Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade argued that it would be “nice” for President Obama to invite George W. Bush to join him at Ground Zero on Thursday. Rice dodged that, but said, “President Bush had at Ground Zero probably the most important moment maybe in American history. It was when this wounded nation watched their commander-in-chief stand on that rubble and say that they will hear us, we are going to avenge this.”
Um, Condi? It was a good moment, and it was powerful imagery, but to suggest the bullhorn speech may have been “the most important moment maybe in American history” is so absurd, it’s almost comical.
Rice went on to defend the observation, noting the bullhorn speech was “a clarion call to the nation at Ground Zero,” which in turn led to a successful war in Afghanistan, a successful war in Iraq, and many defeats for al Qaeda, and the death of bin Laden. “Surely,” Rice added, “this is all coming into place and President Bush began that with that call to the nation.”
I wish they knew how to quit him.
Paul in KY
She is famous for never admitting to an error, either hers or his. Plus, she lurves him.
Mwangangi
W. T. F.?!
Sad_Dem
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been successful, if by “successful” you mean they have, as intended, moved vast amounts of our money into private hands.
Janus Daniels
The more they toot Bush, the better.
We’ve got an election to win.
cleek
most important event in American history…
wow.
Mark S.
Dear fucking god that’s embarrassing.
Xecky Gilchrist
a successful war in Afghanistan, a successful war in Iraq
Did those happen really quickly, before the multi-year ongoing clusterfucks?
Keith
Jesus Fucking Christ, this woman has a PhD? I wouldnt even expect Rush Limbaugh to attempt to claim giving a pep rally could be the greatest moment in our history.
dmsilev
You know, I’m just going to go ahead and assume that Fort Sumter and Appomattox Courthouse each individually rank just a tad higher.
Dennis SGMM
Condi must also view the charge of the Light Brigade as the most successful moment in British military history.
WereBear
To be fair… Bush did major in cheerleading.
MattR
I have started typing several different comments, but words just escape me. There is so much wrong there in so little space.
Here is the key part of Bush’s momentous speech: I can hear you! I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people — and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon! And by soon, we all knew that he meant more than nine years later.
ppcli
You guy’s are being too narrow minded: I think that Condi’s got a point. After all, who better to join Obama to acknowledge the death of the architect of 9/11 than the guy on whose watch 9/11 occurred?
The Ancient Randonneur
And as Benen points out, Rice was one of the least ridiculous people in that administration.
Dennis SGMM
Yeah, it was a series of inspirational moments; Bush flees D.C. in Air force One, Bush stands in the rubble, Bush tells us to go shopping. I still get a tear in my eye thinking about it.
ppcli
@Dennis SGMM: Naw, she reserves that title for Elphinstone’s campaign ending at Gandamak. It’s what inspired the invasion of Afghanistan in the first place.
Silver Owl
Sometimes I think today’s conservatives are an alien species plagued with brain wave hiccups that ’cause them to say the stupidest things.
Roger Moore
Hyperbole, thy name is Condi.
dmsilev
@Dennis SGMM:
I think Stephen Colbert said it best:
ppcli
@Keith: I think she regards American history as beginning with the election of Bush and ending when he stepped down. And in that context, she might have a point. After all, when Bush was standing there shouting at people through his bullhorn, he wasn’t actually actively f**king anything up. So it did represent a high point of competence.
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
A “B” movie starring you
And the world will turn to flowing
Pink vapor stew
Best concert I ever did see.
KG
By no definition can Bush’s speech at Ground Zero be considered the most important moment in US history. A few things that beat it:
1. Signing of the Declaration of Independence
2. The 1789 Constitutional Convention
3. The Marbury v Madison decision being handed down by the Supreme Court
4. The South declaring war
5. The Gettysburg Address
6. The Emancipation Proclamation
7. The assassination of Lincoln
8. The 1929 Stock Market crash (leading to the Great Depression)
9. The Wickard v Filburn decision being handed down by the Supreme Court, effectively starting the era of modern governance
10. The bombing of Pearl Harbor (and the Nothing to Fear speech that followed)
11. The invasion of Normandie
12. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
13. The assassination of JFK
14. The assassination of MLK
15. The passage of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act
16. Reagan meeting Gorbachov
17. 9/11
18. The election of Obama
And that’s just off the top of my fucking head.
The Dangerman
The harder they try just points to the fact that they have to know they are historically fucked. 9/11 happened on their watch, Iraq was a clusterfuck, Obama got Osama, etc.
