I'm sure that Ms. Rice will avoid any mosque visits, so no one will get a shot of her with her hair covered.

Far be it from me to defend CNN, but I did see a clip of the interview with Condi, where Zane Burgi asked her about this. Rice demurred that there's a big difference bw her meeting with the Syrian guy and going to Damascus. She said Pelosi presented an image that conflicted with US policy.

[A]s Winston well knew, it was only four years since Oceania had been at war with Eastasia and in alliance with Eurasia. But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge which he happened to possess because his memory was not satisfactorily under control. Officially the change of partners had never happened. Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia.

I thought Nancy Pelosi went to an Orthodox or Catholic church.

"She said Pelosi presented an image that conflicted with US policy."

Well, there you have it. See how Condi boiled that down to its essence; to paraphrase: "When one of those nasty Democrats does it, it presents a bad image. On the other hand, when I do it, it presents a good image. You got that now?"

..."and our image engineers at outlets like CNN will work to ensure that."

I emailed CNN a nasty message.

I guess one Faux News wasn't enough.

Unbelievable. How can they get away with treating Democrats & Republicans so differently?

"Q. You've agreed to talk to Syria in the context of the international conferences on Iraq. What's so different or wrong about Speaker Pelosi having her own meetings there? And are you worried that
she might be preempting your own efforts?
The President. We have made it clear to high-ranking officials, whether they be Republicans or Democrats, that going to Syria sends mixed signals--signals in the region and, of course, mixed signals to President Asad."
--Bush news conference, April 3, 2007

anonymous: "Unbelievable. How can they get away with treating Democrats & Republicans so differently?"

Apparently, very easily.

The "news" [sic] hacks at CNN & in the corporate-owned main-stream media fall all over themselves to suck-up to Queen Condi.

Despite the fact that Condi is an oil whore; liar; perjurer; and, traitorous thug-- they just love the photo-ops & they lap-up her mendacious neo-con corporate propaganda.

When will the American people wake-up to the fact that Condi:--

* Was the worst National Security Adviser in the history of that position-- letting 9/11 happen on her watch, because she was too busy to listen to warnings from the intelligence services & too busy to read PDBs & memos warning that Al Qaeda was planning to use airplanes to slam into buildings-- too busy watching football with the National Dolt, the Mad King George;

* Is the worst Secretary of State in our nation's history-- sullying the role-- as she is the laughing-stock of the diplomatic corps. Rice has absolutely no diplomatic skills; no accomplishments of note; staff at the State Dept. want-out because she is a neo-con corporate-owned puppet;

* Has a long sordid & squalid history of being an oil whore-- doing whatever Big Oil (Chevron, Exxon-Mobil, Unocal, etc.) ask her to do.

Condi Rice committed perjury before Congress, and now is defying subpoenas because she could be impeached & put on trial for treason over her traitorous abuse of lies (e.g. bogus Niger Uranium Yellow-Cake forgeries; non-existent WMDs in Iraq; fabricated links between Saddam Hussein & Al Qaeda:-- none of which were reality) to mis-lead us into the neo-con Bushies' bloodbath in Iraq.

Also, Condi has committed treason by handing-over classified top-secret national security information to AIPAC traitors Rosen & Weissman who passed them onto Israel-- a heinous crime.

Finally, Condi is so madly in love with Georgey-boy Bush that she can't see straight. Clearly she is unfit to serve in any public capacity-- and she is a national disgrace.

Main-stream media toadies who refuse to expose Condi's crimes are collaborating in her defrauding of the American people.

Isn't the title of the piece misleading or flat out incorrect? Plus the commentator verbalized the title:

"US Syria Hold First High-Level talks In Years."

The Speaker of the House isn't high-level?

Here's what bothers me: it seems only recently that CNN has moved to a pro-administration bias.

They're scared.

Which leads to the question: of what, precisely? What do they have to be scared of?

Security code: neck (as in, losing it)

Uh, Nancy Pelosi is NOT Secretary of State.

