Now we know why Pelosi was wearing that head scarf in Damascus yesterday. It wasn’t in deference to Muslim tradition. It was to keep her brains from dribbling out of her ears:
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.”
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.
Obviously, she should have tied the scarf a little tighter given the copious amounts of gray matter that must have oozed out during her visit to the Middle East. Or perhaps she should have used a tin foil hat:
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.
Anyone who believes any “assurances” from that murderous thug Assad obviously needs some additional Reynolds Wrap on their tin foil beanie to deflect all the rays marked “stupid” from penetrating their skull.
Assad has given Lebanon all sorts of “assurances” that he will respect their independence and not assassinate their citizens on a regular basis. The killing of the beloved Pierre Gemayal last November would seem to give the lie to the latter. And as for the former, Assad is working closely with his Hizbullah allies to bring about a return of Syrian domination of the tiny country.
Hey! But he’s talking to a liberal Democrat so he must be telling the truth, right? Because our Nancy is so good, so pure in motive, so…so…EARNEST, she can charm the hair off of an orangutan . And the fact that both Assad and Pelosi hate Bush with a passion probably gave them a lot of common ground to reflect upon.
Someone get Matt Stoller an oxygen mask. This breathless paean to Pelosi is so off the mark that it should be listed under “wishful thinking” rather than any kind of serious analysis:
Pelosi, in going to Syria, and in telling Bush to calm down, is looking much more like a President than Bush is. Bush is even having his role as commander-in-chief challenged, by both his own ineptitude and the public’s willingness to strip him of power. By default, that power is slowly bleeding over to Pelosi, Reid, and whichever member of Congress is leading that day and filling the massive void Bush has left. This is not an ideal scenario, but it’s the one that Bush set himself up for when he refused to acknowledge the results of the 2006 elections and what that meant for his method of governance.He may hold the constitutional office, but he is less and less the President every day. He can still do a lot of damage, but we are increasingly going to see leaders like Pelosi in positions of authority. Power abhors a vacuum, which is why Pelosi looks like a President today.
Bush may not be able to set the agenda anymore. But to doubt the power of the veto pen is stupid. And by his own admission, Bush can still “start wars” – a not inconsequential power that would bolster his standing among Americans (at least temporarily) if the President were to be dumb enough to attack Iran; something I don’t think is in the cards for the foreseeable future.
And as far as Bush’s powers as commander in chief being “stripped,” perhaps Mr. Stoller might offer an example other than the sure to be vetoed war spending bill which also is a rock solid certainty of the veto being upheld. And any attempt to cut off funds for Iraq entirely will result in a smashing, humiliating defeat for the Democrats. So unless we have some other example of Bush losing his power as Commander in Chief, perhaps Stoller should just put a sock in it.
The Washington Post also wonders where Pelosi’s brains have gone:
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.
The Post is too kind. Why is this so surprising? The Democrats have sought to undermine this President’s foreign policy almost from day one. They have ridiculed his support of democratic reforms in the Middle East. They have undercut his authority by making the wildest, most baseless charges about why we are fighting in Iraq. They have gone to tremendous lengths to even question his legitimacy by constantly posing the most outrageous conspiracy theories about “stolen elections” – despite the fact that independent forums have confirmed the President’s victory in 2000 and only the looniest of Democrats actually believe that the 2004 election was won by Kerry.
There is much to criticize in the Bush presidency – a lackadaisical attitude toward important issues, cronyism (which certainly leads to questions of competence), an overarching drive to politicize government, and a reliance on loyalty as a determining factor in personnel decisions – to name a few.
But Pelosi’s performance in Syria – played to the hilt by the Syrian press who didn’t mention any of Pelosi’s traveling companions or any of the Republican lawmakers who also visited Assad – proves that she is a not ready for prime time national leader. Her egregious error in misinterpreting Prime Minister Olmert’s “message” and her jaw dropping myopia about Assad’s “assurances” brand her as an amateur’s amateur.
As long as she’s wearing the scarf, perhaps we should tell her to “Get Thee to a Nunnery.” Anything would be better than the disaster she’s already perpetrated and the confusion she’s already sown.
UPDATE
The normally placid Ed Morrissey has some tough words for the Democrats:
The Democrats, led by Pelosi, have tried to undermine Bush for years. Now that they have the majority in Congress, they can give full vent to their schemes. The efforts of the past couple of months show that the Democrats want to turn the Constitution upside down, strip the executive branch of its power, and make Congress the supreme power in the American system.
