CALIFORNIA YANKEE

Pelosi Screws It Up

Even the Philadelphia Inquirer says "Pelosi was nuts to visit with Assad."

The Imperial Speaker was warned by the White House:

"We don't think it's a good idea," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. "This is a country [Syria] that is a state sponsor of terror, one that is trying to disrupt the Siniora government in Lebanon and one that is allowing foreign fighters to flow into Iraq from its borders."

[. . .]

"I'm not sure what she's hoping to accomplish there, I know that Assad probably really loves people to come and have a photo opportunity and have tea with him and have discussions about where they're coming from," Perino said, referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"But we do think it's a really bad idea," she said.

The State Department also warned that Damascus typically used such visits as proof to the rest of the world that nothing was wrong with its policies.

Yesterday the New York Sun reported that Pelosi, helped Syria to escape diplomatic isolation:

"We were very pleased with the reassurances we received from" Mr. Assad "that he was ready to resume the peace process," Ms. Pelosi said yesterday after meeting Mr. Assad. "He was ready to engage in negotiations [for] peace with Israel."

After meeting with Assad, Pelosi said the meeting "enabled us to communicate a message from Prime Minister Olmert that Israel was ready to engage in peace talks as well."

Unfortunately, that is where Pelosi screwed it up. Olmert "clarified" there was no such message for Pelosi to communication to Assad:

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. What was communicated to the U.S. House speaker does not contain any change in the policies of Israel, as was communicated to other foreign leaders.

For "serious and genuine" negotiations to begin, Mr. Olmert added, "Syria must cease its support of terror, cease its sponsoring of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad organizations, refrain from providing weapons to Hezbollah 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 ."

According to United Press International, Pelosi, said she had gone to Syria "in friendship, hope, and determined that the road to Damascus is a road to (Middle East) peace." Too bad Pelosi hasn't noticed, as pointed out by National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe, that road is lined with the victims of Hamas and Hezbollah, victims of terrorists who cross from Syria into Iraq, victims in Lebanon trying to fight for democracy there, and victims in Syria trying for freedom and democracy.

At RedState, RS Insider notes that the Democrats are feeling the heat from the Imperial Speaker's screw up and are mounting a feeble attempt to compare Pelosi's meeting with terrorists' supporters as the equivalent to Speaker Gingrich visiting China in 1997.

Gingrich Wins Minnesota Straw Poll

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich won a straw poll of potential 2008 presidential candidates among Minnesota Republican activists.

Gingrich outpaced second place finisher, Virginia's Senator George Allen, 40 percent to 15 percent.

As the Washington Times correctly points out, straw polls this early are little more than entertainment for political activists and junkies.

The Washington Times credits Gingrich's win on the three major issues currently hurting Republicans -corruption, spending and immigration:

Mr. Gingrich has recently been out in public siding with conservatives. On the Abramoff scandal: "You can't have a corrupt lobbyist unless you have a corrupt member [of Congress]." On spending: House Speaker Dennis Hastert's "recent statement that the Senate [budget] bill is so outrageously too big that the House won't even conference on it was exactly right." On immigration: "The Senate bill is an absolute disaster."

I certainly agree with Gingrich on those three issues.