{"id":10695,"date":"2007-05-03T16:30:31","date_gmt":"2007-05-03T20:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/10695.html"},"modified":"2007-05-03T16:30:31","modified_gmt":"2007-05-03T20:30:31","slug":"high-level-bilateral-diplomatic-meetings-for-me-but-not-for-thee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/high-level-bilateral-diplomatic-meetings-for-me-but-not-for-thee\/","title":{"rendered":"High-level, bilateral diplomatic meetings for me, but not for thee"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following up on an item<\/a> from yesterday, the White House excoriated House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for engaging with Syrian officials a month ago, which is why today’s meeting<\/a> between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem was so interesting.<\/p>\n

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held talks Thursday with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, the first such high-level contact in more than two years between the Bush administration and a government it has denounced as a state sponsor of terrorism.<\/p>\n

“We talked about Iraq and bilateral relations,” Moallem said as he was mobbed by reporters after the 30-minute meeting on the sidelines of an international conference on Iraq at this Red Sea resort. […]<\/p>\n

According to the Syrian Arab News Agency, the official mouthpiece of the Damascus government, Rice and Moallem met “in the presence of members of the Syrian and U.S. delegations.” It said the talks “dealt with the situation in Iraq and the necessity of achieving stability and security” there. The two sides also “reviewed the bilateral relations between Syria and U.S.A. and the importance of developing them to serve peace, security and stability in the region,” the news agency said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, how is it that Pelosi’s meeting with Syrians bordered on treason and was the subject of a massive White House p.r. offensive, while Rice’s meeting with Syrians is worthwhile diplomacy?<\/p>\n

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow explained in today’s press briefing. Well, at least he tried<\/i> to explain.
\n
\nFrom the transcript<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Q: The Secretary of State met with the Syrian envoy this morning. How is that not bilateral? How is it not formal? <\/p>\n

SNOW: Because — I’ll let them do the readout, but again, that was a pull-aside conversation where — <\/p>\n

Q: What’s the distinction? <\/p>\n

SNOW: Well, the distinction is, if you have a set aside — a meeting that’s set aside, and somebody says, okay, we’re going to schedule a meeting, we’re going to sit down and do this….<\/p>\n

Q: I know, it’s your characterization that I’m still — how’s it — I mean, they sat down, they had formal discussion, and there were two of them there. <\/p>\n

SNOW: No, they didn’t. I’m not sure that they had formal discussions; I’m not sure it was just two. <\/p>\n

Q: Maybe a limited range of subjects, but — <\/p>\n

SNOW: No, there was — limited range of subject, like one. <\/p>\n

Q: That’s still informal and not bilateral. <\/p>\n

SNOW: It’s a conversation. Yes, it’s a conversation. In fact, conversations happen. It’s a good thing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, when Rice and Moallem have a discussion, it’s not diplomacy, it’s a “pull-aside conversation.” When there are only two delegations present — our and the Syrians — that’s not bilateral because, well, just because.<\/p>\n

And when Pelosi talks to Syrians she’s engaged in what Dick Cheney calls “bad behavior,” and when Rice talks to Syrians it’s a “good thing.”<\/p>\n

Baghdad Bob hasn’t gone away; he’s just changed sides.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following up on an item from yesterday, the White House excoriated House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for engaging with Syrian officials a month ago, which is why today’s meeting between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem was so interesting. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held talks Thursday with Syrian Foreign Minister […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10695\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}