Nancy Pelosi's trip to Syria has really backfired on her. Not only does her trip make her look soft on terrorism, she's actually getting compliments from terrorists. Additionally, pictures of her wearing a hijab have been everywhere, are drawing almost universally negative comments, and will probably be brought up here and there for years to come. On top of all that, even the very liberal Washington Post is now harshly criticizing her,

"HOUSE SPEAKER Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) offered an excellent demonstration yesterday of why members of Congress should not attempt to supplant the secretary of state when traveling abroad. After a meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Ms. Pelosi announced that she had delivered a message from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that "Israel was ready to engage in peace talks" with Syria. What's more, she added, Mr. Assad was ready to "resume the peace process" as well. Having announced this seeming diplomatic breakthrough, Ms. Pelosi suggested that her Kissingerian shuttle diplomacy was just getting started. "We expressed our interest in using our good offices in promoting peace between Israel and Syria," she said.

Only one problem: The Israeli prime minister entrusted Ms. Pelosi with no such message.

...Two weeks ago Ms. Pelosi rammed legislation through the House of Representatives that would strip Mr. Bush of his authority as commander in chief to manage troop movements in Iraq. Now she is attempting to introduce a new Middle East policy that directly conflicts with that of the president. We have found much to criticize in Mr. Bush's military strategy and regional diplomacy. But Ms. Pelosi's attempt to establish a shadow presidency is not only counterproductive, it is foolish."

What you're seeing here is the Peter Principle in practice. The Peter Principle states that, "In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence."

In other words, everyone rises to a point where they're no longer good enough to merit rising any further. In the case of Pelosi and the Democrats, they got to where they are by relentlessly carping about the Republicans. But, now that they've gotten themselves into power, they've shown themselves to be even more corrupt, politically incompetent, and bereft of ideas than the people they replaced.