Political Football

Dichotomy – Etymology: Greek dichotomia, from dichotomos
1 : a division into two especially mutually exclusive or contradictory groups or entities

as in — Nancy’s words against her actions create a dichotomy. I guess her statements don’t drive her actions; therefore, I can only believe that she does not mean what she says.

Read today’s Best of the Web

Best of the Web Today – April 2, 2007

By JAMES TARANTO

Pelosi’s Road to Damascus
Before Congress left town last week, the Senate passed a resolution denouncing the Iranian regime “in the strongest possible terms” for its illegal capture and imprisonment of 15 British sailors and marines. The House, however, demurred, because Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn’t want to do anything rash, as the Associated Press reports:

Pelosi’s spokesman Brendan Daly said the speaker was reluctant to weigh in on the incident without knowing that such a message would do more good than harm. Daly said the British government had not asked Congress to try to pressure Tehran.

“The leadership discussed it and agreed that inserting Congress into an international crisis while ongoing would not be helpful,” Daly said.

Pelosi is traveling in the Middle East, where she plans to visit Syria, Israel and the West Bank.

If she doesn’t want to insert Congress into an international crisis, why in the world is she going to Syria, whose regime is waging war against America in Iraq? As Bloomberg reports, the White House advised her against the trip on precisely the same grounds her spokesman cited for avoiding a meaningless resolution:

Pelosi’s outreach to a state sponsor of terrorism is a “really bad idea,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said at a briefing in Washington. “Someone should take a step back and think about the message that it sends and the message that it sends to our allies.”

Bloomberg notes that a group of Republican congressmen also are visiting Syria. It’s not clear whether the White House cares.

But maybe Pelosi won’t make it to Damascus. As blogress Karol Sheinin notes, the Syrian regime has a strict policy of refusing entry to anyone who has visited Israel–as Pelosi did, last week. She probably avoided getting the Israeli stamp in her passport, but we’re sure the Syrians must’ve heard about her visit anyway, since it was in all the papers (well, maybe not the Syrian ones). So, will she get turned back at the airport? Or will the Alawite Entity tacitly recognize Israel, if only for a moment, for whatever propaganda value Pelosi’s visit may yield?

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