Nancy Pelosi stuck her nose where it did NOT belong for political purposes. Pelos had zero business going to Syria.

Now Condi Rice has to go to Syria and talk with them from a weakened position instead of a strong position because a SF LIBERAL surrenderist went running her mouth off.

Wow, I have never seen a bigger bunch of whiners than people here.

Good lord. Admit it; Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have done more damage to the credentials of the Democratic party in just 4 months than it took Tom Delay to do to the Republicans in 12 years.

Pelosi is an idiot and Reid is in imbecile.

Note the criticism of Pelosi in aesthetic terms, that it's the *image* that matters, not the substance.

Wing-nuts must be getting desperate. Desperation is not a good sign for them

the funny thing is that the wingnuts don't seem to be aware that even fox news noted the flip flop here.

Pelosi had to walk over the Hill, look on the other side and then come back and say there were no lions making it safe for Rice to then walk over the Hill. CNN and others screamed at Pelosi the whole time but now stand strangely quiet watching Rice do the same thing. Is it because Rice is the "talker girl" who reports directly to the "commander guy" so it's okay to talk to traitors without it being treason. Mother Pelosi, the "speaker woman" should be allowed to spank that naughty press for throwing rocks. Notice how CNN acted so outraged and indignant and were so appalled. They were soooo condemning. Rescinding their outrage would highlight their bias, so nooooooooooo can do.
code word: safe hahahaha

Hi lila! Hey lara! Rethuglican trolls on the scene to feed on hypocritial news slanting and leave a slime trail! Have fun now, cause the devil will eat your spleens for all the evils you have spread. The Far Right are traitors to the Constiution!

Hi lila and lara, I haven't seen you two since the seminar at Regent on writing to Liberal Blogs....

Nothing to do since Deborah closed shop?

There's a reason why they're called the Cretin News Network. A friend of mine went back to cable after four years without any, turned on CNN and was "shocked and amazed" at the difference in the way they cover things now, compared to just four years ago.

security code "cold" - pretty much describes their coverage of anything.

lila, you drinking that funny kool-aid again? Every one, including the members of the Grand Oil Party (GOP)accompanying the Speaker said she did not undermine el Shrubo:

"Republican Rep. David Hobson (OH) was also on that trip. But in an interview published in the Washington Post today, he states that he never received any of the attacks that were thrown at Pelosi:

“Before we left, we met with the State Department people and nobody told us not to go,” Hobson said, adding that none of his Republican colleagues broached the subject, either. “Nobody ever called me to say, ‘Why are you going to Syria with those people?’“

Despite his attacks on Pelosi, Boehner has repeatedly refused to criticize Hobson for going to Syria. His spokesman recently confirmed that “there’s no tension or hard feelings there whatsoever” between Boehner and Hobson over the trip. Similarly, the lawmakers who criticized Pelosi were silent on similar congressional trips led by fellow Republicans.

Hobson has also defended Pelosi against his colleagues’ attacks, noting that she “did not engage in any bashing of Bush in any meeting I was in and she did not in any meeting I was in bash the policies as it relates to Syria.” He recently sent a box of chocolates to Pelosi to thank her for including him in the trip and said, “If asked, I would go again. I thought it was a good trip.”

Here's a link to the full article:

thinkprogress.org/2007/04/24/hobson-syria/

FRANK.......Totally agree. One just has to look at her eyes when she speaks to put real meaning behind the saying of how do you know she's lying...her lips are moving. She is a joke and a big embarrassment to America. No matter what her credentials may indicate she has proven herself incompetent and thinks she's above the law. Without Bush she wouldn't even get hired by the State Department. Just look at 'em...Rice, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, anyone Bush appoints. I hope Congress nails Rice's and Gonzales' hide to the wall so the world might have some closure too.

Don't be naive. This has been Conservative News Network for quite a while. Until Democrats STOP going on the likes of CNN and Fox this type of reporting will NOT stop.

they'll probably let Glenn Beck handle this one.

