From Snark to Syria

"Things are better," Sen. John McCain said in Baghdad this week, "and there are encouraging signs. I have been here many times over the years. Never have I been able to drive from the airport. Never have I been able to go out into the city as I was today."

So after McCain stopped talking, then what happened? Well, then the AFP reporter in Baghdad juxtaposed McCain's words with a tally of recent car-bomb victims, so as to undercut his remarks about the effects of the continuing security crackdown. Then CNN correspondent Michael Ware called McCain's comments "beyond ludicrous." Then The New York Times found some shopkeepers in Baghdad who didn't think things had gotten any better for them. Of course, McCain's running for president, and has been an unwavering supporter of the effort in Iraq. It makes sense for him to focus on those aspects of the surge that appear to be working. What's Michael Ware running for?

Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been blundering around Damascus at the same time that McCain has been visiting Baghdad. Pelosi's visit is a dream come true for the desperate Assad regime; she might as well be reading from a script provided by Assad's public relations people.

"We came in friendship, hope, and determined that the road to Damascus is a road to peace," Pelosi said after meeting with Assad. According to Pelosi, Assad had assured her that "he's ready to engage in negotiations for peace with Israel."

Oh, brother. Assad's been trying to play his empty "peace process" card for months, because he's facing an international murder rap for killing Rafiq Hariri, and because he wants to put Lebanon back in his hip pocket. If he can get the Speaker of the House to play the dupe on his behalf, that works for him. In fact, just the footage of their meeting helps him, because it suggests that his isolation is ending. The EU has been frustrated with him, and the Arab League may have failed to close a deal with him on the paralysis of Beirut, and his Arab neighbors may have stopped trusting him long ago, but hey, he's still got some people willing to try to help him out of a jam: Tehran, Hezbollah, and Nancy Pelosi. I mean, why should the US be content with merely pulling out of Iraq in defeat when it can kiss Syria's butt as well?

So after Pelosi stopped talking, then what happened? All the stories that I've seen about Pelosi's embarrassing amateurism are perfectly straightforward accounts of what she did and what she said, with a little underplayed regional context. Where's the smartass coverage of Pelosi's visit? Where are the telling juxtapositions? Where's all the snark when we need it? I can't find any of it.

Well, back to Baghdad, where poor McCain is still wiping the snark off his suit. As it happens, Terry McCarthy of ABC filed a report backing up McCain's measured claims of improvement. Baghdad remains a dangerous place, McCarthy says, but some parts of the city have seen "large and positive" benefits as a result of the seven-week-old surge. Zawraa, Zayouna, and Haifa Street were among the areas that are sufficiently calm for Iraqis to feel comfortable walking about with their families. Children fill the playgrounds and amusement park. A shopkeeper tells McCarthy that he definitely sees a difference, that the security plan is bringing people out with money to spend.

My favorite moment is when some Iraqi men at a tea shop actually ask the ABC camera crew to film them, because they are anxious to show that things are better in their neighborhood. Guys, get serious. Claiming that things are getting better may be good for a one-shot, but stir some anti-administration snark in your tea, and you might get your own cable show.