Another shameless lie, Pelosi did NOT have the Bush administration’s support.
Via The Hill
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is pushing back hard against conservative claims that the Republicans’ recent letter to Iranian leaders, which has infuriated the White House amidst delicate nuclear talks, is akin to her 2007 visit to Syria against the wishes of the Bush administration.
The office of the House minority leader issued a scathing statement Wednesday night saying her meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad was part of a bipartisan effort — conducted through the Bush administration — to negotiate a peace deal with Damascus and accusing the Republicans of launching a “desperate” defense of their Iran letter to mask criticisms coming from both sides of the aisle.
“The desperate hyperventilation by Republicans and conservative talkers over the intense, national backlash to this letter has caused them to search for a Democratic equivalent to the dangerous precedent set by 47 Republican Senators,” said Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill. “The fact is, there is simply not one.”[…]
“To those upset about #Iran letter, how did you feel when Pelosi went to Syria in 2007 to meet face to face with Assad, against WH wishes?” Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) tweeted Tuesday.
William Kristol, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard, piled on Wednesday, saying the letter is a “useful statement” and invoking Pelosi’s Syria visit as a precedent.
“Nancy Pelosi went to see Bashar Assad in 2007,” Kristol said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program. “I think that was questionable, but I didn’t criticize her patriotism.”
The 2007 meeting between Assad and then-Speaker Pelosi came as the Bush administration was opposed to direct talks with the Syrian leader, whose support for terrorist groups led to an official policy of diplomatic isolation.[…]
While Pelosi was the most senior U.S. representative, Hammill also noted that she coordinated the visit with support from the administration.
“This visit was organized by the Bush State Department, executed by the Bush Defense Department, and officials from the Bush Administration’s Embassy at the time in Damascus even sat in the meeting with President Assad,” Hammill said. “As Republican Congressman David Hobson said at the time about the delegation’s visit to Syria, ‘I think we actually helped the administration’s position by showing there’s not dissension.’
“The comparison between the Republican Senator letter to Iran and Leader’s Pelosi bipartisan delegation to the Middle East in 2007 does not stand up to any level of scrutiny,” he charged.