Hmmm, for all the fussing and whining the Bush administration has been making about John Kerry’s visit to Syria, not to mention the right wing blogs as well, some one needs to ask why Condi did not try to discourage the visit. After all, she did know about the trip and in light of that it sure does make those complainers and whiners look rather petty, don’t you think?

Senator John F. Kerry yesterday defended his decision to meet with the president of Syria next week and said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did not try to talk him out of the meeting when they met face-to-face earlier this month to discuss his Middle East trip.

Bush administration officials have said they warned Kerry that his trip to Syria — and those of two other Democratic senators — harms US interests and sends the wrong signal to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. The administration accuses Syria of fomenting violence in the Middle East.

But when speaking to reporters from Jordan via a conference call, Kerry said Rice never advised him against meeting with Assad. He added that the White House is wrong to say that talks between senators and the Syrian leader are inappropriate, since keeping an open dialogue between the countries serves an important purpose.

“She was aware that I was going, and she did not say to me I should not,” Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, said of the pre trip meeting with Rice. Their meeting, which came at Kerry’s request, took place Dec. 5 at the State Department.

“It’s important to engage in some kind of discussion,” added Kerry, on a nine-day tour that includes stops in Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, and the West Bank.

“It’s important to ask questions, to probe, and to get a feel for what the dynamics are, and I’m confident that I can share those with the administration.”

By yesterday, the Boston Globe reports that “State Department officials seemed to soften their tone on the senators’ trips after criticizing them earlier in the week.”

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the department generally encourages members of Congress to travel abroad and report back.

“We encourage them to do that to get an appreciation for what the situation is on the ground, and, of course, we hear back from them,” he said. “That’s a positive thing. We want to understand what their views are.”

So, hey, what’s all that huffing and puffing about? After all, John Kerry and the other Senators visiting Syria, they are doing their jobs, right. Why, yes they are. No doubt the State Department will send a representative to Kerry’s meetings in Syria just like they did with Senator Nelson earlier in the week. One would think, as Dan McLaughlin, a Nelson spokesman said that “Clearly, the administration uses such trips to gather vital information.”

Go figure. BushCo might learn something after all. Hmmm… And from the junior Senator from MA, to boot. Does anyone else get tired of the hypocrisy from the Bush administration?

UPDATE: This post has been linked on Memeorandum.

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