Well, sorry, but that’s the British system. Perhaps Pelosi would be more comfortable there or in Canada, but here in the US, the elected President has all of the Constitutional authority to conduct foreign policy and command the military. That remains true even when Congress dislikes the policies in both areas. If the Democrats want a new foreign policy, then let them nominate someone who can articulate one that the American people support, and stop nominating appeasers and vacillators.
8:49 am
I don’t see a lot of content to Morrissey’s statement. For all the blather about the Constitution, there’s no legal prohibition of Pelosi’s conduct.
8:49 am
Mrs. Pelosi Goes To Damascus…
Rick Moran has uncovered the real purpose of The Pelosi’s Head Scarf!...
9:49 am
Not since April Gillespie warbled to Saddam Hussein (“Oh Mr. Saddam, uou’re so big and strong!”) has a spectacle such as the Frum/Pelosi’s occasioned such raucous merriment among Mideast thugocrats.
U.S. “strength and unity” as displayed by this blind partisan? In Robert’s Rules of Order, Parliamentary Speakers serve to represent legislative chambers as a whole, ensuring respect for minority constituents as a condition of joint powers (recall John Hancock during the Independance vote in “1776”).
Frum/Pelosi is a hack, most likely ignorant that Robert’s Rules exist. The idea that such a clueless little twerp presumes to violate separation-of-powers by treating with America’s declared enemies during Congressionally approved regional hostilities would be like Sam Rayburn visiting Mao T’se-tung in Peking as Eisenhower was preparing a Korean Armistice. This would be inconceivable to Speaker Sam, tough-as-nails but fair, respectful of Constitutional perogatives, above all an American patriot (“politics stops at the water’s edge”).
Not only does Mde. Frum/Pelosi disgrace her Parliamentary office, but in her pork-ignorance and narcissistic foolishness, anti-Semitic and even racist to the core, her intentions are transparently dishonorable. Our Speaker of the House advocates, fosters, strives by every means to encompass America’s defeat.
For what? After Vietnam, boat-people and Khmer Rouge victims perished by the million. How Brezhinski can assert “It didn’t happen” reveals a Carteresque/McGovernite mindset so radically delusional that one wonders what “will not happen” should American forces seize defeat from jaws of victory this time around.
Millions murdered, barbaric Islamofascists emboldened,nuclear
threats emanating from regimes not worth a dogpile of respect… Frum/Pelosi with her Zbig enablers just can’t wait. Whether the burqa fits or not, Madame, you’ll just die wearing it.
10:26 am
Web Reconnaissance for 04/05/2007…
A short recon of whatÂ’s out there that might draw your attention….
12:14 pm
Excerpted and linked at Dhimmicratic leadership—Take 3/"Take Nancy. Please."
12:34 pm
Whhoooeee! Them thar Demmicrats shore are stoopid. They want Amerikee to be beat by them thar terror boys because, well, I ain’t shore how’s come they want to surrender, but that is what they is a doin! Thank God fur President Bush, otherwise Saddam would be a goosesteppin down Constitution Avenoo in Warshington right now and a droppin newks on Alabamer. You tell em, boys! That thar Nancy Pewloosy is dummer than a rock! She hates Amerikee like all them thar libruls doo. And boy howdy, I shore am glad Preident Bush admidded that he has the power to start wars without no stinkin Congress. Newk Iran, thats what we need. Yaahhoooo! (Satire off)
1:04 pm
Pelosi: Counterproductive and Foolish…
She has learned nothing. They have learned nothing. Bottomline, this is why they are rarely trusted with our national security and why their pitiful attempts at diplomacy have usually blown right up in there faces….
1:31 pm
Nancy Pelosi is a conniving idiot without brains, a serial eff-up with a lot of Italian chutzpah. Stick-insect boy-Assad is a corrupt liar and the thuggish murderer of Rafiq Hariri of Lebanon.
Plus the dodo from the City on the Bay misrepresents Israel’s position. But no one except delusional agit-preppies take her seriously.
The Democrats are incapable of running a foreign policy and should be kept from the Oval Office. Jimmy Carter is the biggest proof of this, but Clinton ain’t far behind, as Sandy Berger tried to cover up with his botched document destruction. Clinton has a lot to hide.
1:42 pm
An afterthought. The reason Pelosi ditched Jane Harmon on the House Intell Cte was that Jane had fifty IQ points on the paisana gramma. Ditto her dislike of Steny Hoyer.
