… but that didn’t prevent her from jaunting over to Syria to play nice with Bashar Assad. Nevermind the fact that the official United States stance towards Syria is one of distrust because the regime is supportive of Hezbollah and other terrorist groups, pulls puppet strings in Lebanon, and is in general a thuggish government which declares Israel to be an enemy. Nancy Pelosi may be Speaker of the House, but she is not the President, is not an Ambassador, is not the Secretary of State, and has no business making foreign trips that fly directly in the face of this Administration’s foreign policy. Her actions are childish and show just how far the Democratic leaders of Congress will take political sniping at this Administration, official U.S. foreign policy be damned.

Even the Washington Post has some harsh words for Pelosi:

Ms. Pelosi was criticized by President Bush for visiting Damascus at a time when the administration — rightly or wrongly — has frozen high-level contacts with Syria. Mr. Bush said that thanks to the speaker’s freelancing Mr. Assad was getting mixed messages from the United States. Ms. Pelosi responded by pointing out that Republican congressmen had visited Syria without drawing presidential censure. That’s true enough — but those other congressmen didn’t try to introduce a new U.S. diplomatic initiative in the Middle East. “We came in friendship, hope, and determined that the road to Damascus is a road to peace,” Ms. Pelosi grandly declared.

Never mind that that statement is ludicrous: As any diplomat with knowledge of the region could have told Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Assad is a corrupt thug whose overriding priority at the moment is not peace with Israel but heading off U.N. charges that he orchestrated the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri. The really striking development here is the attempt by a Democratic congressional leader to substitute her own foreign policy for that of a sitting Republican president. Two weeks ago Ms. Pelosi rammed legislation through the House of Representatives that would strip Mr. Bush of his authority as commander in chief to manage troop movements in Iraq. Now she is attempting to introduce a new Middle East policy that directly conflicts with that of the president. We have found much to criticize in Mr. Bush’s military strategy and regional diplomacy. But Ms. Pelosi’s attempt to establish a shadow presidency is not only counterproductive, it is foolish.

Emphasis mine. The Democratic leaders need to grow up and quit treating the operation of this government as a game of “gotcha!” The latest actions of the majority leaders of Congress are shameful, disrespectful, and show a complete disregard for the role of the Executive Branch of the government.

If you read the entire Washington Post article linked above (it’s really short), you’ll also notice that not only is Pelosi acting like a bratty 5 year-old who just has to poke her older sibling in the eye, she’s doing it stupidly. After communicating that Israeli Prime Minister Olmert had indicated to her, “‘Israel was ready to engage in peace talks’ with Syria,” Olmert responded with this:

“What was communicated to the U.S. House Speaker does not contain any change in the policies of Israel,” said a statement quickly issued by the prime minister’s office. In fact, Mr. Olmert told Ms. Pelosi that “a number of Senate and House members who recently visited Damascus received the impression that despite the declarations of Bashar Assad, there is no change in the position of his country regarding a possible peace process with Israel.” In other words, Ms. Pelosi not only misrepresented Israel’s position but was virtually alone in failing to discern that Mr. Assad’s words were mere propaganda.

Way to go Nancy, you make us proud.

UPDATE: Gateway Pundit has more about Pelosi being “lambasted” by Israel.