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.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/04/hastert-colombia

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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.”

http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB69/part3.html#doc54

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President Clinton and his DoD were apparently in agreement with [de facto authorized] Hastert… Ambassador Frechette’s complaints as mischaracterized by “Think Progress” notwithstanding.

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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

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…

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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….