You can look it up

By Mustang Bobby

After all the crap Speaker Nancy Pelosi took for going to Syria this week, you'd think it was the first time a Speaker of the House of Representatives ever went overseas. You'd also think it was the first time a Speaker from the opposition party to the president in office ever expressed doubts about the foreign policy being enacted by that president. And you would think that the right-wing columnists, pundits, and the jowly-faced fingerpointers who know everything there is to know about all that is Good and True had ever criticized the Speaker for having the nerve to venture forth.

Well, it's not the first time a Speaker from the opposition party has gone abroad, questioned the foreign policy, and caused a kerfuffle. All of this has happened before... except the part about the righties. They were all in favor of it.

Glenn Greenwald brings back the memories:

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.

And Greg Sargent reminds us of the righties' approval. In this case it is Pat Buchanan:

Speaking at a news conference organized by the conservative magazine "Human Events," Buchanan said the Clinton administration's policy of constructive engagement with the Chinese was a failure...

"It's now up to Congress to run foreign policy and it has the power to overturn the president's decision" on China's trade status, expected in June, Buchanan said. "There is time to organize a campaign" to influence Congress, "and this is a battle we can win."

As Mr. Sargent notes, Mr. Buchanan had "concerns" about Ms. Pelosi's trip:

Mr. BUCHANAN: Well, Condi Rice has been working on the Palestinian account and that hasn't come out very well. But you're right there. But let me say about Nancy Pelosi, I think it's a mistake for her, unlike these Republican and Democratic back benchers, who nobody really cares about. She's a major, major figure in American politics now. And this is thumb in the eye of the president of the United States, and it does send a mixed message. I remember going abroad with Richard Nixon in 1967. Every country he went to, we went to the embassy and he would say, `What do you want me to say and how can I help the president?' And the country, in its foreign policy, in talking to these leaders, foreign ministers and others. And this idea that we've got--America's got a couple foreign policies, I think, some Americans, it certainly bothers me that she's there.

And there's more. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) took on the Speaker, saying,

"It's one thing for other members to go," Boehner said, "but you have to ask yourself, 'Why is Pelosi going?' She's going for one reason and that is to embarrass the president."

But when he and Mr. Gingrich went to China in 1997:

"Well, let me just say that the speaker, Mr. Dingell, and the rest of my colleagues, were diplomatic; they were respectful of the countries that we visited -- but I think very clear in terms of our interest; the role of democracy that should [evolve ?] in more of these countries -- the issue of human rights. And I know from my own background, it was a very educational trip."

Isn't the internets a wonderful thing? Not only does it bring our world closer together, it also provides an invaluable aid in curing short-term memory loss and exposing rank hypocrisy.