AP's Loven asked Bush at presser if Pelosi's Syria trip was "pre-empting" diplomacy -- no mention of GOP visit

During his April 3 press conference, President Bush called first on Associated Press staff writer Jennifer Loven, who asked if Bush was "worried" that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) scheduled trip to Syria "might be pre-empting your own efforts" to establish a dialogue with Syria. Sixteen minutes after Bush finished answering Loven's question, she posted a report noting that Bush "voiced displeasure" with Pelosi's trip, "saying it sends mixed signals to the government of President Bashar Assad." Although in the article she quoted Bush saying that "a lot of people have gone to see President Assad ... and yet we haven't seen action," in neither the question nor the article did Loven note that a Republican-led congressional delegation met with Assad on April 1.

Loven omitted any specific reference to the Republican-led trip, even though in answering her question, Bush himself mentioned -- apparently for the first time publicly since the White House began criticizing the Pelosi trip -- that Republicans have gone to Syria as well. Bush said that he has "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 Assad."

As Media Matters for America has noted (here, here, and here), several media figures have reported White House criticism of Pelosi without also noting the inconsistency in the administration's silence on the GOP-led delegation. The selective criticism by some in the media of Pelosi's planned visit to Syria mirrors conservatives' attacks on Democrats who traveled to Damascus in December 2006. As Media Matters noted, numerous conservative media figures assailed Democratic Sens. Bill Nelson (FL), John Kerry (MA), and Christopher Dodd (CT) for meeting with Assad but ignored Sen. Arlen Specter's (R-PA) meeting with the Syrian president later that month.

From the April 3 press conference:

LOVEN: 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 pre-empting your own efforts?

BUSH: 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 Assad. And by that I mean, you know, photo opportunities and/or meetings with President Assad lead the Assad government to believe they're part of the mainstream of the international community, when, in fact, they're a state sponsor of terror; when, in fact, they're helping expedite, or at least not stopping the movement of foreign fighters from Syria into Iraq; when, in fact, they have done little to nothing to rein in militant Hamas and Hezbollah; and when, in fact, they destabilized the Lebanese democracy.

There have been a lot of people who have gone to see President Assad -- some Americans, but a lot of European leaders, high-ranking officials -- and yet we haven't seen action. In other words, he hasn't responded. It's one thing to send a message. It's another thing to have the person receiving the message actually do something. So the position of this administratiion is that the best way to meet with a leader like Assad, or people from Syria is in the larger context of trying to get the global community to help change his behavior. But sending delegations hasn't worked; it's simply been counterproductive.

From Loven's AP report:

President Bush voiced displeasure on Tuesday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip to Syria, saying it sends mixed signals to the government of President Bashar Assad.

"A lot of people have gone to see President Assad ... and yet we haven't seen action. He hasn't responded," Bush told reporters at a Rose Garden news conference.

He said Assad had not reined in violent elements of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah as requested by the international community and had acted to destabilize the democratically elected government of Lebanon.

"Sending delegations doesn't work. It's simply been counterproductive," Bush said.

He also expressed frustration with the congressional debate on Iraq war spending and accused majority-party Democrats of being "more interested in fighting political battles in Washington than providing our troops what they need."

Bush renewed his veto threats on both a House and Senate spending bills. He noted that it had been 57 days since he requested more than $100 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan.