Thank you for your tireless devotion to our country.

Bill
Decatur, GA

“In a statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Damascus,” the three Republican congressmen visiting Syria “said they had talked about ‘ending support for Hezbollah and Hamas, recognizing Israel’s right to exist in peace and security, and ceasing interference in Lebanon.’ ‘We came because we believe there is an opportunity for dialogue,’ the statement said. ‘We are following in the lead of Ronald Reagan, who reached out to the Soviets during the Cold War,’ it added.” April 3, 2007

And there are so many other examples of how ludicrous your CNN’s programming has been.

In 1997, Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) led a delegation to Colombia at a time when U.S. officials were trying to attach human rights conditions to U.S. security assistance programs. Hastert specifically encouraged Colombian military officials to “bypass” President Clinton and “communicate directly with Congress.”

…a congressional delegation led by Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) which met with Colombian military officials, promising to “remove conditions on assistance” and complaining about “leftist-dominated” U.S. congresses of years past that “used human rights as an excuse to aid the left in other countries.” Hastert said he would to correct this situation and expedite aid to countries allied in the war on drugs and also encouraged Colombian military officials to “bypass the U.S. executive branch and communicate directly with Congress.”

Subsequently, U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Myles Frechette sent a cable complaining that Hastert’s actions had undermined his leverage with the Colombian military leadership.

In other instances, Hastert actually guided congressional staff to unilaterally reach deals with Colombian officials:

House Foreign Affairs Committee staff, at the direction of the Hastert group, would fly to Colombia, meet with the nation’s anti-narcotics police and negotiate the levels and terms of assistance, the scope of the program and the kinds of equipment that would be needed. Rarely were the U.S. diplomatic personnel in our embassy in Bogata consulted about the “U.S.” position in these negotiations, and in a number of instances they were excluded from or not even made aware of the meetings.

And what about this!?!?…

New York Times, March 31, 1997 — reporting on a trip to China by House Speaker Newt Gingrich, one week after Vice President Al Gore’s trip:

Speaking with startling bluntness on an issue so delicate that diplomats have tiptoed around it for years, Newt Gingrich said today that he had warned China’s top leaders that the United States would intervene militarily if Taiwan was attacked.

As he left for Tokyo after a three-day trip to China, Mr. Gingrich said he had made it absolutely clear how the United States would respond if such a military conflict arose.

Referring to his meetings with China’s leaders, Mr. Gingrich said: ”I said firmly, ‘We want you to understand, we will defend Taiwan. Period.’”

He also said, ”I think that they are more aware now that we would defend Taiwan if it were militarily attacked.”

Mr. Gingrich, the Speaker of the House, delivered his message, among the most forceful ever given about Taiwan by a visiting United States official, to Wang Daohan, China’s chief representative in talks with Taiwan. Mr. Gingrich said he had given the same message to President Jiang Zemin and Prime Minister Li Peng in Beijing last week.

Chinese leaders offered no public response to Mr. Gingrich today. But on Friday, Mr. Jiang urged him to treat the Taiwan issue with care. . . .

Asked about Mr. Gingrich’s statements, a Clinton Administration official in Washington said Mr. Gingrich had received briefings about American policy toward China, but that Mr. Gingrich ”was speaking for himself” in his conversations with Chinese leaders.

The White House issued a statement saying that the policy of the United States was to ”meet its obligation under the Taiwan Relations Act, including the maintenance of an adequate self-defense for Taiwan,” and that the Administration would maintain its ”one-China policy, the fundamental bedrock of which is that both parties peacefully address the Taiwan issue. . . .”

In an interview on Friday, Mr. Gingrich said he had spoken with Mr. Clinton, and with Mr. Gore on several occasions, to make sure that their messages to Beijing dovetailed. At the time, he did not mention his message on Taiwan.

Several days later, Gingrich’s remarks in China led to this — New York Times, April 4, 1997:
China admonished the United States today to speak with one voice on foreign policy and accused Newt Gingrich of making ”improper” statements on Washington’s commitment to defend Taiwan from any military attack by the mainland.

The criticism was made by the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Shen Guofang, who earlier this week had expressed basic satisfaction with remarks made by Mr. Gingrich, the Speaker of the House, during a three-day visit to China.

The visit followed Vice President Al Gore’s first trip to Beijing. Both men spoke on issues of contention between Washington and Beijing, but Mr. Gingrich’s remarks were noteworthy for their directness and for exceeding the normal State Department formulations on American commitments to Taiwan.

China’s decision to criticize Mr. Gingrich came after he traveled to Taiwan on Wednesday and met with President Lee Teng-hui.

Back then, the media treated Gingrich like he was the American Prime Minister, and his right-wing supporters had no problem with the House Speaker travelling and expressing his own foreign policy views which deviated from the Clinton administration’s. Quite the contrary, many right-wing leaders — including Grover Norquist, Ralph Reed, and Vin Weber — went on PBS and praised Gingrich’s “aggressive role in China.”

They couldn’t have been more pleased that Gingrich did what, in their minds, the Clinton administration was failing to do — standing up to the Chinese. Gingrich, as House Speaker, was heroic for going on his own and doing that. The same behavior from Pelosi (which I’m sure is, in actuality, completely different for all sorts of unknown and indiscernible reasons) is now both a grave political mistake and a reckless breach of protocol.

The hypocrisy knows no end!!! CNN is obligated to fix the incredible damage it has caused with it’s utterly irresponsible ‘coverage’ of Nancy Pelosi’s trip to the Middle East.

Flaming Mad for Every Good Reason,
Joey
LA area

“In a statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Damascus,” the three Republican congressmen visiting Syria “said they had talked about ‘ending support for Hezbollah and Hamas, recognizing Israel’s right to exist in peace and security, and ceasing interference in Lebanon.’ ‘We came because we believe there is an opportunity for dialogue,’ the statement said. ‘We are following in the lead of Ronald Reagan, who reached out to the Soviets during the Cold War,’ it added.” April 3, 2007

All I can really say to you because of your recent beligerant hackery in assaulting Pelosi and Ignoring the Republicans in Syria- is Piss Off.

Michael Ware, John King and a few of the others over there deserve an organization and colleagues with more integrity than the putrid that is being put forth. I wish Michael Ware and John King and a few others were on a different network, because due to this recent slogging pitiful juvenile hackery I will refuse to watch your network. What the hell is the matter with you?! A two-year-old would be disgusted by the level of indecency you’re displaying. How many examples of the hipocracy and idiocy of this assault on Nancy Pelosi can there be, and you guys still just act like you’re in some fantasy land. Whatever. As I said before, all who are responsible for this, piss off. And no, the controversy will not cause me to watch, I will not be watching.

Joey
LA area

Your son sounds like a great kid. It’s nice to see a father and son so close.

it doesn’t have to be rare… it sounds sexist and you need to change that…
he WILL hug you in high school, even, and especially, in front of his friends, because it IS cool… it’s up to YOU to make sure of it…
it IS cool, jpark… don’t stigmatize it… there’s no shame…
stay sweet…

g’nite…