Democrat Wants to Visit Iran

Democratic representative Tom Lantos, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representative told reporters that he wants to visit Iran and has been trying for 10 years to obtain a visa. Lantos is a Hungarian-born survivor of the Holocaust.

Lantos said that he is ready to go, and “knowing the Speaker, I think she might be”. The House Speaker Nancy Pelosi standing next to Lantos at the press conference did not challenge his remarks.

Pelosi said that while she finds Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s remarks on Holocaust to be repulsive and outside the circle of civilized human behavior, the willingness of Lantos, a Holocaust survivor, to meet with Ahmadinejad “speaks volumes about the importance of dialogue.”

The White House said today it would be “unproductive and unhelpful” for the Democratic Leaders of the Congress to visit Iran. White House spokesman Dana Perino said that it’s troubling that there are Democrats in Congress who are making travel arrangements to go to Tehran.