the laughable reaction of dittoheads among C-SPAN viewers to nancy pelosi's remark during her damascus visit (that israel would talk to syria) revealed their ignorance of the nuances of diplomacy. they went beyond gloating over israeli PM olmert's supposed rejection of her statement and as far as accusing her of treason for negotiating against US interests.

in fact pelosi did not negotiate. what she did was open a door, pick up a ball, and pass it to olmert. analyze his response and you'll see he did not say he wouldn't talk. he said there are preconditions to talking. that means he will talk if syria makes some moves first. in other words, he put the ball in syrian president assad's court.

if assad doesn't drop it, we might see progress.