Our Secretary of State has my vote for ’08 so far!
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I’d vote for her in a heartbeat. I just hope she runs.
One criticism of a Rice candidacy is that she’s never held elective office, hasn’t “paid her dues”. But these are unique times we’re living in, and she has definitely got a handle on foreign policy, which any rational person would have to rate as the most crucial issue.
Apart from her, I can’t see any viable Republican candidates on the horizon, and that is worrying me. If McCain becomes the nominee, I will have to vote Libertarian, even if Hillary is his opponent. No way would I vote for either one of those a**hats.
What is worrying me even more, though, is the housing bubble. Not personally, since I just inherited the house my parents owned. It’s paid for, I have no plans to sell, and it wouldn’t affect me even if its value were cut in half overnight. But a lot of people are leveraged out the wazoo and when (not if) the bubble bursts, millions of people will be in a world of hurt. If it bursts before 2008, I think it would almost guarantee a Democrat victory.
Sign me up, too. Everytime I see her all I can think is “authenticity”. I know, not very poetic.
I don’t mean to be immodest, but I blogged this morning about an interview on NPR with a reporter who is accompanying our great Sec of State (who I would love to have the opportunity to vote for in 2008). He commented on her cool reception (no applause in a speech about democratization). He also commented that there was tremendous applause when an audience member asked: “Isn’t it time someone apologized for the Koran desecration?”
I have a link to the radio report which includes an interesting “Freudian slip” from the reporter.
(I tried to include the link here but Roger won’t allow it apparently.)
(sarcasm on) Special thanks go out to our MSM, some great Senators, film makers, et al, for doing so much in our war on Islamic fascism. (sarcasm off)
Yup, in a heartbeat.
All this – and the Brahms D Minor Sonata, too. With Yo Yo Ma, no less.
Sigh . . .
She is the sentimental favorite with my friends over here. Rice is not only the food of choice, but the Kanji used to represent America. Just makes things easier– President Rice.
Beyond sentiment, what Reagan and Nakasone started and Bush and Koizumi are seeing through, it all needs a bit more time. And as a supporter of Bush, the election of Rice would be another great addition to his legacy. It would also all but seal the fate of the present moonbat Democrats. Can you say, coffins and nails.
I’ll take her experience over any Senator’s anyday. Team her up with a governor, or governor/Senator and it’s a landslide.
Is this not the Rove plan. Look where Mehlman’s spending all his time. Witness the hysteria of the Dems. as the groups they must have continue to drift away. Mrs. Bush and Mrs. Cheney are going to come out in Rice’s corner early and the husbands are going to follow. Hughes and Cheney’s daughter are over at State right now. Plotting.
Rice/Allen.
Wow, first! And on topic, too. I surprise myself sometimes.
The housing bubble bursting is less of an issue than you might imagine. Most people live in their homes and if the value falls, they are still going to have a house to live in. It will affect some speculators and those poeple foolish enough to leverage their own home into other real estate. When the stock bubble burst, the NASDAQ went from 5000 to
(Roger apparently didnt like the second half of my comment.)
The NASDAQ went from 500o to
I too am affected by the Housing Bubble — I am priced out of Los Angeles. Well, not priced out, but refusing to buy, especially when buying means using some insanely risky adjustable rate interest only negative amortization mortgage.
But at least the bubble is mostly confined to blue states, with the exception of Florida. No housing bubble in Cincinatti and Dallas, that’s for sure. Maybe this is another Karl Rove plot? He’s going to put rich blue state liberals in financial difficulty, thereby cutting of the DNC’s funding?
Rickl, the other side of the case.
Skook, ain’t it the truth, just (*sigh*).
Rice/Bush would outpoll Rice/Allen at the moment. That might change by late ’06 depending on what Allen does to gain name recognition.
I’d say that there is a 15-20% chance of a third party ticket in ’08. McCain is going to run unless he’s incapacitated (with more than just mental limitations).
Is McCain/Clinton on a fusion “New Party” ticket beyond possibility? They are both weathervanes willing to say and do whatever it takes. Neither have discernible principles that they could be accused of abandoning and both have fallen for the myth of an “undifferentiated” middle ground.
Last try:
NASDAQ 5000 to under 2000, more than a 60% drop. A housing bubble drop would be more on the order of 10-15% and people would just decide to stay in their houses and not sell until the market recovered. The economy would slow but not crater.
I see no signs that the Foggy Bottom climate has changed for the better.
I was a realtor. {still could be if I did some continuing ed to reactivate my license}. God, I hated it.
There is no bubble here. And that is true for many parts of the country. The bubble tends to be regional.
As for Rice, I like and respect her.
As for Koran desecration I am tired of pretending I care. So there, shoot me, blow me up. I don’t care if someone got a drop of pee on someone’s Koran. I don’t even care if the detainees are ripping up their own Korans. The fact that Rice’s audience is concerned tells you just what we are up against.
yeah.. yeah.. yeah.. our people are illiterate, tribal, surperstitious and backward..now let’s get back to talking about the whole flushing the Koran thing.
Roger:
This isn’t a protest to a ambassodor behind closed doors in the White House, followed by self serving comments to the media about how rough they were with the ambassodor to give the pretense that real pressure was being applied. This was in country and in public.And it was serious talk. No doubt Bush doubters will say, “Well, look at Saudi Arabia, you have done nothing there”. Bull. There has been more progress towards Democracy in the Middle East under the Bush administration then under any other administration previously. Some by war. some by negotiation. It will take decades to fully bear fruit but it has started.
Maybe Bush is an idiot but this idiot knew better then to buy into the conventional wisdom that until the Israeli-Palestinian problem was solved nothing could be done anywhere else. While the brilliant Clinton was focusing like a laser beam and trying the hail mary summit diplomacy that blew up in his face, Bush and Rice have ignored the naysayers and have actually accomplished something. Is it finished? Hell no. But it has started? Yes. Instead of waiting for Arafat to change, which he never intended to do, they have spoke to the people about democracy above the heads of the dictatorships. And even though the Palestinian problem is still there, there has been slow progress that does not depended on one individual murderer to change his spots. Three cheers for the Idiots!
