Letters to the Editor
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-- Armagednoutahere
Maybe some white women will go missing every month in the run-up to the election and then turn up eaten by sharks. Then we can avoid the 24/7 campaign Kabuki theatre.
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State Dept Spokesman Sean McCormack: We Briefed Pelosi For Syria
From the US State Department Daily Press Briefing
Monday, April 02, 2007:
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2007/apr/82547.htm
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QUESTION: Can I ask a question about Speaker Pelosi's visit?
MR. MCCORMACK: Sure.
QUESTION: Has she -- is she -- and the political delegation -- are they carrying any messages from the State Department to -- on her trip to the Middle East and especially to the Syrian leadership?
MR. MCCORMACK: Right. No, no messages in the sense that this was a trip that was encouraged by the Executive Branch of the government. But we did -- once Speaker Pelosi had made the decision that she was going to be going to Syria, we did sit down and had a briefing with her. We explained where we were in our policy vis-à-vis Syria and we encouraged Speaker Pelosi, as we have with other congressional delegations that have gone to Syria, to send a tough message to the Syrian Government that they need to change their behavior, that their behavior on a variety of different fronts in the Middle East is completely unacceptable and 180 degrees off from where we hope the rest of the region is going to be headed.
So that is what we would encourage her to say when she meets with Syrian officials. What message at the end of the day she decides to convey to the Syrian officials, of course, is going to be up to her.
QUESTION: Can you tell us who briefed Speaker Pelosi?
MR. MCCORMACK: I think it was Jim Jeffrey. He's our -- the Principal Deputy in our Near Eastern Bureau.
QUESTION: Did Mr. Jeffrey brief the Republican congressman that went as well?
MR. MCCORMACK: I don't know. We do have -- we at least offer briefings to the congressional delegations who go out to the region and in particular to Syria.
QUESTION: Is there a reason why the White House and the State Department highlighted that Speaker Pelosi's trip was a bad idea, but there are also Republican congressman doing the same thing and we didn't hear anything about that last week? Is it simply not being asked about it or --
MR. MCCORMACK: A few things. One, first of all, we were asked about it here at the State Department. The second thing is, you know, you have the third -- the person second in line to the presidency, third highest-ranking elected official in the national -- elected official in the United States. So of course that raises the profile of the visit there and, frankly, we think, sends the wrong signal because in the past the Syrian Government has just used high-level visitors as a way of pointing -- trying to point out to the world that, look, there's no problem with our behavior; see, we're receiving high-level visitors in Damascus.
The other thing is I would point out a few months ago when Senator Specter decided to travel to Syria, we talked quite openly and in public about the fact that we didn't think it was a good idea for him to go there. Nonetheless, he decided to go there and we offered the same kind of support to him as we are offering to Speaker Pelosi as well as other congressional delegations that decide to go to Syria.
QUESTION: It seems a bit confusing though if you're saying that she's sending the wrong signal, yet you're sitting down with her and briefing her and, you know, giving her some guidance as to what --
MR. MCCORMACK: Well, I think it works -- I think it's important for everybody. I think it's to the benefit of not only the Executive Branch but the Congressional Branch to have an understanding, a solid understanding, of what our policies are and what our most recent interactions have been with the Syrian Government. I think that that is useful information for us to convey and for congressional delegations to receive. It's also a matter of courtesy, just as it is a matter of courtesy that we would extend support to visiting congressional delegations when they visit foreign countries as well as Syria.
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Logan's Run
Give me a break with the Pelosi Logan Act routine.
You don't hear me calling for Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, et al to be tried at the Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity under international law and for impeachment here in the States, do you? Well?
There's a very good reason why I don't. We don't have a supermajority in Congress. Otherwise, I would.
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Media Bias
I posted about this issue awhile back (when Glenn was still on Blogspot). Although no theory can explain every single story that makes it out, I think that Chomsky and Herman's propaganda model does a good job of explaining why the media behaves as it does. It, too, has its gaps, however; they curiously avoid any mention of direct dissemination of disinformation by government agencies (e.g., Operation MOCKINGBIRD). The CIA admitted that no fewer than 25 news organizations and 400 journalists became assets over the course of MOCKINGBIRD.
Anyone want to wager that this stopped after the Church Committee disbanded?
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JimC- Defender of Freedom
I believe with all my being that homosexuality is wrong, unnatural, immoral, and perverted. When I see homosexual people proudly displaying their “gayness” it feels painful to me. To me, it feels like a part of the America we once were, is being lost, it feels like the family values of the founders of this country are being destroyed and twisted. I feel as if my children’s purity is under attack. That by being forced to accept alternative lifestyles, I cannot teach my children what I believe to be right and wrong.
Here's some more of JimC's wisdom taken from his website. Pretty much speaks for itself.
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JimC
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/30/pelosi.trip/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
Not sure why WSJ etc. missed this inconvenient fact, or did they ignore it?