Did somebody say “diplomacy“?:

President Bashar al-Assad met a Republican member of the U.S. Congress on Thursday, a day after Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ended a visit to Syria that was criticized by the White House.

The official news agency said the meeting between Assad and Darrell Issa, a member of the House Committee on Intelligence, discussed ways to improve relations between Washington and Damascus.

Go ahead, Dubya: call him a sellout.  Try it, you know you want to.  It’s rattling around in your skull that any communication not involving bombs is hippie crap, we can see it on your face, go right ahead and let it out.