Pelosi likes Murtha so much cuz this Irish drunk [I’s a recovering one!] is even dumber than she is, talking about stationing the Central Command troops offshore in Okinawa! Where the dementia-tremens afflicted Solon thought they would be welcome. Of course, the people of Okinawa have wanted US forces to leave for decades, but no one told military expert Murtha about that! Plus it’s 5000 miles away, but the MSM wouldn’t note such a stuck-on-stupid remark—-their BDS is almost as big as Pelosi/Murtha.
Gresham’s Law works overtime in the Dem caucus and the Dem leadership is truly in a race to the bottom.
1:58 pm
[...] Right Truth with “Pelosi makes two goofs, a lie and a scarf”Captain’s Quarters with “Pelosi’s Pratfall”.Blue Crab Boulevard with “The Rise and (Prat) Fall of Nancy Pelosi”Gateway Pundit with ” Speaker Pelosi Lambasted By Israel For Her Diplomatic Disaster.”Right Wing News with Pelosi’s Trip To Syria And “The Peter Principle”RightWing NutHouse with “NANCY PELOSI, PEACEMAKER OR KLUTZ?”Austin Bay Blog with “Secretary of State Nancy Pelosi’s Muddle Diplomacy.QandO with “God save us from meddling amateurs.”Betsy’s Page with “Congressmen and women shouldn’t conduct their own shuttle diplomacy.”Macsmind with “Jihad Nancy’s Fumble.”Confederate Yankee with “Return to Sender”Roger L. Simon with “Nancy the Shopper in Damascus” [...]
3:12 pm
John Blake,
It is interesting that you would bring up Roberts Rules of Order and critize Speaker Pelosi as you did in your little number. After watching how the Republicans ran House for the past five years and treated the “minority party” with such respect, I am not sure you are a grown up that can even be somewhat objective. Between Speaker Hastard and even more so, Tom DeLay, the Democratic members of this body were treated worse than the proverbial step child. And you criticism of the “pork-ignorance and narcissistic foolishess, etc”, I have to ask: Where have you been for the past almost six years? In a coma? Or is it you only see injustice when you perceive to be on the receiving end of it? If you really want to see “radically delusional” I suggest you look into the mirror – as you are radically dishonest as well. It is people like you that continue to keep this country divided – and you like that.
By the way, you might also want to check out the pictures of Mrs. Laura Bush, Secretary Rice, Karen Hughes and other White House Republican women who have donned the scarf while visiting countries in the Middle East – as well as the Vatican. You are such a phony! And you will note that I did not take myself to your low level and call these women names (childish behavior).
6:02 pm
Thursday Cocktail Hour Links…
The Pelosi Fiasco. It is almost painful to watch people when they are in over their heads. Good commentary from Rick Moran, Riehl, Dino with the WaPo editorial. This groveling photo should doom her – but will it?The Etruscans were from Lydia, says DNA….
6:04 pm
U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts and two other Republican congressmen did not undermine the Bush administration by meeting with Syria’s leader Sunday, despite going to Damascus against the president’s wishes, Pitts said Wednesday…
Pitts and U.S. Reps. Frank Wolfe of Virginia and Robert Aderholt of Alabama met with Assad Sunday to talk about issues in the Middle East three days before Pelosi’s delegation arrived there on a similar mission.
“Dialogue is not a sign of weakness,” Pitts said after returning home Wednesday. “It’s a sign of strength.”
Pitts said the congressional Republicans’ meeting with Assad did not undermine Bush because they emphasized the same policies the president advocates.
“The first thing we said was…to appeal to the Syrian government to stop the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq with (explosives) and killing our soldiers in Iraq,” Pitts said…
Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said the Speaker’s seven-member delegation — six Democrats and one Republican — delivered a similar message Wednesday.
6:33 pm
Gosh, if only the wingnuts out there could get as worked up about the Iraqi fiasco as the do about Pelosi ….
Alas, it is not to be.
So it’s ok to hand Iraq over to Iran, as Bush has done, but it’s not ok for Pelosi to take a trip to the Middle East.
Now I understand.
11:56 pm
Ten Years Ago:
Speaking with startling bluntness on an issue so delicate that diplomats have tiptoed around it for years, Newt Gingrich said today that he had warned China’s top leaders that the United States would intervene militarily if Taiwan was attacked.
As he left for Tokyo after a three-day trip to China, Mr. Gingrich said he had made it absolutely clear how the United States would respond if such a military conflict arose.
Referring to his meetings with China’s leaders, Mr. Gingrich said: ‘’I said firmly, ‘We want you to understand, we will defend Taiwan. Period.’”
He also said, ‘’I think that they are more aware now that we would defend Taiwan if it were militarily attacked.’’
