Pelosi Headed to Iran Next?

At least this will help reduce the criticism for her trip to Syria:

BRIT HUME: Nancy Pelosi, the highest ranking U.S. official to visit Syria in four years, and insisted again today that she did not say to president outside -- president bush are all out -- bashar al-assad [unintelligible] she and Tom Lantos again defended the mission. Jim angle reports.

JIM ANGLE: House speaker Nancy's and Tom Lantos, the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, apparently stung by their visit to the Middle East, the the need to defend their trip again.

REP. NANCY PELOSI [FILE]: When we went to Syria, there was no division, no difference in the message that the president has been sending forth and the message that we delivered.

REP. TOM LANTOS [FILE]: I was appalled at the attempt by the administration to minimize and mischaracterize the nature of the mission.

ANGLE: Pelosi's high-profile visit to Syria, where many middle eastern terrorist groups have their headquarters and a smiley appearance with the president drew sharp criticism. Today, Pelosi insisted there was no difference between what she conveyed to the Syrians and the administration policy.

REP. PELOSI [FILE]: Our message to the president was a very direct one, very consistent with the united states president's message. We were very unified. We left our differences at home. We spoke about where we were unified as a country.

ANGLE: That argument was undercut last week when it Lantos told reporters -- and another member of the delegation, Keith Ellison of Minnesota, said this marked an alternative democratic strategy for foreign policy in the middle east. This was adjusting some change -- olmert immediately disputed saying there was no such change.

REP. PELOSI [FILE]: At that time, we also spoke to prime minister olmert, who has just to carry a message to Syria that israel would be ready to resume negotiations if and when serious stopped -- Syria stopped its support for groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.

ANGLE: That is something that the U.S. has unsuccessfully pressed Syria to do for years. Lantos told Reuters that he has every intention of going back and he complained that he has been trying to get a visa to visit Iran, but that the Iranians have refused. If he were to get one, he would go tomorrow morning and the Speaker would go with him. A trip that would be much more controversial than the last one.

HUME: Jim, I think you are right. Is the army stretched too thin or adapting to a new kind of war? We will look at that we come back.

The mind boggles. Given the bipartisan scorching she received for botching the message to Assad, you have to wonder if she'd say anything at all to Ahmadinejad.

Let's hope that visa doesn't come through. And if you're Ahmadinejad, do you think that entrusting your message to Nancy Pelosi will make you look good right now?