Relax. I'm sure Fred Hiatt/WAPO will have a glowing Op-Ed over the hope Condi inspires with her visit with Syria.

And I am sure he won't hold her feet to the fire with another blistering Op-Ed if her trips fails to produce any results in 3 weeks.

Remember. To the MSM, Alberto Gonzales = Senator Harry Reid.

The mainstream media is as coordinated, corrupt and incompetent as a Republican administration.

"US policy" = "what the Executive branch is doing"

"opposing US policy" = "what the Legislative branch is doing"

Separation of powers, anybody? Co-equal branches of government?

I've noticed a real rightward twist in CNN's coverage in the past few months. Did anyone notice that the experts they used to "analyze" the war funding bill were all Hoover Institute guys (or just like 'em).

If Pelosi and Reid are so bad, why do all the polls done since they've been in their positions show consistently high approval ratings....much higher that Bush? If you really think they are doing the Democrats harm, (I doubt they'll have to resign under a cloud of ethical violations as Delay), then let's see what happens next year at the polls. If I had to choose between Pelosi and Reid

I thought CNN stood for Conservative Nuts Network. The trolls are really busy this afternoon trying to spin this their way. Let's face it, Nancy Pelosi most likely HELPED Condilesbian with her meeting with Syria. At let Syria knows that not all Americans are as crazy as the Bush crime family and Condilesbian Shoehorse. Our current Secretary of State has done absolutely NOTHING since she took office except speak talking points.

What I found amusing is that Lou kept saying that the Syrians were changing their tune in the past month or so - and he even mentioned to the correspondent (Starr?) that this was so and she completely skipped his meaning. Basically ignored what he said and Lou didn't pursue it. They just didn't want to give credit to Pelosi for the Syrian softening.

Lets see. If the Republicans have Fox pretty well locked up, and we happened to find a news network that acutally did the fair and balanced thing, and that network right now does not appear to be CNN, how much of an audience does it leave for CNN then? Any network out there want to work hard for the distinction of being truly fair and balanced?

On CBS this morning, they talked Rice, but no mention whatsoever of Pelosi, or the idiotic smear-- they could have at least mentioned it in their three minute mickey mouse report. How about a Nixon-Goes-to-China angle?

In an AP story, "Rice Tells Syrian of Border Concern", no statement from Pelosi. It did have the briefest mention of the White House attack, claiming it 'blistered' her, then went on to repeat two more aspect of the smear (she was played for a fool, and oh... it's different when WE go to Syria).

Way to go, AP. In a Wolfowitz story, "Wolfowitz Blames Bank Rules for Mixup", merely a single word is quoted from the ethics official of the World Bank, and the remaining half of the story has a carefully presented defense, which couldn't have been better for this war criminal even if his lawyer dictated it.

Of course also today we had the Washington Post spreading a blatant, easily checkable lie (Democrats Surrendered, etc., reprinted in headlines all over the nation.

MSNBC's web page had a Reuter's story on CondaLIESa's trip . . . not a word about Nancy Pelosi.

On the 7to 8 segment Blitzer was commenting on other sex scandals than the Palfry case happening now. He named Hayes, Clinton and Hart. No mention of Livingston, Burton, Foley or Hyde.
Code word bell as in I would like to ring Blitzer's bell.

Paula Zahn on CNN showed a clip at 6:00 pm Pacific Time of Bush saying 'Pelosi trip bad' and then asked her two guests about why Rice's trip is different. One guy said 'Because Rice is the correct person to talk to Syria, while Pelosi is not.' Zahn seem to give deference to this idea.

Hadn't you heard that CNN stands for the Cheney News Network?

I caught a piece on NPR relating to the Rice meeting and while they did not mention the administration flip flop in the piece they did drop a very interesting couple of sentences in the end of the piece... they were talking about negotiation points and how the USA needs more help from Syria ...needs to see improvements, benchmarks...etc..need more help in enforcing the iraq syria border.... and the reporter noted that a USA military bigwig in Iraq had said that Syria had done much better in stemming the flow of foriegn fighters crossing the border into Iraq in the last month.... when was it again that pelosi was there...about a month ago??????...Go Nancy go!

