Condi Rice has become an absurd figure....

Wetzelbill

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Thu Dec-08-05 09:37 PM
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Condi Rice has become an absurd figure....

Edited on Thu Dec-08-05 09:59 PM by Wetzelbill

It started when her bizarre Mother Hen relationship with Bush started coming to light, and only got worse when she folded herself in with the neo-cons in the administration. For a while, Condi went missing in action. She was pretty invisible off and on for the first few years of Junior's presidency. Then she started popping up echoing WMD propaganda and became one of the leading faces of the rush to war. Somewhat because Condi and Colin Powell had been the only people in Junior's first administration who had a little bit of appeal. The rest were either vulcanized crags like Cheney, obscure goofballs like Wolfowitz, washed-up retreads like Rumsfeld or behind the scenes types like Andy Card. Rice and Powell had broader public appeal. So they became effective propagandists for the White House.

Rice, in particular, utilized her closeness to the president, not to assert her own will and ideas, but to curry favor with the more hard-line elements in the administration, such as Cheney and Rove. Instead of being a moderate voice, as Powell attempted to be and her presumed reputation attested, she abandoned the power practical Realism of her mentor Brent Scowcroft, and opted for the more radical imperialistic vision of the Wolfowitz-influenced Neo-cons. Maybe she had to do so. Certainly, Powell only went along half-heartedly and everybody knew he was going to be gone after a while. Maybe Condi did what she had to do to stick around.

She also took a major turn when the Wilson-Plame affair came about, something which she looks like probably had a role in. On Meet The Press, she denied knowing about the Joe Wilson NY Times op-ed, something that was so ridiculous it made her look foolish, if not someone politically stupid. When Richard Clarke's book came out, his indictment of Rice, in particular, was compelling. Clarke notes that when he first mentioned Al-qaeda to Rice, she looked as if she never heard the term before, and he also effectively makes a case that she never took the threat seriously before 9-11. Shortly, thereafter Rice's testimony to the 9-11 commission was again, almost cartoonish as it unfolded. She spoke with little, if any merit, never saying anything all that interesting or knowledgable. Her one shining moment will probably go down as one of the most out-of-touch "what, me worry?" comments in history. It occured when she was forced to give the name of the August 6, 2001 Presidential Daily brief, which is: "Bin Laden Determined To Strike In US. " After stating this, she then went on to dismiss the content as "historical."

In her nomination hearings, she had a few curt exchanges with Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) regarding her propensity to, not tell the truth, to put it nicely. Rice defended herself of course, however, her comments of the last few years hyping the war and defending the action, have become so wildly off the mark that she trails only the delusional Cheney in unwarranted hyperbole and pure foolishness. (Mushroom clouds, anyone?)Once becoming Secretary of State, Rice immediately made waves by wearing Dominatrix-like outfits. She's widely known for two things. Lying, ineptitude and power dressing. That's pretty much been the extent of her accomplishments as a public servant.

Until she gave her torture speech the other day.

In it Rice stretched the boundaries of the meaning of torture. She insulted governments who are angry over the U.S. using their airspace and airports for extraodinary renditions, by stating that the United States respects the sovereignty of other nations. This at a time when Italy has handed down 22 indictments of CIA officers, with regards to the kidnapping of an Egyptian suspect in the country. This when a German citizen was held and tortured by the government she is part of. This when there have been as many as 800 offending flights over European airspace in the last few years. She just kept going and going. Dissembling in such disingenous ways that I am, frankly, tired of writing about each inanity.

In recent days, she has embarassed the new Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel by telling her the treatment of the innocent German, Khaled al-Masri, was a "mistake," then issuing a statement later on that she never said it. Further hurting our country's reputation in an already distant Germany. Her personal credibility dipping possibly as low as Bush's in the country. Whatever credibility she may have had anyway. The absurdities that comes out of her mouth every time she opens it has long since made earnest listeners tune her out when she starts getting on a roll.

Rice has been credibility challenged for a few years now. You never learn anything valid from her. Listening to her on a Sunday Morning show is virtually useless. She has aligned herself with far-right ideologues so much, that she has burned bridges with both Powell and Scowcroft. She's a full-fledged Vulcan now. Whether she intended to be I don't know. Her recent torture speech may just well become her defining moment. The same way that Powell will forever be remembered for the travesty he put on at the United Nations in front of the world on February 5, 2003. An embarrassment that consisted of little truth, lots of bluster and a record amount of unmitigated gall. Rice's hubris just may have topped that. This White House is a disaster, like a horrible play unfolding before our eyes. We want to leave, but the doors are locked. So all we can do is watch and listen.

And in this theater of the absurd, Rice will be remembered as one of the biggest stars.

That is not a good thing.