Thank you Ms. Pelosi

I can’t say that I am a big fan of Nancy Pelosi, and in fact, I can’t say that I know much about her at all. But her recent trip to Syria has just got me beaming. One subtle visit has landed so many slaps across the face of BushCo, no wonder they have gone two steps past apoplectic. Mitt Romney called her trip “a big mistake”, Cheney labeled it “bad behavior”, and longtime neocon nut job Bill Kristol labeled this “a bad day for America, and the Washington Post went so far as to accuse her of trying to establish a shadow presidency. Why are the BushCo loyalists having conniption fits over this trip? I’ll tell you why:

1. By going on this trip despite objections from the White House, this is a strong poke in BushCo’s chest by the Legislative Branch. It is forcefully telling Bush he isn’t a king or a dictator, he isn’t the sole concentration of power in American government, and he can’t boss everybody around.
2. It also shows the world, and especially the Middle East (Iran anyone?) that the United States isn’t totally throwing away diplomacy and dialog just because we had the misfortune to have a hegemonic and ignorant President who believes in marginalization as not just the ultimate but only diplomatic tool.
3. The typical neocon smear tactics were shown to be just as baseless as they’ve always been, as the big furors FOX and others threw over this were shown to be totally hypocritical, as other republican congressmen had visited with Assud and other political leaders in the area both immediately before and after Pelosi’s trip, with no admonitions from the neocons at all. And to go one better, those republicans backed Nancy Pelosi up.

And what does this all add up to? A big fat sign pointing out how far BushCo’s street cred on the American political scene has fallen. Like all bullies, BushCo is merely hot air and image, and all it takes is someone brave enough to point out the Emperor’s new clothes for the wind bag to pop.

This is the first time in literally years that I have felt like our government, in its slow and lumbering way, is beginning a period of self correction. Five years of trauma we’ve suffered under BushCo, and well, we have a lot more correcting to do. Hell, we have most of the Bill Of Rights to get back, but man, thank you Ms. Pelosi for taking a high profile step in the right direction.

-c

UPDATE:
Glenn Greenwald has an interesting blog entry of his own about Pelosi’s trip and the neocon firestorm it brewed up.