"First high level talks in years", yeah exactly 0.0833 years since the speaker of the house met with an even higher official of the government, the Syrian President, a month ago. "CNN has confirmed,...blah,blah,blah" The only thing CNN confirms is that they're stooping to Faux news territory,....who scripts their newscast?

In all fairness, about half an hour ago I saw CNN (on mute with no closed captions) running the footage over a headline that read "Meeting with the enemy" and had a few snapshots of the pelosi trip, which makes me believe they were comparing the two.

For once and for all,who was at the Cheney TOP SECRET energy meeting a few years ago? What was discussed? Did the meeting ever discuss what could be done to"protect" the American people against $3.00+ gas prices..or not!! My money is on OR NOT..

Perhaps the actual story is that Pelosi's visit was so successful, Rice may now take over and visit herself for the first time. This is not a meme welcomed by Republican media.

Did Condi talk to Pelosi prior to the Speakers
trip to Syria ?

The bigger story, IMO, is that the American military spokesman for Iraq, Marine General Caldwell, said this today

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/03/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq-Syria.php

"BAGHDAD: The chief spokesman for U.S.-led forces in Iraq said Thursday that Syria had taken action to reduce the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq.

"There has been some movement by the Syrians ... there has been a reduction in the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq" for more than a month, U.S. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell told a news conference."

In the past month, the Syrians have cracked down on the flow of Al Qaeda-inspired foreign fighters going into Iraq. Resulting in fewer such dangerous individuals making it into the country.

Gee, what happened precisely a month ago? Oh yeah, the Speaker of the House stared Bashar al Assad in the eye and told him to move on the suicide bombers crossing into Iraq.

This isn't a coincidence. Nancy Pelosi's visit saved the lives of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians and put Al Qaeda terrorists behind bars. And unlike our other 'allies' she didn't have to sell a bunch of fighter jets to get that result.

In all fairness, during the opening of Wolf Blitzer in the Situation Room he hinted to the hypocrisy of the White House calling of Condi visit OK but Pelosi visit BAD.

No one is asking the right question. What did Nancy Pelosi bring back from Syria that was so compelling that Condi Rice needed to go there and speak to Assad herself?

Jeff Smith has the right take. The proper response then is to suggest, or tell, to Lou Dobbs and CNN that the improving relations with Syria are as a direct result of Speaker Pelosi's visit to Syria.

Because at the heart of things, the teevee news media especially, are lazy, er, sorry, overworked and under staffed, and so, willing to take their news direction from those willing to give it to them.

That's what Rover has done for years, time for us to return the favor.

the dems are way ahead of the r's on every action point. brilliant stroke of planning all around. pelosi went because she has a plan, reid spoke out because he has a plan. someone has to.

Sheesh -- I used to go peruse the righty blog sites sometimes to see what the counter opinion was, and I stopped because I couldn't stand all the idiotic reader comments. More and more I'm seeing the same trash talk here.

Ad homonym name calling proves nothing, other than the immaturity of the one doing it. "Condilesbian", "Queen Condi", "Cheney News Network", "CondaLIESa", "Conservative Nuts Network", "Faux News", "oil whore", "Rethuglican ", etc. Some of these messages even had a point to make, but this kind of stuff just wipes out any credibility of the one commenting.

Can't we do better than that? Let's get a discourse elevator in here, fast. When you start feeling self righteous, it is usually a warning that one should think harder because the situation usually isn't so simple.

As long as I'm bitching, to those of you who cleverly weave their security code word into their posts, please stop. It is neither clever, no ironic, nor appropos, nor ... whatever you claim it is.

Phew, I feel better. Where do I line up for my curmudgeon ID card?

Personally, I don't think the administration are "oil whores" or whatnot. I suspect they sincerely believe they are doing the right thing, but they are simply entirely misguided. By having such a claustrophobic intellectual environment stocked with like-minded people, it is a recipe for group think disaster.