Mr. Gingrich, the Speaker of the House, delivered his message, among the most forceful ever given about Taiwan by a visiting United States official, to Wang Daohan, China’s chief representative in talks with Taiwan. Mr. Gingrich said he had given the same message to President Jiang Zemin and Prime Minister Li Peng in Beijing last week.
Chinese leaders offered no public response to Mr. Gingrich today. But on Friday, Mr. Jiang urged him to treat the Taiwan issue with care. . . .
Asked about Mr. Gingrich’s statements, a Clinton Administration official in Washington said Mr. Gingrich had received briefings about American policy toward China, but that Mr. Gingrich ‘’was speaking for himself’’ in his conversations with Chinese leaders.
The White House issued a statement saying that the policy of the United States was to ‘’meet its obligation under the Taiwan Relations Act, including the maintenance of an adequate self-defense for Taiwan,’’ and that the Administration would maintain its ‘’one-China policy, the fundamental bedrock of which is that both parties peacefully address the Taiwan issue. . . .”
In an interview on Friday, Mr. Gingrich said he had spoken with Mr. Clinton, and with Mr. Gore on several occasions, to make sure that their messages to Beijing dovetailed. At the time, he did not mention his message on Taiwan.
4:19 pm
Rick,
Ms Peolsi’s actions were neither improper or unethical. It appears you were savoring this opportunity to tear her down. The problem is that none of what was written by WaPo or the WSJ was accurate. In fact, it looks like a garden variety hit job. Your own Chicago Tribune shot down the articles in question about her conduct there.
You are a fair person in general. Will you be offering any retractions or do you stand by your words because I am missing something?
4:35 pm
I could find nothing in the Trib that “shot down” any criticisms levelled at Pelosi, including her apparent gaffe in relaying an inaccurate message from Olmert to Assad.
There will be no retractions for criticizing the ranking Democrat in the country from giving any kind of legitimacy to this thug who, in a couple of months time when the evidence starts pouring into the open from the International Tribunal on Hariri’s death that shows this man personally ordered the killings of Lebanese citizens, the world will howl in disgust and Pelosi’s trip will be seen for the rank opportunism it was.
4:32 pm
Reactions to pelosi…
Daled Amos writes Now Pelosi is back in the US and claiming what she did helped Bush. Pelosi is too modest—her debacle may very well end up helping the entire Republican Party. Gateway Pundit thinks that Pelosi violated the Logan Act. I don’t doubt i…
6:02 pm
Pelosi’s Hastert Defense.
The following pathetic “Hypocrisy!’ They Cried”* Pelosi defense that now Googles as a nascent Leftist blogswarm:
FLASHBACK: Hastert Traveled Abroad, Told Foreign Leaders Not To Listen To Clinton
“Speaker Pelosi has done nothing to suggest that she intended to speak on behalf of President Bush or the U.S. Government. But her predecessors haven’t been so respectful.
In 1997, Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) led a delegation to Colombia at a time when U.S. officials were trying to attach human rights conditions to U.S. security assistance programs. Hastert specifically encouraged Colombian military officials to “bypass†President Clinton and “communicate directly with Congress.â€
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/04/hastert-colombia
****
There seems zero evidence that either President Clinton, V.P. Gore, or any of the Executive’s inner circle at State or DoD ever complained about Hastert’s negotiations with the Colombians.
In fact:
“Despite the fact that the U.S. and Colombia had yet to come to an agreement regarding human rights and end-use restrictions on such assistance, the Department of Defense in July 1997 sent a shipment of material designated for Colombian security forces under the president’s “emergency drawdown†authority.
Upon learning of the delivery, U.S. Ambassador Myles Frechette sent this cable complaining that the shipment “will undermine Embassy’s efforts to negotiate an End-Use Monitoring (EUM) agreement.â€
http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB69/part3.html#doc54
****
President Clinton and his DoD were apparently in agreement with [de facto authorized] Hastert… Ambassador Frechette’s complaints as mischaracterized by “Think Progress” notwithstanding.
****
Thanks as always, you’re site rocks!
P.S.
‘Hypocrisy!’ He cried: an examination of a favorite charge
By Ramesh Ponnuru
6/20/05
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_11_57/ai_n15634308/print
2:36 pm
[...] Tin Foil Hats – Speaker Pelosi Rick Moran really gets to the nub of the matter: Now we know why Pelosi was wearing that head scarf in Damascus yesterday. It wasn’t in deference to Muslim tradition. It was to keep her brains from dribbling out of her ears [...]