Rick Ballard
I’d say that there is a 15-20% chance of a third party ticket in ’08.
I’d say there’s a 100% chance of a third party ticket in “08. And the candidate’s name is McCain.
As with Perot in ’92, this could prove disastrous.
I think the best-case scenario in ’08 would be Condi running. If she chooses not to, I’ll be hiding under my bed.
–One criticism of a Rice candidacy is that she’s never held elective office, hasn’t “paid her dues”. –
Neither has de Villepin, never stopped him.
There’s not a housing bubble in my neck of greater Chicago.
Durn foreeeners driving up the prices.
Two things are certain:
1.) Bush/Rove will not go off into the sunset and let the GOP fend for itself to choose its next candidate. Read the tea leaves as the positioning is happening before your eyes. Traditionally, the party gets behind the nominee early.
2.) The Dems will have a knock down fight for
the nomination. Hillary is no shoo in. Kerry, Edwards, Richardson, Biden, Vilsak, Clark, blah, blah, pick a name [?] are not going to turn the party over to the Clinton/Carville/Ickes/Soros end of the party.
All else is speculation.
Thanks to our Dim party, Kerry, Kennnedy, Polosi, Reid, and ESPECIALLY Dickhead Durbin, Condi’s job is harder. So is the job of our military.
If the Dims win the White House in ’08, I would suggest that all people who live in large cities, move to less populated areas. Flyover country is going to look pretty attractive once a few of our major metropolitan areas get hit again.
Rice, tea leaves? Dare I say something is in the air, developing. So I hope.
Uranari, I like Abe, in the wings over on your side of the big pond.
rickl,
McCain’s popularity is a fiction. The ‘maverick’ status assigned to him by a fawning MSM is illusory. He is better characterized as a loose cannon with a mouth large enough to accept both feet at any time.
He started scampering back to the conservative camp on Sunday but the devil will need a heavy sweater before he is allowed back into conservative circles. Let’s not forget – Perot was a one off without party connections. McCain will be seen as a turncoat by most Rep if he runs as an independent. McCain’s results would be much closer to John Anderson’s than Ross Perot’s.
He’s a problem teamed with Hillary, an annoyance if he runs on his own.
Me too, Buddy. Me too.
Why there will never be a “President Condi”. But, don’t worry, as there are plenty of Bushes to choose from: Jeb, Laura, Noelle, Rutger, Wilbur, Cletus, or their clones?
Yeh, wot a buncha hicks. generations of senators, presidents, governors, hicks. Maybe a few more of ‘em make prez, they can get some class, hey, whatcha think?
generations of senators, presidents, governors, hicks. Maybe a few more of ‘em make prez, they can get some class, hey, whatcha think?
That’s a cute comment. Unfortunately, you seem to be trying to sell the Bush-as-cowboy propaganda. For a particularly putrid example, see this. Here are examples from another country.
The possibility of political dynasties should be disturbing to all but party hacks.
I’m not trying to sell anything. I just like Bush. I’m not even a Republican. Dynasty thing bothers me a little. Surprising, really, that GWB overcame that “son” thing. Guess he’s good–or Americans are just stoopid. Which one ya reckon it is, “Lonewacko”?
Well, got the horses all milked, guess I’ll hang muh Stetson, lay down, pull off muh boots and jacket.
Sumping tells me that maybe Mr. Lonewacko, there, has reason to fear that Bush-as-cowboy, and maybe lone ranger, propagandy. might have the bite o’ truth to it. Funny how some stories are true even when they’re made up, ain’t it. God, i’d vote for mr. Cowboy just because he ran away from all that ivy league stuff. There’s lonewackos and then there’s geniuses who flee real idolatry and, instead of goin’ lonesome, make a whole new wholesome, as they see it, world for themselves. That’s genius, I say, don’t care what anyone thinks.
Roger:
The thought of the Republicans nominating the first serious black female to run for the Presidency has the Dems peeing in their pants. It takes away half of their favorite talking points. While they have talked about how they are the African Americans best friend while never giving them any seats at the big boys table the Republicans can point to how they have appointed people of color to the most powerfull places of power in the country. Imagine a hispanic on the Supreme court, a african american at Secretary of State, and Rice for prez would just seal their fate. The Dems can’t even say that they gave anyone person of color a shot at party head with their last all white ballot. They can always point to Jocelyn Elders.
The race card has always been their weapon of mass destruction. Their only hope will be to try to paint Rice as a Uncle Tom. This is a very hard sell when she is running for the most powerfull position in the world. And the “republicans are dumb” will be a tough sell against Rice. They will be reduced to running on their ideas. Since they have not had a new one since Roosevelt that will be fun to watch.
OK, no one bit so I’ll say it somewhat more explicitly.
All this talk about Condi is wishful thinking and projection — much like the Colin Powell bubble of the late 90s, which in retrospect should give everyone pause. She’s shown no signs she’d even be electable as a leader, much less good. There’s not a lot of evidence she’s even doing a good job where she is now, with “administration officials” still leaking like crazy to push a certain agenda, and no signs of having developed strategy on Iran or NK beyond “punt it as long as we can”. (At CIA it’s now “former” officials who are squealing in the MSM, which means Goss is cleaning -that- mess.) Meanwhile our public diplomacy is still laughable, and even more haphazard than our Iran policy. Like Powell, it’s not clear Rice has a stronger asset than her ability to play office politics. But then what?
Don’t get me wrong — I’d like to be convinced otherwise. But it’s not yet self-evident, and the hype’s about five months past its sell-by date.
Kevin P: It’s the prospect of an inevitable Supreme Court confirmation battle over Janice Rogers Brown that’s surely giving the Dems nightmares.
All you housing bubble people ought to live in rural America…ain’t no bubbles out here in the countryside. I am spending $40 to $50 a week right now just to drive to work.
I looked at a map once that was color coding to show where the green house gasses were. My neck of the woods was the pretty robin blue color, the coasts and large urban area were red. So far everytime somebody comes up with an idea to cut green house gasses we hicks get in the ass while our polluting brethren complain and then go on their merry way.
My guess is the housing bubble follows the green house gasses. Like my Daddy used to say “We were so poor we didn’t know there was a depression until the city people started bitching and moaning”.
As for ’08 I really do not expect to see a third party ticket. Perot not only gave the election to Clinton, he disppeared from public view.
these folks are few to egocentric for that.
I also have my doubts that Hillary will still be a viable candidate by then. But it is still early.
someone:
I don’t know if Condi Rice could win an election or not but she went to the Middle East and said that our policy of the last 60 years had to change. She said that we had wanted stability more than democracy and got neither. That was a very gutsy thing to do.
As for as Iran and NK are concerned I think that there is more going on than we know in the form of pressure but I am not sure there are a lot of choices. Other than to go to war or not go to war.
Rice, tea leaves? Dare I say something is in the air, developing.
Ochazuke?
There’s not a lot of evidence she’s even doing a good job where she is now, with “administration officials” still leaking like crazy to push a certain agenda
While she could do some house-cleaning, I find it hard to blame Condi for the treason of some of those in the ranks of the State Department.
and no signs of having developed strategy on Iran or NK beyond “punt it as long as we can”.
Hard to do much more, when you have half the country spinning itself into a froth over what you HAVE done to make the world safer. Hell, the Donks preferred approach to both of them was — and is — to kick the can down the road by giving both countries whatever they wanted to shut them up for a little while.
(See Clinton’s NK deal and Kerry’s ‘give the Iranians all the reactors and fuel they want’ plan.)
Someone,
You raise decent points. I believe that State Department employment rules are the toughest that exist within the federal government. Director Goss has much more control over reassignment and advancement at the CIA than Sec. Rice has at State. I believe that to be one of the reasons that Powell was frustrated during his tenure. The leeches at State are very difficult to remove. Otherwise we would be rotating them through Burkino Faso at a rather dizzying rate.
Sec. Rice’s performance wrt Iran and North Korea is also hard to fault. She does not set policy and our current policy is almost indecipherable for the reasons that Robert Crawford mentions. A lot of productive energy within the government is being utilized to rebut the seditionist opposition party at the moment. The Dems are a shining monument to the fact that it is far easier to destroy than to build.
That said, I do agree that the hype is just hype. Sec. Rice has name recognition at the moment but her political beliefs are a mystery. Her chances for election will be determined by the exposition of her political credo. I’m not sure that such an exposition will ever occur.
The most telling comment in the al-Reuters article (to me) was this:
It is beginning to look like our enemies simply go to the day’s press releases and public comments of our Democrat friends for talking points.
This war would be a lot easier if that 30% or so (?) of the population that listens to morons like Dick Durbin were on our side in the war. And I don’t mean that they couldn’t constitute a loyal opposition, and raise legitimate objections to this or that policy. Just don’t give the enemy his ammunition.
Jamie Irons
love her with Bush (is there a law that says a President can’t reat toobe VP? unfair mon fraire – because we all know it would be a Billary and Hill ticket)
or Cheney
Condi Cheney is great too……..they have my vote
Truepeers, way to peer true. I agree. Folks don’t pick their parents, don’t choose to be born rich. What they DO choose is what sort of adult they’re gonna be, and whether or not they’re gonna give ten percent of their income to charity or not.
Someone, granted it’s hard to measure/quantify her performance as SOS so far, but two hints are that she’s had the golden touch throughout her life and expects to be successful, and (two) her opposite numbers are showing every sign of taking her seriously, and if there were the slightest weakness, her countrymen Dems would be symphonic, Wagnerian, in their attacks.
ME Having Their Come to Jesus Meetings
In case you hadn’t notice Bush II has made a fundamental shift in our strategic foreign policy in the ME. From one of stability to pump oil supporting or at least not “outing” the repressive regimes for what they are to one of supporting active moves for real demoncractic governments.
This is a policy that has been followed over the last 50 yrs by both Rep and Dem adm alike. This in part gave rise to folks like OBL.
This comes at the direct expense of the Sauds of which Bush II has been criticized for being in bed with which is far from the truth.
President Bush and Secretary Rice are in the process of having “come to Jesus meetings” with these despotic and repressive male dominated hegemonic theocracies.
The MSM is failing to report these stories to the Ameerican people. See a related thread by Austin Bay who had returned now to Baghdad as a reporter:
Read More
http://www.strategypage.com/messageboards/messages/479-239.asp
and then there is the President………
Hard WOIK!
Rice would be perfect. Her only liability is that she is unmarried. Notwithstanding all their LGBT propaganda, you can expect to see the Dems use this fact against her if she tries to run. It’s the only silver bullet they have.
McCain would run as a 3rd party only if Hillary promised him a Cabinet post.
McCain’s love affair with the MSM would vanish if he actually became the GOP nominee (unlikely). The MSM would bring out the long knives they’ve kept hidden, and tear McCain to shreds; especially if Hillary was on the Dem ticket.
It’s a couple of years away before you can seriously look at the 2008 GOP candidate. Rice can slowly build up her reputation and by 2008, have the necessary public exposure to become the nominee, if she wants it.
Pair Rice with George Allen, Rudy Giuliani, or even Kay Bailey Hutchinson (oh, THAT would make the Dems gag…two GOP women on the ticket, and either one able to whip Hillary’s tail in a debate.)
ahem,
That might be the only arrow in the Dem quiver if the election were being held next Tuesday but the real election is 41 months away. I would hate to be regarded as a cynic but the current buzz may have more to do with the ’06 election than the ’08 election. If the ’06 election goes well for the Reps, then Sec. Rice could well be a candidate for ’08. Much will depend on the number of court vacancies that occur and are filled by Jan. ’07. Sec. Rice has no record as an elected executive or as a legislator and the edges on both side of that blade are very sharp.
Condi is fantastic, but I really don’t see a female in the White House in ’08.
First, despite HRC’s apparent strengths, Presidential primaries are brutal and tend to accentuate the negatives, of which she has plenty. Recall Howling Howie. In her different way, she is equally unelectable. She won’t get past Super Tuesday.
On the Republican side, once HRC falters, so might Condi if she’s in the race. Let’s face it. The impetus to run an attractive female is largely intended to counter HRC. Without HRC, it’s politics as usual. Let’s say the Dems nominate a moderate white male from a Red State–Evan Bayh, for example. That dynamic creates big problems for Condi, especially with moderate women.
I know this analysis is terribly sexist, but gender is incredibly important in politics, and it always will be. We’ll have a female President when a majority of females feel comfortable voting for a woman.
I agree with Rick.
This is so far in advance of political reality that it is rank speculation. To show how fast events can change, go back a year. Where were we?
Kerry was flying high; Swift Boats would not surface until early August. Death and doom saying was rampant in Iraq. The president was politically weakened. The MSM reported that he WAS a one termer. The political demise of a stellar presidential candidate is one misstep, one gaffe, one foot in the mouth away. It is always this way.
Recall Howard Dean and how he imploded. One scream and he was ready for the shoe factory. Remember back a decade ago when Joe “the Mouth” Biden flamed out after snatching a few Neil Kinnock quotes. Remember the tears of Edmund Muskie in the snows of New Hampshire. The American political landscape is littered with the carcasses of aspiring well meaning egos.
On George Allen and his presidential aspirations. In short: he is not ready for prime time and may never be.
But, speculation is part of the process. The reason Condi-talk isn’t crazy goes to deep human nature. We want a proud symbol. A symbol that makes us proud, a person proud of her/himself (in the humble self-respect, respect-for-others way). Someone way high up in those categories, with a high profile and say, the SOS platform, can make new reality.
As a “breach” example of this power, think of the Clintons. What is the problem with both of them? Their lack of respect. In both directions, from them for us, from them for themselves.
Don’t know how this became a dual thread re: Dr. Rice and the housing bubble, but…
2008 is still a ways away but I would very much like to see Dr. Rice on the Republican ticket. The moonbats heads would explode as they tried to fight against a black woman they would attack as a lesbian (personally I don’t give a rat’s patoot about any or any combination of those three).
Now, as for the housing “bubble”. I don’t know enough about the market to guess. I will make some ignorant observations re: this though.
For a very long time (long before the 20+ years I’ve been a homeowner) the “rules of thumb” for housing value have been rather simple:
- location, location, location (which means schools, schools, schools in suburbia but probably has a bit more diversity in other areas)
- don’t own the most expensive house on your street (or neighborhood).
As far as I can tell these rules have weakened a great deal. In my neck of the woods people are purchasing ordinary homes in ordinary neighborhoods and knocking them down and replacing them with homes that are well beyond the norm for the neighborhoods. Even upgrades of the existing structures fit this pattern.
Another oddity is that there appears to be a trend among the immigrant population (Phillipinos, Russians, and Mexicans for the most part in my area) to have multiple families in what were traditionally single family homes. I have no knowledge of the financial arrangments but apparently the high prices are being spread across 4 or 6 or even 8 “wage earners” rather than the traditional 1 or 2.
Another change that seems to have happened is that “hi-density” housing is fully accepted in the marketplace and no longer exhibits lower prices or price volatility – in fact prices for higher density townhouses and condos seem to carry a premium.
I have no idea what any of that means to the housing marketplace, I just find it interesting when the “old rules” seem to no longer apply.
Now, I’m not saying that the Republicans won’t nominate McCain for President in 2008. If they do, however, I predict that the press will suddenly discover that he was born August 29, 1936, which will make him 72 years old on election day. Reagan’s age was an issue in 1980, and he was only 69 years old. The press will also discover that McCain has already had a serious battle with malignant melanoma. They’ll discover both of those things because they’d rather have Hillary, or any other Democrat likely to be nominated, than John McCain.
I would vote for Condi in an instant. If she is nominated, however, watch for the press to feature the “never held elective office” meme prominently. I don’t think that it’s particularly relevant, myself, but nobody who hasn’t held elective office has been nominated for President by either major party since 1952. Interestingly enough, I think that Condi’s experience as national security adviser and Secretary of State parallels Eisenhower’s experience as commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force reasonably closely.
We really need someone like Condi. Even though our country may be going ‘redder’ (there was a time that would have been a terrible thing to say!), a Dem still could be voted into the WH for several reasons: Over the next two years more “centrist” Repub pols may pull out of the Bush sphere just as more conservative voters become disaffected by Bush’s moderation (go figure, but there’s hope yet if men like Richard Mc are joining up!). There also will be moderate and cross-over voters who are put off by “Christer” influence in the GOP- hyped hysteria to be sure, but effective.
There will have been more time to demonize Repubs as Satan’s minions and to obstruct their evil reform agenda, which the Dems (and MSM) seem hellbent on doing; this craven stratagem might actually impel some voters to want to put a stop to the rancor by giving in to the Dems and putting them in charge, of at least the Presidency. There’s always that “It’s time for a change” electoral caprice after several terms of a Repub, as happened with Clinton after RR and Bush I, with the help of a third party candidate. Then there’s the potential of another “It’s the economy, stupid”, if we experience even a little trouble in ’07.
Fatigue can easily set in from our wars and the campaigns to transform the world and reform domestic programs, and the war-reform party not invited back to the WH (of voter gratitude and serpent teeth). If another 9-11 event occurs within the next two years, voter backlash could damage Repub prospects and this country. If we still have a Republican Congress in ’06, voters might not be able to resist the seductive-crazy idea of putting a Dem into the WH to bust the GOP’s “monopoly” and provide “balance”, giving us permanent gridlock, of course.
Last, the GOP seems to have no obvious solid and personable candidates to field. While half of the Dem Party swoons over Saint Hillary, what person in the GOP commands or has the potential to get even a 25% die-hard following and with cross-over appeal? Sec. Rice needs to be on the GOP ticket, top or bottom, because she has that X factor. Something is really appealing about her. She is highly intelligent, schooled, accomplished, disciplined and ambitious and exudes grace, wit, integrity, conviction. Rice is serving at the highest levels of foreign policy and diplomacy now, but I agree with some others here that she is being groomed for ’08 and will also be doing her domestic homework over the next two years. And it may time for a woman President or VP. Who better than a solidly Republican, thoroughly pro-America woman?
The next Prez election is critical because any progress this country has made wrt to security and geo-political issues can be undone and worse, if the party who has opposed and chafed over it is put into power. The new “centrist” Hillary is on record carping and chafing overseas, I might add, so no solid supporter she, and all her fellow Dems who would people her admin are hostile to Bush doctrine. So this election isn’t just about power for the Repubs, it’s about keeping faith with their agenda, accomplishments and the country’s security. If Rice is game and tough enough, then a Carville/Rove Hillary/Condi showdown might be in our future. May the good guys win (and the better dressed).
Rick Ballard,
State Department employment rules are the toughest that exist within the federal government. Director Goss has much more control over reassignment and advancement at the CIA than Sec. Rice has at State. I believe that to be one of the reasons that Powell was frustrated during his tenure. The leeches at State are very difficult to remove.
One good reason, among several, that we need at least ’08-’12 of continued Chimpy McBu$hitler Doctrine. It takes at least 12 years to clean a vipers nest that big and well dug in.
What it really boils down to is does Condi want it? If she does, she could get it–even against someone like Evan Bayh. If not her, the first woman president will be a candidate like her. She has enough obvious strength and character to mostly nullify the woman vote nervousness.
I think a veep slot for her is more likely. It has almost all the positives of the main ticket, stays with general GOP practices, and for her might be a more attractive spot. The campaign would still be annoying, but much shorter for a veep. It’s a powerful position and a lot of firsts, but lets her both fade somewhat into the background and build cred. From there, she can do whatever she wants. If she doesn’t want to step in and run for pres later, she can say she has done enough, ala Powell. If she does decide to run from a veep spot then almost all the objections to a run in ’08 are gone.
Rove is working on a herd of steamrollers, not an avalanche. Rice in the veep spot in ’08 is a pretty big roller.
NASDAQ 5000 to under 2000, more than a 60% drop.
The NASDAQ hit its all-time high of 5,048.62 on March 10, 2000; its low since then has been 1,114.11 on October 9, 2002. That’s a nearly 78% drop in nineteen months.
Steven,
I really do like “Condi in ’16 – A heartbeat away for the past eight years.” Gives me a warm, tingly feeling.
If the Dems stick with the current playbook prepared by Arlie K. Evor of Acme Political Strategery Consultants, there is a very good chance that it will happen.
I don’t care what the polls say today, Condi would beat Hillary and quite soundly. As a recent GOP convert I would be elated with a Condi or Rudy type Republican running because as an ex-Democrat I think I understand and will tell you if the Republicans were smart enough to elect them in the primaries the Democrats nationally would be toast, of course this is a big if. As a Virginia resident I think people underestimate the Bush like simple charisma of George Allen, though he is very conservative, he would be much more “mainstream” for Republican primary voters and I suspect without Bush’s strong endorsment of Condi an Allen type conservative would be more likely to get the nomination.
As far as Condi talking tough, I would expect nothing less from a former Civil Rights Democrat from the South who converted to GOP due to Reagan’s hawkish stance towards the Soviet Union (of course the same path to the GOP was true for Giuliani), this is a path obviously related to by me. But for me the real truth is she has an easy job in the sense she is only following the example of her boss and Commander in Chief “Dubya” because he makes it easier for his subordinates in the sense that he has already trained world leaders to “hold their ankles” whenever America comes calling. Condi obviously does her part!
Bolton should and I would think will be a recess appointment.
Roger:
I think there might be other reasons for why there has been so few non-politicians elected for President. Reason number one is because the parties don’t usually consider non politicians. I think the public might not be as against the idea as the conventional wisdom indicates. “But what about Perot?” Perot was a third party candidate and third parties always lose. And if running for office was such a prized quality why have US Senators had such a poor track record?
Rice might not even want to run. But if she had the backing of President Bush and with her eight years of foreign policy expeirence she would have an answer to the charge of no Washington street cred. Plus the republicans know if HRC is the democratic nominee running a white male could be a liability. Rice would block the first women qualities of HRC and trump her with the first African American nominee. Can you imagine Hill trying to tell Rice that she doesn’t understand what is like to be female or black.Go over the talking points of the last 30 years of democratic candidates and the Race or sex issue has either been stated outright or beneath the surface. Lets see Jackson give the kool-aid and peanut butter spiel. All the Democrats favorite emotional attack points will be blunted. Her life history is the Dems worst nightmare.And their complete domination of the black vote will see a big hit. I don’t care how many black leaders and comics try to tell the public that she is not really “black” it is going to be very hard for many african Americans to go into the voting booth and vote against the first serious African American for President.
Kevin Peters
“Something is really appealing about her. She is highly intelligent, schooled, accomplished, disciplined and ambitious and exudes grace, wit, integrity, conviction.”
The fact that some of us consider her a Major Babe doesn’t hurt, either.
Here’s what I’d like to see: Sometime around June 2006 Dick Cheney announces that he’s stepping down from the VP position for health reasons. Then …
Bush nominates Condi for the job. This puts the Democrats on the spot only a few months before the November 2006 elections: who votes for her and against her, and for what stated reasons? I think she’ll be confirmed in a landslide, but if she isn’t the effect on the Congressional races will be … interesting.
By the time of the 2008 Presidential campaign, she’ll have two years of experience as VP under her belt. I think — and hope — she’d be unbeatable.
So much meat here.
Another oddity is that there appears to be a trend among the immigrant population (Phillipinos, Russians, and Mexicans for the most part in my area) to have multiple families in what were traditionally single family homes.
In the Inland Valley, an exburb of LA which has a large Hispanic population and is Bush country, you now can buy new homes with as many as 12 bedrooms.
Folks like Lonewacko apparently don’t recognize that even in the average blue stater, there is more American cowboy than European effete.
McCain’s love affair with the MSM would vanish if he actually became the GOP nominee (unlikely). The MSM would bring out the long knives they’ve kept hidden, and tear McCain to shreds; especially if Hillary was on the Dem ticket.
Indeed. I remember a journo who rode the Straight Talk Express, or whatever it was, in 2000 saying that the press had many damaging sound bites stored away for use later. I wonder if McCain actually understands that MSM will abandon their favorite maverick in a NY minute for Hillary or any other candidate the Dems throw out. Also, he has beat back melanoma twice now (maybe). That’s rare. I can’t help but think he’s living on borrowed time.
The leeches at State are very difficult to remove. Otherwise we would be rotating them through Burkino Faso at a rather dizzying rate.
That situation will improve significantly when–dare I say it–the 60′s Boomers finally pass from the scene.
Will Condi run? Can she win? Hard to say, hard to know. I’m also not sure that a woman is electable just yet. I agree that she’d be better placed in the second position on the ticket which means the Bush/Rove candidate of choice has to make it to the first position. Would I vote for her? From what I know to this point, yes. How big would my smile be if the first female president and the first A-A president were one in the same and Republican? Pretty big. And I’m not even a Republican.
Some other points that always got brought up about the Powell possibility that don’t apply nearly so much (due to time passing, Condi’s strengths vis-a-vis Powell, etc.):
1. The South still has some racists and sexists, but most of them are aging and Yellow Dawg Dems. The sliver of these guys that gingerly voted Bush or stayed home on “Damn Yankee Kerry” grounds is tiny compared to the amount of “liberal in voting, conservative in attitude” blacks that would finally change habits for a good GOP blank candidate. The true Yellow Dawgs are unreachable no matter whom the GOP candidate is.
2. Something that I believe only a long-time Southernor will ever understand–the race issue for “soft” racist conservative southernors actually works in Condi’s favor. This is because of her character and foreign policy cred. The usual suspects screaming “Uncle Tom” will drive these types into not only voting Condi but enthusiasm for her–nay even defense of her honor. The Dems would count on this block in a Hillary vs Condi race, but would lose every one of them. The look on Evan Thomas’ face alone would be priceless.
3. The simple demographics of where such voters live locks in a solid but expanding electoral vote total compared to Bush’s two wins. The South goes from presumed GOP wins to not even pretending that AK or TN is in play–even with Bayh running against a black single woman. The western states are less affected by this, but are already solid GOP or attracted to Condi for other reasons. (See below.) I’m not familiar with them, but I think you get a similar, smaller effect in OH, PA, and Iowa. Florida is already trending GOP and gets a bigger pull out of the “moderate GOP candidate”. Ditto Missouri. So already the Dem is doomed, even with a defection or three from the above. Now try to tell me that Condi bats zero in NH, Maine, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Washington, and Oregon?
I think Condi would crack 400 EVs, personally.
“good GOP blank candidate” should be “good GOP black candidate”. Prveiw is my friend.
Her weakness will be in her campaigning style. Intellect and formal manner = discomfort at the county pie-eatin’ n’ hawg-callin’ contest. But one thing’s for sure, she sees problems as challenges–and intends to overcome them. So, who knows, the country may even get a “kinder, gentler” campaign style out of the deal. Couldn’t hoit. The lung-ripping style ain’t really all that elevatin’.
Being single may not hurt her–it’s not as if she wouldn’t already be breaking every mold in sight.
Yes, this is all speculation, but it’s fun.
So-called political ‘experience’ is highly overrated. Consider the professional pols we moan about every day. Almost all of them are charlatans, cynics, egomaniacs and hacks.
I come from Chicago where the only experience you need to be an alderman is either a law degree or a prison record. It also helps if you’re crooked enough to screw into the ground.
At the presidential level, a natural leadership ability, charisma and character counts for much more.
Roger:
Take a look at how the L.A. Times covered Rice’s speech. Front Page? Of course not. The stories that they thought were more important- Bolton rejection, fine, a story on Zimbabwe slum dwellers,are you telling me that couldn’t be bumped or delayed, housing sales and tax revenue, iran election, ok, tire protest in formula 1 racing, “Batman”?, and a story on repressed memory. Can any honest journalist say that Rice’s speech wasn’t more important then at least half those stories? Now we get to the coverage. Headline- “Cairo Audience Cool To Rice’s Call for Democratic Reform”, of course the negative must be highlighted. In a fairly long story how much of the speech was reprinted? 72 words, half of those truncated sentences. There is more analysis then news coverage in the speech.
Then of course there is the writers editorial inserted into the news story. These words are the writers, not a qoute from someone who heard the speech. “But Rice’s day in Cairo, perhaps like none other so far, underscored the complexities of implementing a vision that critics say is utopian. It also highlights the inconsistencies in the administrations approach.” This sentence belongs on the op-ed page. If you want to report on critics who call it utopian,which I am sure Tyler Marshal could find, qoute them and attribute their idea’s to them instead of inserting his own opinion and hiding it behind the general purpose ‘critics say” or “experts say” or “unnamed state department officials say” If you want to be a reporter, be a reporter, if you want to be a op-ed writer ,do that. If you want to include critiques of the speech do the legwork to quote actual critics instead of hiding your own opinions behind a made up phantom critic.
This story is the perfect example of why the public is leaving the MSM. They don’t report, they editorialize. They include very little of what was said and they do not give the reader the info they need to make an objective opinion of their own. They treat the reader like a child who has to be led by the wise reporter who knows the reader is not capable of actually making independent decisions on their own. In simpler terms, I, the writer, am brilliant, you, the reader, are a moron.
Kevin Peters
Buddy,
She might as well go for broke and and announce she has a child that she raised as a single mom. The moonbats heads would start spinning as they spewed out pea soup looking stuff and screamed… well, never mind, you know what they’d scream. Maybe Rove is an evil genius.
…discomfort at the county pie-eatin’ n’ hawg-callin’ contest
Maybe, but she is an Alabama gal after all. I think the more important question is, does she know how to operate an old fashioned typewriter?
“Sometime around June 2006 Dick Cheney announces that he’s stepping down from the VP position for health reasons. Then … Bush nominates Condi for the job.
Agree with Mike G that this is a strong possibility. Reaction: The Dems will bellyache and holler, but they will take the opportunity to beat up on her during the confirmation process, just as they have done with Bush’s other strong nominees. They will have no choice but to nominate Hillary or to at least put a black pol on their ’08 ticket.
(Liberal but proud Republican here. Why all the fence-sitters?)
Isn’t Condi moderately pro-choice?
I think she is.
I’m assuming that rules her out as the Republican candidate–no?
I did read once that Giuliani, who is definitely pro-choice, could finesse this by taking various stances on various judges . . .
Catherine, with many candidates that moderately pro-choice part would hurt. With Condi, it doesn’t really. (And actually, with Giuliani, it hurts less than with many.) This is akin to the race/woman issue in effect, if no other way.
Say you are GOP czar for life that gets to pick the candidate. You say you want, generically, a single black female that is somewhat pro-choice, perhaps not solidly conservative on other social issues. Then you start talking about character and foreign policy. You get laughed out of the room–mainly because you are assumed to be blowing smoke in an effort to obscure the issues.
All those “soft” racist/sexists that I was talking about above are set to go against you, by default. If the Dems had a lick of sense and party discipline, they’d muzzle every Jesse, Dick, and Howard. They’d know that people that hold soft positions that you want should, at all cost, not be pushed into examining those positions. Fortunately for the country, the Dems couldn’t stick with that strategy for one week. The MSM would get the strategy memo and still blow it–*because* they think that the GOP is made up “hard” racist/sexists and a bunch of other “-isms”.
Suddenly, 55 year-old Uncle Hal is announcing at the family gathering that Condi has “spunk”. Having it thrown in his face so crudely and thought about it a bit, Hal suddenly decides that a single, black, pro-choice woman can be president just fine, thank you very much. If nothing else, it seems to annoy the heck out of all the right people.
Conclusion: Against a sane, credible Democratic party, Condi is toast. To bad for the Dems that they’ll need to start now to be credible in ’12 or ’16 for the kind of people I’m discussing. Plus, I’m counting on Bush keeping them unhinged through ’08, which probably sets them back another cycle.
Catherine,
A position that is based upon a legislative rather than judicial resolution to choice would be acceptable to most conservatives. She’s a member of a rather strong evangelical church in a pro-choice denomination. Her position might hurt her a tad among SBC evangelicals and dogmatic Catholics but I doubt that it would be determinant.
“Her position might hurt her a tad among SBC evangelicals and dogmatic Catholics but I doubt that it would be determinant.”
Heh, I’m an SBC evangelical (albeit admittedly atypical) and my wife comes pretty close to a dogmatic Catholic. There are plenty of people we know well to the right of us on political/religous issues that would vote for Condi *gladly*–*despite* those issues.
Of the people I know (a lot of them) that could plausibly fit either group in the quote, I think you might be in danger of losing as many as 5% of the likely voters. Most of that 5% would stay home. Some of the rest would vote against the Dem.
Despite the MSM stereotypes, evangelicals and Catholic priests can do math. They see straight line between conservative president to judicial appointments to *less* abortions simply due to the laws moving back from the judical overreach. Only the ones that want to hold out for all or nothing pitch a stink. And they lose ground every year. As a bonus, all their relatives and friends in the military are treated better.
Condi means less abortions, Dem opponent means more.
Plus, their is the reverse Dennis Miller factor. When he said that he thought two guys could get married but shouldn’t have their wedding blown up, he created good will in the social conservative camp. Finally, someone willing to stick to his principles but be practical on his politics. Many are willing to return the favor. Eliminate the uncivil factions (e.g. jihadists, idiotarians, etc. from the equation)–then all of us reasonable folk can discuss the rest of it.
(Liberal but proud Republican here. Why all the fence-sitters?)
Believe me, I had plenty of Republican nurture and nature. Was formally affiliated once, probably will be again. In California there are advantages to being a registered “decline to state”.
Steven,
Not anywhere near 5%. I’d put it at a maximum of 3% for precisely the reasons you outline. I suppose I should have defined “a tad”.
What is extremely important is that the issue be framed as legislative rather than judicial in nature. “Leave it to the courts” would cost 10-15% of the evangelical/dogmatic vote – and the election.
Roger:
If Hillary looks as if she is going to be the Democratic nominee all concerns about Rice’s soft pro choice idea’s will fade away. The pressure, both in money and in political terms, will be intense and the party will unite quickly.I am an independent and maybe I shouldn’t be commenting on the mind of Republicans but the thought of another Clinton White House will unite all members of the party behind Rice if she chooses to run.
Rick is absolutely right. I’ve made the point before that most evangelical conservatives like the Constitution just fine. Their argument is with how seldom it’s followed. I think they’re willing to bend a little on this point for a candidate with the right judicial philosophy.
Echoing all the posters above. Condi is a singular person, not being religious, I can’t say God-given, but I think she was definitely put on this earth at this time for a reason. I think she believes that too and has prepared herself for whatever will be asked of her. Almost nunlike, she’s kept her personal life totally separate, so she won’t be distracted by family responsibilities.
She’ll be the perfect successor to Bush and also make a great president in her own right.
Go Condi.
The south has been getting more and more color-blind steadily and almost without notice. Kids these days hear of Jim Crow and shake their heads in disbelief. Rural folks have always had a strong survival trait of measuring other individuals by their character, probably because people were few and the law and courts were distant (my area didn’t have electricity until LBJ brought it in for the home folks). Black, brown, I don’t think it makes a fare-the-well numbers-wise. The mossbacks will be offset by the adventurous.
erp. I believe that too, but didn’t have the courage to say it. Thanks.
I don’t think you have to be affiliated with a religion to refer to a higher power. Whatever it is that created in you that sentiment, erp, exists, and out to have a name. Norepenephrine, maybe, but “God” spells easier.
Anyway, it’s nothing mystical, it’s the demeanor, the shine in the face, and the fact that I’ve got a big old silly-ass crush on her.
Roger:
The Dems live in a fantasy world where they think that a large number of white southerners will not vote for Rice. If she ran she would sweep every southern state and increase the margin of victory that Bush achieved.They will peel off enough black votes in the battleground states that would make it an electoral college landslide. And it would take away the Dems favorite slander, that the Republican South is just an extension of the old racist Democratic south. Just as they see any milatary conflict as “another Vietnam” they still see the south as a hotbed of KKK attitudes. Rice would make them actually examine their favorite pre conceived notions. It is so sweet that it will probably never happen. Everyone should start writing Condi and tell her to run.
LBJ always said that bringing electricity to the hill country was his proudest achievement.
Anyhoo, wrt to her Egyptian message over the last several days, since about a year ago, when the stirrings of democracy began in Egypt–thanks to OIF and the signaling of this administration–the Egyptian “Dow”, the so-called Case 30 Index, is up several hundred percent. Capital is flowing into the private–not the Mubarak–sector. Private money is betting on what Condi is over there selling. This can only bode well for the most populous and history-rich–but oil-poor–Arab nation.
OT–Did anyone hear Sen. Dick’s blubbery apology? Hugh Hewitt is playing it now. Need to hear it again, but seems like he said, again, that he was sorry if he was misunderstood.
And so, the GOP as “pretty much a white, Christian party” or as the forward party of inclusiveness, faith (non-specific but spiritual), capitalist-democratic opportunity, and national (not nationalistic) pride and security? Condi would be the face of the best we offer, and Hillary, no matter how “centrist” and “security-minded” she paints herself (remember New Democrat Bill which the Repub Congress ended up rescuing legacy-wise?), the very picture of reactionary, backward-looking socialist ideology, PC special interests, class/ gender/ race envy and resentment, transnational loyalties, and dirty politics.
I love men, don’t we all?, but ’08 may shape up into the battle of the alpha females, oddly enough. The potential men candidates so far are none too inspiring in these crucible times still to come.
I agree–I mean, as long as there’s no math or science involved, what’s the problem?
?
This is about male/female brain capabilities, idn’t it?
Music and math highly correlate, so Condi over Hillary. Although Hill’s Arkansas days of investor math weren’t so shabby—
Yuk yuk–it was a poor-taste josh on that Hahvahd flap. just kidding. I guess that “alpha female” image made me 14 yrs old again, for a minute there.
jeez…I feel like Lawrence Summers….
I wanna 100k grant to research and rebuke your remarks, Buddy.
the commenter formerly known as Charlotte,
I would suggest that you apply for a 200K continuing grant that would incorporate a contingency for research of rebuttal arguments for potential (and very probable) future crass sexist remarks by Mr. Larsen. It could be a real cottage industry.
Oh, okay, let me chit petty (and i do mean petty) cash….;-)
Rick,
It’s a little suspicious that you can invoke grant-bureaucratese on demand like that.
What’s laughable about the 50 mm research grant, is it’s to ameliorate the very situation that Summers got into trouble for pointing out in the first place. Think about that a moment. He got in trouble ostensibly over an untruth, which the grant is to change. So, what, is the money going to a campaign to make high school girls LESS interested in science and math? Boy, the pretzels are twisted. They should give some of the money to this little gal, who has true problems.
Some force greater than ourselves created it all. No doubt about that. Exactly what or who that was — I don’t feel qualified to expound upon, but since Buddy complimented for being brave, I’ll say what I danced around in my previous comment.
Somehow I know this to be true — Condi has been called.
You may be sure that in a million years I never would have thought I would ever think such a thing, never mind write it in a public forum, but I do believe it to be true.
Joe Schmoe __ I would never buy real estate in California. Damn stuff keeps moving.
erp,
Some people refer to what you are speaking of as a vision of discernment of a call. If you keep a journal you might wish to record it. I know people who have prayed for years for a clear vision.
Wow! I’ll have to give this thought.
Aura. The Renaissance halo, depictions of a circle of light around some spiritually exceptional individuals, seen by some few ‘sensitives,’ was not representational, but a sign, an artists’ convention, a shorthand, for a phenom of a light or shine that is just perceptible, but that some can see–or sense–around some others. So I have read here and there.
Halo, maybe, but with my research grant I’ve been able to confirm that Condi is into sports, male sports. Bet she is watching the Pistons and Spurs just now.
And erp, you may be right about her destiny.
Well, I didn’t want to use that “halo” word, because it sounded like I was trying to put one on Condi. I was just rambling on about how the sensing of someone as a light-giving being has a long and much-commented history in the world of phenomenonemolology.
Being single may not hurt her–it’s not as if she wouldn’t already be breaking every mold in sight.
All else being equal (which it wouldn’t be, of course…), I’d rather have a single female President than have a married one- it would put off the slightly tricky matter of figuring out what we should call the husband.
Snip from today’s WSJ essay on her trip to Egypt:
“It is time to abandon the excuses that are made to avoid the hard work of democracy,” said Ms. Rice. “There are those who say that democracy is being imposed. In fact, the opposite is true: Democracy is never imposed. It is tyranny that must be imposed.”
The article goes on to say “Ms. Rice’s speech strikes us as among the most important delivered by any recent Secretary of State.“