Bulworth
I actually much prefer this line:
I mean, after all, I saw George W in that situation room watching the invasion unfold. Didn’t you?
Shorter Faux News: We really hate that Obama is prezdent and that he got OBL. Can’t we show our prezdent at the victory party?
Also, too: we only haz one president at a time.
Splitting Image
Presumably she thinks the Gettysburg Address was where Lincoln lived.
Trinity
Steven Benen blogged about this too…as I said over there:
Yeah – that whole freeing a race of people from a despicable chattel slavery thing was peanuts compared to Dubya with a bullhorn.
Condi was, is, and has always been a sad joke.
Ugh.
Nellcote
@ppcli:
It was clearly downhill from there.
ppcli
@KG: Don’t forget KFC introducing the Double Down.
slag
I don’t know. Condi may be on to something here. Malaprop heard ’round the world?
arguingwithsignposts
@KG:
Shorter: Fucking history, how does it work?
Cat Lady
Keep wrapping that boat anchor around your necks Republicans. Nothing would be better for the country than taking all of Chimpy’s “accomplishments” and “words of wisdom” out for a spin again, just in time for the Republican candidates, if there ever are any, to campaign on. What could go wrong?
Comrade Javamanphil
@Bulworth: Maybe they could see what Paul Ryan is up to and they could all hit the Applebees for the salad bar and a beer.
Surly Duff
It is much easier to rewrite history to create a legacy out of whole cloth than it is to make a legacy based upon real actions.
jl
I’m in support of inviting Bush Jr, along with all the other presidents who FAILED to get bin Laden,
as long as Gillespie and Agnew’s 2009 UCLA Geography remote sensing class gets an invite too.
“the predictions of UCLA geographer Thomas Gillespie, who, along with colleague John Agnew and a class of undergraduates, authored a 2009 paper predicting the terrorist’s whereabouts, were none too shabby. According to a probabilistic model they created, there was an 80.9% chance that bin Laden was hiding out in Abbottabad, Pakistan”
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/03/972501/-Geographers-predict-Osamas-location
Nutella
@Keith:
Newt has a PhD, too. From Tulane. I lost all respect for Tulane when I heard that. Where did Rice get her PhD? Their standards must be low, too.
Or maybe there can be people who earned PhDs who are also total lying fucks.
Yevgraf (fka Michael)
It is bizarroworld out there today. One commentator thought that Kommander Kodpiece should have been granted access to the real time vid feed, and should have been allowed to make the announcement to the country.
Of course, the Sheriff is Near, and even though he defeated Mongo, it doesn’t do one good to be seen praising him.
Apropos of nothing whatsoever, I saw a story today that said that 40% of Southerners (which is a super sizeable batch of white folks) still support the Confederacy.
White people suck – we really, really suck.
Dennis SGMM
Condi’s remarks seem even more addled when you recall this:
slag
@jl: That paper looked really interesting. But it says nothing about Abbottabad, specifically. Its findings were both more general and more specific than that, which complicated them.
trollhattan
Jeez. Was Condi outfitted with her “USA” foam finger? She must have taken the same history classes as Bluto, “Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?” Blutarsky. Although IIRC he did become president.
I hope Standord’s getting their money’s worth.
Culture of Truth
This just in: (AP) “According to Dick Cheney, George Bush is responsible for getting Barack Obama elected President, ‘and he is maybe our greatest President in history’ so Bush should get the credit for rescuing America and the world.”
artem1s
well if he gets to be there then the President totally has to invite Sarah Palin, cause she could SEE bin Laden from her back porch.also.too.
Chris
@The Dangerman:
Try to imagine what the situations would be if they were reversed. If 9/11 had happened on Clinton’s watch. If Yugoslavia had turned out to be the clusterfuck that either Iraq or Afghanistan were/are. If Bush had managed to get Osama. Imagine their reaction, and that of the Very Serious Villagers, to that.
Compare and contrast with the way they’ve been reduced to whining about the unfairness of Obama claiming victory… ah fun. The schadenfreude, it burns.
Hal
@nutella
Stanford I believe. But hey, Bush got a MBA from Harvard, too, and he turned out to be quite the CEO President.
Though I should say, I have a friend who has a family member who worked directly for Condi at Stanford and he said she was very nice. So I guess that makes up for all the rest!
Comrade Javamanphil
@KG: Moon landing, Kittyhawk, Edison, the Hula Hoop, National Park System, A Bomb, The Flinstones, Watergate, Louisiana Purchase, Justin Beiber, Manifest Destiny, LOLcats, Rock and Roll, All Internet Traditions, and on and on and on…
kindness
Back when ABL first posted a thread saying Osama had been killed, I said Karl Rove would be proclaiming this a great win for bush43. In my wildest dreams I never thought they would go to the lengths they have to act like this is bush43’s winning moment. Of course, we’re talking about lying scum political operatives here. That’s what they do for a living, sadly. I am disappointed that I did not forsee the reichtwingnutz proclaiming the killing of bin Laden as a win for torture though.
I gotta be more careful not to underestimate the sack-of-shitedness that republicans are capable of.
PS – throw a few more peanuts to the squirrels running your servers. They are deathly slow today.
Mike Kay (Team America)
And to think Alec Baldwin was fucking her
Bulworth
I expect Faux to start rerunning the infamous Bush-bullhorn scene on an endless loop, intermixed with scenes from Saddam being pulled out of the spider-hole, or wherever he was.
Dead-enders!
Culture of Truth
You have to understand, in their minds, after years of liberal democrats failing to heed the warnings, and letting 9/11 happen, George Bush finally saw the terror threat for what is was, and put us on a war footing, which is what led to the capture of Osama bin Laden. Obama is incidental, except that he too like Clinton fails to recogize we are at war.
Also he dithers and is a secret islamic anti-colonial indonesian witch doctor from Kenya.
Donut
@ Janus Daniels @ 4:
Exactly! I don’t ubderstand why people are pissing and moaning about this. The people who wanna give Bush credit for OBL’s death are 27 percenters, fer fuck’!s sake. The rest
Bokonon
Typical Bushies. All these years later, and they are still telling us that good TV visuals are more important than objective reality.
And I think this speaks loudly of the contempt that the Bushies had – and continue to have – for the collective intelligence of the American people.
The Bush people are STILL pissing on our leg, and then intoning from the TV screen – with the greatest of import and seriousness – that it is raining.
They are shameless. But these spin tactics have always worked well for them – except for those instances when reality turned toxic, and came crashing in on the nation, and couldn’t be denied or spun any longer. So why should they stop now, in retirement? They are playing for the history books (and for whatever partisan advantage they can wring for the GOP, in the shorter run).
Villago Delenda Est
The stupid bint should share a tumbrel with the deserting coward.
Mike Kay (Team America)
@Bulworth:
They did that Monday morning.
Donut
@ Janus Daniels @ 4:
Exactly! I don’t ubderstand why people are pissing and moaning about this. The people who wanna give Bush credit for OBL’s death are 27 percenters, fer fuck’!s sake. The rest of the country is not so stupid as to buy what shit Condi is selling. She made rhe remarks on Fox. Enough said. Everyone but Fox viewers resists vomiting upon hearing Bush’s name. Let them talk about it all they want.
Elia Isquire
Yeah, I suppose the Revolution was important.
And, sure, Gettysburg or the Emancipation Proclamantion were nice.
But when, for the first time in history, a dude in New York City made a bunch of noise about kicing everyone’s ass — that was when the world changed. Forever.
Culture of Truth
By Rice’s logic, doesn’t Bill Clinton deserve credit for the bullhorn moment?
Hans Solo
You fail to realize that for Condi and the rest of the “Mayberry Machiavellis” everything, I mean everything, was about politics.
When looked at it in that manner the Dubya spiel on the rubble heap was certainly the best photo op of the Bush years. And since today’s media environment is so much bigger and better than previous administrations, a spectacular photo op today is worth more than it would have been before the internets and cable news.
If all you care about is short term political gain I can see how you could consider the Bush trash spiel, “The most important moment in American History.” After all, Bush’s popularity went way, way up… for awhile.
But the thing is policy matters. Actions matter. Photo ops may help you get elected, but that is about all they are good for. And the only thing the Mayberry Machiavelli’s were good for was photo ops. Synergy!
jl
@slag: I posted that in jest.
But not in jest is what is with the effort to include Bush Jr. in on so much of the credit? As I said in a comment in the last thread, GW Bush’s most memorable accomplishment in getting bin Laden is that he failed.
On that score, Clinton gets credit too. Maybe more. Clinton almost fired a missile, which seems to be more than GW did. I believe that GW Bush’s famous last words were that he did not think about it much.
Reality is making people on TV say strange things, for some reason.
JCT
@Dennis SGMM: I pointed that out over at Benen’s — gosh, George, you think that maybe if your briefing hadn’t BORED you so much you might not have to stand on a pile of rubble surrounded by a couple of thousand innocent murdered people?
The idiocy is seemingly limitless.
PeakVT
Bush’s bullhorn bombast was clearly the most important moment in American history in that hour on that day in that year.
Dennis SGMM
@JCT:
Yep, Bush was so worked up about the threat posed by bin Laden that he remained on vacation for the rest of the month. If you’re a Republican though, babbling into a bullhorn more than makes up for the fact that you allowed the disaster to happen in the first place.
Paris
I never understood the fascination with that loser. On that day in NYC, all I could think was that if that happened on my watch, the only proper thing to do is resign. Although we would have gotten Cheney so maybe not such a good idea.
WereBear
Well, yeah… I can go along with that.
Warren Terra
Be fair. After all, this is Condi, frequently called Bush’s work wife. I’m sure she’s just taking the “Love, Honor, and Obey” vow seriously.
@Hal:
I believe that I read that her PhD, which was on Soviet affairs, got the state of the Soviet Union very, very wrong. Though she was far from rare in that regard.
I actually have friends who supposedly live down the street from her – but last I heard, they’d never met her, nor tried to.
Ruckus
@MattR:
To keep my typing down to a minimum I just type the following:
All conservatives are assholes.
It’s short, pithy and with one or two possible, but unprovable challenges, true.
Shoemaker-Levy 9
Sorry, Ms. Rice, bin Laden’s life was a big win — for bin Laden. He lived a relatively long time, alternating between luxury and pseudo-spiritual asceticism, then died in the manner that he and his acolytes must have long fantasized about. In the process he turned the most powerful nation on Earth by degrees into an increasingly frightened, reactionary people, abetted by a morally and intellectually weak President.
Bin Laden won, Bush lost, and the rest of us were caught in the crossfire.
It wasn’t even that, it was the type of empty gesture of which Americans are so fond.
Tsulagi
Yeah, you can’t touch that.
Bravo Condi. The force of reality manufacturing is with you. Setting the bar so fucking high you need the Hubble telescope to see it.
Barry
@Keith:
“Jesus Fucking Christ, this woman has a PhD? I wouldnt even expect Rush Limbaugh to attempt to claim giving a pep rally could be the greatest moment in our history.”
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condoleeza_Rice#Academic_career
She is a full professor at Stanford, has been vice provost, and is a whatever at the Hoover Institute.
Which tells us a lot about Stanford and the Hoover Institute.
Mike Kay (Team America)
@Culture of Truth: actually Reagan, since he’s the once who originally armed and financed Bin Laden war against the Soviets.
Ash Can
@PeakVT:
On that particular street corner in Manhattan.
Maybe.
Muley Graves
FUCK THAT
Culture of Truth
@Mike Kay (Team America): So Obama should bring Reagan’s casket to Ground Zero and have him beatified there?
I like it….
JCT
@Culture of Truth: Fucking hell, don’t give them any ideas!
Just imagine Peggy Noonan slobbering all over the casket.
Ash Can
As for Condi, I guess love makes people do (and say) strange things. But it baffles me what she could possibly see in him. The guy’s a nebbish.
MattR
@JCT: We could probabaly pay off the national debt with all the fines for indecent exposure and public lewdness.
(EDIT: Not to jinx anything, but did Balloon Juice just kick back into gear for everyone else?)
Dennis SGMM
@Ash Can:
I hear that he is a masochist and that he liked those widely-spaced longitudinal lacerations on his penis.
Dennis SGMM
Aw, jeez; moderation. Fa what?
Nellcote
If Bush gets “credit” for the WOT he gets credit for the economy too.
JenJen
Via LGF comes news that “the killing of Osama bin Laden has motivated (Pam) Geller to plumb new depths of bad craziness.”
Oh, dear. Crazy-Ass Pam says the entire thing was the result of the military overriding the President in an inner White House coup. I am not making this up.
maya
Hey the guy did take the bull by the horn and blew it.
Also, too, yesterday I prophesized that today FOX would be calling for a ticker tape parade down Broadway to the WWC site for Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Giuliani where they would place victory olive branches..on each other. And the day isn’t over yet.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@Comrade Javamanphil:
Bieber is Canadian.
danimal
I’ll choose the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the bombing of Hiroshima/Nagasaki as more important events in the history of the US.
This game’s so easy, it’s no fun to play.
ETA: Great song shout-out.
Dr. Loveless
@Dennis SGMM:
Don’t forget “My Pet Goat.” Made me all verklempt, that one did.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
I don’t know about you all but I’m still pissed off that FDR wouldn’t let Hoover stand on the deck of the battleship Missouri in Tokyo harbor to receive the Japanese surrender.
Jonny Scrum-half
Condi is out of her mind. The most important moment in American history was when GWB threw the first-pitch strike at the 2001 World Series.
piratedan
@Hal: well based on that information I would suspect that Education reform is sorely needed if those two fuckers can pass go, much less class requirements and a coherent thesis.
MattR
@MattR: And, I think I jinxed it.
@JenJen: Fer crissakes. I assumed that link went to LGF. I need to go delouse my computer ;)
@danimal: And nobody has mentioned the burning of Washington DC during the War of 1812. I’d venture that the only time in our nation’s history that its capital was occupied by a foreign power would qualify as relatively important.
Odie Hugh Manatee
Condi should have stuck with the piano because she’s too fucking stupid to have once been our Secretary of State.
Maybe that’s why Bush liked her, she made him feel smart.
Morbo
Speaking of Ground Zero word on the street (i.e. Twitter) is that Rashard Mendenhall is, at the very least, truther curious. Just thought it would be a tidbit of interest to our host.
Hungry Joe
They can’t stop loving Bush II because his presidency was an almost unqualified success: He gutted financial oversight, eviscerated environmental programs, ripped great holes in society’s safety net, funneled hundreds of billions to the very richest among us, and, in a time of peace — a horrendous terrorist attack by a handful of lunatics is NOT a war — managed to increase the military budget far above and way beyond what it was when the Commies had all those nu-cyu-lar weapons pointed at us. The man accomplished damn near everything he set out to accomplish. If that’s not success, what is?
dmsilev
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
Hard to blame FDR for that one, being that he was dead at the time. Unless it was one of those secret instruction sheets that some conspiracists claim that Presidents leave for their successors.
dms
Stefan
“President Bush had at Ground Zero probably the most important moment maybe in American history. It was when this wounded nation watched their commander-in-chief stand on that rubble and say that they will hear us, we are going to avenge this.”
The battles of Lexington and Concord, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitutional Convention, the Gettysburg Address, the surrender at Appomattox, the Emancipation Proclamation, Pearl Harbor, Dr. King’s address at the Lincoln Memorial…ah, fuck it. Sure, the most important moment maybe was a frat boy climbing on a rubble with a bull-horn.
Stefan
“President Bush had at Ground Zero probably the most important moment maybe in American history. It was when this wounded nation watched their commander-in-chief stand on that rubble and say that they will hear us, we are going to avenge this.”
Once again, and I can’t stress this enough, the President is not the commander-in-chief of American citizens. He’s the commander-in-chief of the American military.
gocart mozart
Well, even Michele Bachman has a law degree, but its from Liberty University (now Regents) so I am not sure that counts.
burnspbesq
@Barry:
“Which tells us a lot about Stanford and the Hoover Institute.”
What exactly does it tell you?
There are hundreds of distinguished scholars and teachers at Cal. There is also John Yoo. John Yoo was granted tenure long before he went to work for DOJ, which essentially means that if he doesn’t get disbarred or caught in flagrante delicto with a student, he cant be fired.
What does that tell you about Cal?
Dr. Rice had tenure before she went to work at the White House. I’m eager to hear the grounds on which you think Stanford should get rid of her.
Stefan
And nobody has mentioned the burning of Washington DC during the War of 1812. I’d venture that the only time in our nation’s history that its capital was occupied by a foreign power would qualify as relatively important.
For the Republicans, that’s every time a Democrat sits in the White House.
catclub
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ: Neither would Truman. lol
Heck, Truman didn’t even let FDR come to the ceremony.
MonkeyBoy
Bush’s bullhorn cheer leading was the highlight of his tenure as President. Of course republicans want to relive what they regard as his least awful moment.
burnspbesq
@gocart mozart:
“Well, even Michele Bachman has a law degree, but its from Liberty University (now Regents) so I am not sure that counts.”
There is plenty that can usefully be said about Bachmann without making shit up. She has a J.D. from Oral Roberts and an LL.M from William & Mary, both of which are perfectly respectable, ABA-accredited law schools.
hells littlest angel
When it comes to foreign policy, Rice plays a fine fucking piano.
Elie
@Warren Terra:
Its just self justification. I think many in W’s administration are wondering what they did that was any good at all since the catastrophe happenned on their watch, they didn’t catch OBL, had a terrible Iraq war that they started and could not win. WTF DID they do, after all? In one gutsy move, Obama repudiated their whole administration!
The only thing left is tax cuts for rich folks and if those are allowed to expired or minimized, that is the only remaining thing except a mountain of debt and an almost destroyed financial system.
She knows they stink and every fucking Republican knows it too. Not a thing can be done to save that perception or make it feel better. That little bull horn scene is just sad, really. Not because Bush addressed the people on that site after the horrible event, but because that was the highest point of accomplishment. Nothing else this administration did turned out to help anything. The bullhorn once was their potent “call to arms”. But nothing happened. Now it just symbolizes Bush’s futility.
Just Some Fuckhead
@gocart mozart:
Liberty is Falwell’s school in Lynchburg, Virginia. Regent (singular) is Robertson’s school in Virginia Beach, about 6 hours away, no affiliation.
Omnes Omnibus
@burnspbesq: Oral Roberts U became Regents. It tends to have a stellar National Moot Court Team FWIW.
tomvox1
@burnspbesq:
How the fuck does John Yoo not get his tenure revoked and get kicked out on his torture loving ass?
Now that tells me a lot about UC Berkeley–that they have a case of the peepants over firing conservatives, no matter how fucking vile their beliefs.
danimal
@MattR: I swear to Bieber that I was ‘this close’ to adding the burning of the White House to my comment, cuz it seems like a pretty good contrast to the “9/11 is an unprecedented attack on our sovereignty” propaganda.
gocart mozart
I mixed up my preachers. you are correct, Oral Roberts not Jerry Falwell but yes, some affiliation.
From Wikipedia
cal1942
I give her an F in 8th grade US History.
Bokonon
What Condi is claiming is that the words from Bush’s bullhorn traveled around the world and, then, ten years later, they killed Osama Bin Laden dead.
Because nothing is as powerful as when THE LEADER voices HIS WILL.
Obama? Just fulfilling THE LEADER’S WILL.
All bow down to THE WILL.
Comrade Javamanphil
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: Ah. Yes, well. Umm. I believe that makes it central to my point.
DaddyJ
Surely, Ms. Rice, the bullhorn moment was far less important than the time G.W.B spoke the immortal words: “All right. You’ve covered your ass, now.”
Don’tcha think?
burnspbesq
@tomvox1:
“How the fuck does John Yoo not get his tenure revoked and get kicked out on his torture loving as”
I believe I’ve already explained it. Note that explaining it is not the same as liking it. If you want to start a petition to the State Bar of California, I will sign it and put my bar number on it.
kth
Cut the lady some slack: lots of women brag on their husbands.
No one of Importance
I don’t understand Condi Rice. She’s brilliant, beautiful, talented, disarmingly open, and certainly clear-eyed about history other than when it comes to Dubya.
The only thing I can come up with is that she has to believe Dubya is a genius because if she accepted him as the dimwitted puppet of monsters that he really is, she would have to accept her own role in his crimes. And I’m guessing that would be so horrific to the decent person Rice is inside, she would have to kill herself in disgust.
She could have been your first female President and your first Black one, if she’d batted for the right team. As it is, she’s doomed to go down in history as a mealy-mouthed laughing stock. It’s so sad. Such a dogdamned waste.
Elie
@No one of Importance:
You give her way too much credit.
The “credit to her race” thing also sticks in my craw a bit.
She has a first rate ambition, a second rate intelligence and third rate character. You would have to be blinded by ambition and power to not see W’s ignorance and lack of integrity — or not have any herself.
I have been betrayed by one or two people in my life who I thought had something special and turned out to be frauds. Its not really that uncommon — especially in an environment where people are tempted by greed and ambition and where there is an “elite” clique such as what she was in. It takes some serious life events to strip the bark off of people such that they see truth and even then, some do not.
She is an accomplished black woman who never built her soul all the way. Not a bad person, and imperfect like all of us. In no way, no WAY, would I ever put her and the role of President in the same sentence, however.
I am a proud black woman and I would rather Rush Limbaugh be elected than this person who protected the known incompetence of Bush from the accountability that he deserved. Who would sell out so cheaply who knew what he represented, seriously?
Colin Powell knows the deal. He appreciated what he facilitated and is mortified in the memory of it. Probably still lays awake at night — cause he has a soul, you see. Condi — not so much.
jaleh
I saw this somewhere:
Any credit Bush deserves has to start with the following:
1) He refused to carry on with Clinton-era counter-terrorims efforts.
2) He ignored the daily brief entitled “Bin Laden Determined to Attack US”
3) 9/11 Happened on his watch.
4) He sent too few troops after Bin Laden in the first place
5) He attacked Iraq, which had nothing to do with 9/11 or Bin Laden
6) He didn’t order a mission to get Bin Laden at Tora Bora
7) He authorized illegal torture which delayed useful intelligence gathering
8) He admitted he wasn’t interested in Bin Laden
Elie
@No one of Importance:
And what do you mean by “your first black one”?
Whaaa ??? Obama is not “black” enough for you? What.do.you.mean, Bro?
honus
@KG: well, since you start American History with the Declaration of Independence (I was sort of giving the technical benefit of the doubt that the United States didn’t exist until the ratification of the Constitution in 1789) but I’d probably throw the Battle of Yorktown in there between the two as arguably more important than Bush with his bullhorn at Ground Zero.
No one of Importance
@Elie:
“And what do you mean by “your first black one”?”
Meaning she might have been the Democratic nominee years before Obama.
Obama is plenty black enough for me, ‘bro’. Condy was just making a splash before him, that’s all. Trouble is, it was in the wrong party – like, a black woman is *ever* going to lead the Republicans?
No one of Importance
@Elie:
Not a phrase I used, or would ever use, actually. I do find her someone who should be a wonderful role model to other women, regardless of colour, and instead behaves like the worst office wife cliché going. Beyond disappointing. It’s sickening.
I think you’re right. Which is why I said it was such a waste. Condi has a great many gifts, and she’s pissed them away in the service of a venal, stupid, amoral mass murderer. I am in agreement with that Powell is superior as a human being and a person of conscience.
JRon
Great song, great band. Had to go buy a copy of Tapeheads back in the day just to get the scene with Slow Bus Movin’.
Album on vinyl, movie on VHS… Guess it’s past time to re-purchase.
honus
@Just Some Fuckhead: 3 hours away, but right, no affiliation. Although Liberty does have a law school, too. I don’t where Bachmann got her JD.
honus
I’m just sorry I missed those parties where Condi would play the piano while Ashcroft sang “Where the Eagle Soars”
honus
@burnspbesq: Drop that Dookie smugness. The boy’s not so far off:
[Bachmann] was a member of the final graduating class of Oral Roberts’ law school, and was part of a group of faculty, staff, and students who moved the ORU law school to what is now Regent University.”
And Regent wasn’t accredited until 1996, when they threatened to hold their breath until the ABA gave in.
Elie
@No one of Importance:
Sorry — didnt mean to put you on the spot… just was taken aback before I read your comments more completely…
I am totally able to accept that humans are way imperfect — even the most gifted. I have no problem accepting Condi’s basic intelligence but I have major problems with her values and character. Those two attributes greatly influence her perspective and cognitive abilities — essentially neutralizing the power of the gifts that she might offer. In some ways, maybe she was too successful too early in her career and bought the farm for membership in the clique before she understood her tradeoffs. Maybe, some years hence we will see a book describing her journey and perspective. Somehow I doubt it. Like the piano playing — it sounds ok but in the end, means nothing.
No one of Importance
@Elie:
No worries. I could have worded things better.
Yes. Not to go all Godwin, but it’s like Hitler being kind to animals. Condi’s talents and beauty were in service to horror, so they actually make it worse than if she was a stupid, ignorant person who couldn’t know better.
JenJen
@MattR: Yowch!! Sorry about that, intended to link to LGF, I think maybe Pammy’s post caused spontaneous hallucinations of some sort.
Elie
@No one of Importance:
Yes, indeed.
billy rae valentine
i’m always late to the party.
anyway, the latest is that obama invited bush to the thursday ground zero thing.
bush declined.
Bulworth
So, after Obama DOES take the advice of Faux and Fiends and invites W to hang out at Ground Zero, and W declines, the reichwing media NOW says
Whack-a-mole. Nothing will ever satisfy the Base.
http://mediamatters.org/research/201105040020?newsref=www.eschatonblog.com