy unless some OTHER American is getting blown to bits....
The bushits are neanderthal chest beatig trouble making bullies who think because there's a few sheep left like linduh they can still control the world....too bad !
They can't...they can't even control their own war or the money they poured into it!
Are YOU a Bunghole?