President Bush (not "Shrub") has had a pattern that has always worked for him: surround yourself with people of power, be fiercely loyal and demand the same in return, don't compromise, and things will turn out OK (for him, not necessarily the ventures he has been involved in). After 60 years of this working for him, do you really think he is going to change?

Getting back on topic, the news media is a business, and the 1960s ethics are gone now that newsrooms are expected to be profit centers. Fox trounced the competition by finding a formula that worked, so don't be surprised that CNN might attempt to copy that formula: it has shareholders to satisfy.

Here's a sanity check -- as much as you might complain about CNN, find a republican and he'll be making the same complaints about how liberal the media is. Rather than taking the intellectually short step of assuming you are right and the other guy is wrong, realize instead that CNN's main objective is to hook viewers with whatever they think will work. Developing a narrative and keeping it simple so that a larger audience can follow the manufactured drama is a sure winner. Trying to deliver a nuanced message of a complex topic is sure to turn off the viewership.

Another trick as old that I'm sure we'll get to see unfold again this election cycle: find an underdog, make him a darling, wait until his numbers look good, then flip the tenor of the coverage and knock him back down. I believe the great treatment Obama is receiving now will later morph into a shower of slime.

Pelosi can graciously that she paved the way for Rice to get a good reception from the Syrian Foreign Minister, as did Bush when he promised that Condi would not be rude (check the Daily show). See, Condi had to have 2 very stong leaders in order to get her to the conference table. P.S. What on earth are we paying Condi for, if not to talk to other countries???

What I think is really going on:
Assad et. al. are not stupid. They followed the 2006 election and they see the polls. They know that Bush is on his way out the door and down the chute. So why should they listen to anything they have to say? Just wait them out, and they'll be gone.
However, they just got a visit from the top person in the opposition party, who told them (implicitly or explicitly) "Don't get your hopes up--and don't believe the US press: things aren't going to be that different under us."
It was an extremely vital message, and it paved the way for these talks. I don't think they'd have happened otherwise.

Steve5117 wrote: "Hi lila and lara, I haven't seen you two..." Steve, what makes you think there are two of them?

As far as the CNN clip goes, the first thing that jumped at me is the comments that "this marks the first high-level meeting between the countries in years". This was followed with "Aneesh, this is a pretty big event...?"

This is not an accidental omission--it required planned, deliberate avoidance. Aneesh was much better--at least he pointed out that "the Bush administration" avoided dealing with the Syrians, not the US.

Lone wolf Rice.

Misguided?

Try delusional, Jim.

How many people have ceased to exist because of these misguided people, Jim. They're either grotesquely corrupt, or incredibly, mind numbingly incompetent, but as BartCop likes to point out, if you make a mistake, and profit by the billions from it, you will keep making the same mistake until somebody stops you.

Misguided? No Jim, Bush and his Cabal are as truly reprehensible as you can ever find throughout history. And CNN, the problem isn't entirely that they've become a money center, no a big chunk of the problem is what they think will work, proto fascists like that idiot Glenn Beck, their corrupted headline writers, their non-stop Democrat bashing, and the fact that the GOP playbook requires the WATB to complain about non-existant liberal bias in the media as part of their control mechanism of the compliant and money craven media, too scared to take risks with their money that might fulfill their function as a FREE PRESS.

Jim.

***********For the goober who is bitching about $3.00/gal gas price like its a rip off...The world has already reached peak oil and has been going down since the '70s.. Every country has been grabbing whatever they can get their hooks into. We've been living on a lie that's why gas will never be cheap again. This "happy motoring" economy we have is coming to an end but there is still a trillion left to be made so until it's all gone they will sell it to the last drop *********let's go sight-seeing..........Happy Motoring

Posted by: Jim Battle
Date: May 3, 2007 11:12 PM
---------------------------------

Thought provoking comments, Jim. I can't say I disagree with you that the name calling probably hurts our credibility when we have finer points to make but I also can't say that I don't devolve into the same thing myself out of frustration, anger, whatever. It doesn't hurt to be reminded to count to ten before we hit the send button.

