Pelosi Helps Syria, Hurts U.S.
Now is as good a time as any to review the decision by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to take it upon herself to directly interfere in matters that are not the domain of the House Speaker. There are plenty of documents available on the internet at various locations indicating that this is the case. There are also docs indicating that from time to time other officials have engaged in these activities, some with the approval of the President and some not. In addition there is some evidence that no one has ever been convicted under the Logan Act and not even the person for whom it is named suffered any such loss.
It is however interesting that in 1979/80 the United States Congress introduced a resolution in the House, H Res 704, and one in the Senate, S Res 456, on just this matter. Also interesting are some of the names of sponsors and co-sponsors of the resolutions. Familiar names like Bob Dornan, Dick Cheney, Newt Gingrich, Chuck Grassley, Bob Dole, Pete Domenici, Orrin Hatch, Richard Lugar, Ted Stevens John Warner and a host of others. This took place near the Iran Hostage Crisis. It is specifically connected to the Logan Act, which prohibits the actions like Speaker Pelosi’s, and was enacted in 1799. So it is not like this has not been viewed as bad behavior of perilous potential and something that goes against common sense.
Even with that the post below indicates that Pelosi and her group may not be intelligent enough or will intentionally take risks with this country’s future for political gain. Rahall states the President did not object to their trip. Perhaps they left out some of the plan details. Pelosi should be smart enough to be aware of the history on such matters and know this is a bad idea. There is no excuse for making this large an error so it can only be that Nancy Pelosi will do anything to advance her agenda. That agenda is ill-conceived, careless and not in the best interest of the United States. If the first woman Speaker of the House wishes to make history, perhaps the government should make her the first case ever prosecuted under the Logan Act.
Rahall: Pelosi Personally Told Bush Of Syria Trip And He Did Not Object
Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV), who traveled last week with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as part of her delegation to the Middle East, said this morning on C-Span that Pelosi told Bush of the trip to Syria a day before they left, and Bush did not object.
Rahall said, “The Speaker had met with President Bush in the halls of the U.S. Capitol just the day before we left and mentioned to him that we were going to Syria. No response at all from the President.”
The following article excerpt may shed some light on two things. It contradicts the claim made by Rahall, above, and offers more support of Pelosi’s lack of preparation for her plans or lack of intelligence or both. Trying to convince anyone that undermining a sitting President is somehow good makes her look like a cat scratching in a sandbox. Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe makes sense compared to Pelosi’s excuse to cover her mistake.
(AP) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, deflecting White House criticism of her trip to Syria, said Friday she thinks the
mission helped President Bush because it showed the U.S. is unified against terrorism despite being divided over Iraq.Pelosi, D-Calif., met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus this week against Bush’s wishes.
“Our message was President Bush’s message,” Pelosi said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from Portugal, where she stopped briefly en route back to the United States.
“The funny thing is, I think we may have even had a more powerful impact with our message because of the attention that was called to our trip,” she said. “It became clear to President Assad that even though we have our differences in the United States, there is no division between the president and the Congress and the Democrats on the message we wanted him to receive.”
Last paragraph of the article above is another case in point for measuring Pelosi’s intelligence. If she isn’t smart enough to not use a phrase like ‘the funny thing is’ when discussing this subject or has not staff to assist her in thinking, the only logical conclusion is the arrogance to do as she pleases regardless of consequence. Either way it is a dangerous proposition for someone in her position. Someone should stop her before she goes to far. But that would be asking too much of the cut and run crowd who have earned their name. Even Senator Sam Levin is beginning to withdraw from that strategy. (pun intended)
Stanford Matthews
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