Syria

While Bush and Republicans were assailing Nancy Pelosi for meeting with Syria last month, did it in fact backfire and prove that Pelosi's approach was the right thing to do? Check out these couple of key paragraphs from CNN:

The Bush administration has shunned Syria, which it considers a state supporter of terrorism, and last month President Bush assailed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for making a trip to Damascus, saying it sent mixed messages to the Syrian government.

But the White House has been under pressure to talk with Syria and Iran, another U.S. opponent in the region.

[SNIP]

In Baghdad, U.S. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said Syria had tightened its borders and reduced the number of foreign insurgents crossing into Iraq -- a chief demand of the United States.

"There has been some movement by the Syrians. ... There has been a reduction in the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq" for more than a month, Caldwell said.

So has this reduction been "for more than a month" or possibly in the last month, since Pelosi made her visit? I would have to go with the later. After all, the administration was going after Pelosi for meeting with Syria and talking about their support of the insurgency in Iraq just a month ago. So either they lied back then, and if you take Caldwell's word for it then that is exactly what they did, or Pelosi made some progress. There is no other answer to that.

Either way you look at it, we once again see that the Republicans put political rhetoric above national security and foreign relations. If they are so scared about Iraq brining them down in 2008, then why didn't they break with Bush on the smear campaign? On top of the further damage they did to themselves, they also proved something else - the Democrats are much stronger on foreign relations, and will put the well being of the nation above politics. That is something the Republican have shown they are incapable of.

Nancy Pelosi goes to Syria and gets branded a traitor and gets accused of "bad behavior" and possibly "criminal activities". The media sure did eat up on this. Now fast forward to today and Condi Rice is heading over to Syria to meet with them:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet Syria's foreign minister in the first high-level talks between the countries in years, a U.S. official said Thursday, and the chief American military spokesman in Iraq said Syria had moved to reduce "the flow of foreign fighters" across its border.

But a substantive meeting between the United States and Iran — another U.S. opponent in the Mideast — appeared less certain. The Iraqi government is pressing for Rice and her Iranian counterpart to meet during the gathering, saying Washington's conflict with the government in Tehran is only fueling Iraq's instability.

"We expect that there will be a discussion between Secretary of State Rice and the Syrian foreign minister about Iraqi security issues," said a senior State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was still being arranged.

Aravosis asks the important question about this:

So does Pelosi get credit for the breakthrough in relations, or is Condi a traitor too?

I believe the media needs to ask this question to everyone who attacked Pelosi for her trip. I would start at the White House. Don't forget to ask Cheney if Condi is now exhibiting "bad behavior".

Well it is about time we get someone on TV telling the truth about the Pelosi Syria trip.

 The Horse's Mouth has more.

On Late Edition, Wolf Blitzer had Arlen Specter and Joe Lieberman discussing Nancy Pelosi's Syria trip. Today we got Specter, a Republican, defending Pelosi's trip, while Lieberman, the man who claims to be a Democrat, bashing Pelosi.

(video just uploaded so it will take a minute)

Lieberman played his usual role as mouth piece for the Bush White House. He even resorted to the old play book tactic of blaming your enemies for 9/11 (that's right - Lieberman thinks Syria was behind 9/11 now). Luckily Wolf Blitzer quickly called him out on that. Specter ended up winning this debate hands down. Specter even pointed to accomplishments the Clinton White House made talking to Syria. Now that is a big change.

Everyone has been blasting Pelosi for going to Syria, but there has been no critisism of Republicans doing the same. Today, Rep Darrell Issa (R-CA) is in Syria meeting with Damascus. Now Boehner is giving the Republican excuse of why Democrats can't go to Syria:

Boehner declined to criticize [fellow Republican Rep. David Hobson] for joining Pelosi, saying her stature gave the visit an imprimatur it didn’t deserve.

“It’s one thing for other members to go,” Boehner said, “but you have to ask yourself, ‘Why is Pelosi going?’ She’s going for one reason and that is to embarrass the president. She is the speaker of the House. She’s giving (the Syrian) government more credit than they deserve. They sponsor terrorism. They have not been at all helpful. I wish she wasn’t there.”

There you got it - the old Republican double standard. Boehner showed his true colors. He believes that Republicans should have the only say in our government and Democrats shouldn't. John Boehner has once again proven his hatred for democracy.