But I think the excuse your providing for the mainstream media because "it's a business" is precisely the problem we have particularly when they attempt to mirror Fox News' "formula". If the Pelosi/Rice Syria trips were isolated incidents, your argument might hold more water.

Yes, conservatives can complain about the "liberal media" and they do. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that news organizations will bend the truth, exaggerate and issue or simply regurgitate administration talking points in the interest of "fairness" or to show "both sides" of a story.

The fact of the matter is, there may not be two sides to a story. There may only be ONE side. The facts and NOT the facts.

The media trashed Nancy Pelosi on her trip to Syria. It was their first, second and third reaction. It eventually led to a wider debate of whether her trip was a good or bad move but it automatically started with a negative reaction when, ironically, the right wing media (talk radio, Drudge, etc.) started trashing her.

It should be no surprise we would be waiting and watching to see mainstream media's reaction to Condoleeza Rice's trip. We were not disappointed.

One final note, I was watching Stephanie Miller this week while she sat in the Imus slot on MSNBC. She brought in two female MSNBC anchors on separate days to discuss various issues, including reader emails. I don't remember the anchors names and I don't have video of their remarks but the gist of what they said was this: "When we get angry emails from both conservatives and liberals we know we're doing something right."

I don't necessarily think that is an indication they are "doing something right". I think that is an indication that viewers on both sides don't trust the anchor and the news they're reporting.

I would prefer the media be "consistent" rather than "fair and balanced".

I wonder if the sudden acceptance of diplomacy might be due the difficulty in getting a blank check for the war. Maybe they finally get the fact that a political solution is the only real option.

Security code: cord
As in: give them enough cord to hang themselves.

Those who wrongly criticize Pelosi for her trip to Syria should read history. Leaders of Congress have a key role in the establishment of foreign policy, as anyone who bothers to read the U.S. Constitution would comprehend.

Pelosi is clearly a superior diplomat to Rice-- which is why the neo-cons and their hallucinatory-kook-aide-sheepish-follwers are so angry... Because Pelosi forced the issue, and Rice had no choice but to talk to Syria; otherwise her neo-con con-game for OIL would be totally exposed as the corrupt fraud that it is.

Congradulations to Pelosi for forcing this insane neo-con Bush regime to at least go through the motions of talking... But, as usual, nothing will come of Rice's photo-ops-- for Rice is incompetent; corrupt; and a complete phony!

Hey, lara and lila,

So, what exactly did Nancy Pelosi say in Syria that put the US and Condi in a "weakened position?" You don't know. That's because the Republican way is to attack what you don't understand, condemn anything that doesn't come from your own ranks, demonize any non-Republican who gets any attention whatsoever, and then slither back into your skanky dwellings. OK, so I'm demonizing here. But not slithering.

CNN obviously wants to cut into Fox's conservative audience. Why would you bring Glen Beck and Kiran Chetry onboard for major airtime if you were looking to be the supposedly liberal network?

CNN totally, utterly sucks. In particular, I'm getting sick and tired of John Roberts' overt jingoism. It's really reprehensible that CNN presents such a clearly biased view while claiming to be "America's most trusted" news source. Fox Lite. CNN stinks.

Why the hell won't George Soros buy a television network?

CNN has been terrible since Ted Turner sold it. All the regular news media are complicit in this war; they have all touted it for years and dumped on any Democrat who opposed it. PBS is a boring non-entity. What do we learn from David Brooks for God's sake?

Pelosi did the right thing. Now Pelois and Reid should put together a group of high ranking Congressmen and Senators, of both parties, and go on a fact finding mission to the Middle East and hold meetings with Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, the Palestinians, Israel, Lebanon, and Turkey on possible ways to stabilize the region.

As I said earlier, Pelosi needs to start acting Presidential and stop saying impeachment is off the table.

Why be surprised at CNN? It was mostly CNN that brought down Dr. Dean, who should be president right this minute.