Republican hypocrisy on visiting Syria

Three Republican Congressfolk in Syria on a recent visit. I'm sure the wingnut's wrath will descend upon them...Not! Photo from Ya Libnan via Mahablog.)

Recently, the right wing seems ever so eager to display an egregious negative trait: It's either astounding ignorance or flagrant hypocrisy, depending whether they are dumb or evil. I can't always tell which. Witness the recent tantrum they have thrown over Pelosi's trip to Damascus. "TRAITOR!" they shriek. But when Republican congressfolk go there, I guess that's OK, because you don't hear a darn thing from their noise machine. IOKIYAR. It is amazing how the egregious double-standard slows the right-wing slime machine narry a jot. Of course, it could simply be that they don't know Republicans are going to Syria all the time.

John Kerry steps up to defend Pelosi's trip with this post on DailyKos. An excerpt:

If someone asks you about Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Damascus, you might want to start by telling them how many Republicans have traveled to Syria. That Arlen Specter has gone 16 times since 1984. Yes, this Republican outrage is selective. I didn’t hear a whiff of criticism when a Republican Congressional delegation was in Damascus just last weekend. Calculated crocodile tears for political gain – sad but not surprising.

But, even more than that, we need to stand up to this effort to demonize diplomacy. We shouldn’t be surprised that an Administration that treats dialogue as a reward rather than a process would stoop to this. But, as Americans, we need to stand up and demand better from our elected leaders.

As I said in a statement I released during the week, America would be stronger if the White House started listening to Speaker Pelosi, James Baker, and countless others who understand that effective foreign policy requires talking with countries who aren’t our friends. We have the standing as a country to approach any other country from a position of strength; our leaders should have the strength of character to do it.