Pelosi not brightest bulb in the hall

Quote: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.

Obviously Nancy is out of her league when it comes to foreign policy. This is the kind of over reaching that could see her tenure as speaker be very short lived.

Quote:But Ms. Pelosi's attempt to establish a shadow presidency is not only counterproductive, it is foolish.

Indeed.

check out what the Syrian Refrom party on it, they are peeved at Pelosi...

http://www.reformsyria.org/index.php?opt...&Itemid=66

Quote:Has Pelosi Gone Bonkers?
Farid Ghadry
Apr 04, 2007 at 07:23 AM
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was seen roaming the streets of Damascus flaunting a Hijab. The Hijab worn by women across the Muslim world has come to symbolize either one of three things: 1) a symbol that men control women by forcing piety, or 2) a return to religiosity because of oppressive rulers, or 3) a fashion statement. If you ask any expert on the Middle East, you would get any one of three answers. The ones who usually claim it is a fashion statement are the political rulers who usually oppress people in general. A Hijab is NOT a confirmation of the rights of women in the Middle East but rather a symbol of their suppression.

As a Muslim, I fully understand respect of our religion by visiting US officials and I applaud that respect. Had Speaker Pelosi worn the Hijab inside a Mosque, this would have indicated respect but for Pelosi to wear it on the streets of Damascus all the while she is sitting with the self-imposed Baschar al-Assad who has come to symbolize oppression and one of the reasons why women are forced to wear the Hijab as they turn to religion to express their freedom is a statement of submittal not only to oppression but also to lack of women's rights in the Middle East. Pelosi just reversed the work of the Syrian civil society and those who aspire for women's freedom in the Muslim countries many years back with her visual statement. Her lack of experience of the Middle East is showing.

Assad could not have been happier because Syrian women, seeing a US official confirming what their husbands, the Imams in the Mosques tell them, and the society at large imposes on them through peer pressure will see in her wearing a Hijab as a confirmation of the societal pressures they are constantly under. No one will ever know how many women took the Hijab on after seeing Pelosi wearing it. The damage Speaker Pelosi is causing with her visit to Syria will be felt for many years to come.

every supposed "feminist" group in the US should be fwd the above. But then they'd probably look the other way like they did with Clinton and confirm they aren't real feminist.

She certainly is within her right to participate in diplomacy, but she had better know what she's doing.

Bourgeois_Rage Wrote:She certainly is within her right to participate in diplomacy, but she had better know what she's doing.

Here's where I disagree somewhat.

The president runs the foreign policy of this country, always has. There is a very good reason why foreign policy is not a power the constitution grants congress. Most are not qualified, and of those that are, they lack the knowledge to be effective.

Visiting countries, glad handing heads of state etc. are fine. But they have no business participating in diplomacy IMO. Nancy is proof positive of that.

she doesn't have any constitutional power to do Unilateral foreign policy if I'm not mistaken......an argument can be made for use of the Logan Act here.

the pics of her in a Hijab are priceless, the campaign commercials to come practically write themselves.

GGniner Wrote:the pics of her in a Hijab are priceless, the campaign commercials to come practically write themselves.

If you have any, post them. I'd love to see them.

blah Wrote:

GGniner Wrote:the pics of her in a Hijab are priceless, the campaign commercials to come practically write themselves.

If you have any, post them. I'd love to see them.

and then this one, while looking at a tomb that supposedly has John the baptist head in it.

Ninerfan1 Wrote:The president runs the foreign policy of this country, always has. There is a very good reason why foreign policy is not a power the constitution grants congress. Most are not qualified, and of those that are, they lack the knowledge to be effective.

Visiting countries, glad handing heads of state etc. are fine. But they have no business participating in diplomacy IMO. Nancy is proof positive of that.

Agreed, any diplomacy should be within the realm of the overall foreign policy, which the president is the chief architect. Going behind his back sends mixed signals and will only lead to confusion and people not taking the president seriously. The House and the Senate both have committees that deal with foreign affairs, but they need to come to a unified solution, not just up and making up policy on the fly.

I'm not sure who advise Pelosi to do this, but it looks like a silly idea.

Bourgeois_Rage Wrote:Agreed, any diplomacy should be within the realm of the overall foreign policy, which the president is the chief architect. Going behind his back sends mixed signals and will only lead to confusion and people not taking the president seriously. The House and the Senate both have committees that deal with foreign affairs, but they need to come to a unified solution, not just up and making up policy on the fly.

I'm not sure who advise Pelosi to do this, but it looks like a silly idea.

Agree BR.

As far as who advised her to do it I wouldn't be shocked if she did it on her own. The screw up she made seemed to only be done by her, so she may not have been either A) seeking advice or B) ignoring what she got. It's not out of the question to me that she did this on purpose to try and make herself look good, but wasn't informed enough to understand just how bad she'd actually look.

Well, all I know is that she ought to fire whoever suggested it, or didn't make an attempt to stop her from making a fool of herself. Many dems are probably getting sick over what appears to be blatant idiocy.

GGniner Wrote:

blah Wrote:

GGniner Wrote:the pics of her in a Hijab are priceless, the campaign commercials to come practically write themselves.

If you have any, post them. I'd love to see them.

and then this one, while looking at a tomb that supposedly has John the baptist head in it.

Laura Bush



Condi

Yeah, I heard on the radio that "Bush has not only lost control of his own party, Democrats now openly defy him."

I suspect that he delights in this, knowing how it's likely to turn out.

The political left arrogantly believes the rest of the world acts and thinks like they do...when in fact it's almost the complete opposite.

USA Today: Peolsi Out of Bounds

USA Today gets into the act on Nancy.