Um, yeah. What he said...

Even better, have Condi say: "Now watch THIS drive!"

Well, aren't Brokaw and Rather supposed to be retiring sometime in 2005? I don't know how the media cabal works at that level, but I would imagine some of the writers and producers will also be out when they go.

Talk about a brave new world. The turnover we've already seen and we're likely to see in Bush's second term is staggering...

The Taliban
Saddam
Arafat
Daschle
Powell, Ashcroft, and Rumsfeld

Brokaw and Rather
2 - 4 Supreme Court Justices
Castro
Khadaffi
The Iranian mullahs

Oh, and remember that China got a new leader a year or so ago? No, I didn't think so. China has been hiding under a rock while the US military has been deployed for combat. Not a peep.

And those are just the no-brainers. That's not even getting into surprises or unexpected turns of events.

I think when we really have a chance to clean up the Middle East for good and really end the Age of the Dictator, we'll be darn thankful to have Bush in the White House. Remember how you felt when you thought about "President Gore" on 9/12? Yeah...something like that.

Brokaw got booed when he was introduced at the Oklahoma-Nebraska game last week. Pretty funny; apparently he got an even more negative reaction than the Nebraska football team (and THAT is serious)...

I'm with Baldilocks - Bill Cosby (Phd. Ed.) for Secretary of Education !!

re: the MSM cleaning house...there are a bunch of bloggers out here who could stand to get paid that kind of money, and we would get it right!! -SpinDaddy

CAN ANYONE GIVE ONE SUBSTANATIVE REASON ASIDE FROM HER BEING A FEMALE REPUBLICAN TO SUPPORT CONDI RICE'S PROMOTION?

Qualifications:

Graduated from University of Denver summa cum laude at 19 years old. Obtained Master's Degree at 20; Ph.D. in International Studies at 26; was the Soviet and Eastern Europe expert for President Bush (41) [during German reunification and the fall of the Soviet Union]; Provost of Stanford for six years.

Oh yeah, also NSA for the last four years. She is brilliant - not many people will dispute that (even MoDo said so this morning on Imus).

And yes, she will clean house at State. The reason Republicans love her (and Dems hate her) is that she appears to have a similar attitude to the President - she will do what she thinks is right, even if she is reviled in certain circles. I imagine she is going to move the State Department out of pre-9/11 thinking into the 21st Century, something that it appears that Porter Goss is also doing at the CIA.

Sarge,
Do we really need more?
Ok, one more. She will look good in the group photos.

Anyone have any idea whether Rice is still serious about becoming Commissioner of Football, rather than President of the U.S.?

Why I'm glad you asked, Sarge. Condi's qialifications?

- 4 years as NSA, and one of her first diplomatic sucesses was defusing the crisis with China over our crashed recon plane
- Served Bush 41 as Director of Soviet and East European Affairs
- Professor of political science, and recieved some of the highest possible honors
- Stanford University provost for 6 years
- Authored books and dozens of articles on Russia, Europe, and foreign policy
- she was a member of the Boards of Directors for, Chevron, Charles Schwab, University of Notre Dame, and numerous other businesses and foundations
- she graduated from college at age 19, and went on to get a doctorate
- oh, and was pretty close to being a concert-quality pianist in college

She's one of the most brilliant people in Washington, and her knowledge and experiences are great qualifications to be our cheif diplomat.

You'd be hard up to find anyone with a better resume. Heck, read a bio of Hillary Clinton in comparison and it's almost laughable. There's a reason people want her to run for president.

Look Sarge, we're all disappointed you got voted off Vanuatu, but it was you own stupid fault, so STOP SHOUTING.

Of course, since the ladies on "Survivor" dropped you like a hot tater, perhaps there is some lingering sexist angst on your part. But make no mistake, Condi is the goods.

When Instapundit quoted some novel writing in the future about Hillary Clinton as the most uncompromising, bellicose president in American history, did any of you think about Condi Rice instead?

> call these people out.

What's with all of the lefty faux macho?

If want someone to fight them, shouldn't you be stepping up to the plate?

"where does "ignoring UBL before 9-11" fit in to the resume?"

She was very familiar with Osama and terrorism before 9/11. (as we've gone over ad nauseum before...no we didn't forget)

Maybe you should be asking why Tenet and the rest of the Clinton holdovers in the CIA (who are now quitting since we have someone who will make them work for a living in charge) failed to provide the National Security Team with the intelligence they needed to defend the country? Heard of that thing called the 9/11 Commission Report?

Try again jp. That kind of short sighted nonsense might get play on CBS and Democrat Underground, but not here.

Don't forget that Dr. Rice speaks absolutely fluent (and perfectly accented) Russian - and I believe a few other languages as well...

Whacking the Education Department is bad politics, no matter how good the policy. But I just can't see why small-government Republicans and anti-big-business Democrats can't agree to send the Commerce Department to the ashheap.

plus let's not forget condi is just plain hot

Don't forget that Dr. Rice speaks absolutely fluent (and perfectly accented) Russian

Well slava Boga. But, aren't her Russian qualifications a bit "legacy"? Someone who speaks fluent Arabic might be better for the current situation. But, whatever, she's loyal to Bush so that's all the qualifications we need for the current situation.

plus let's not forget condi is just plain hot

I take it the lovely Mrs Bingley lacks internet access at school?

Dr. Cosby as Sec of Education? What a thunderbolt that would be.

The Cos' is one of the few people in America that has the street credentials to talk to the hip-hop generation about their kids, and the damage that being done to impressionable children. The current generation maybe lost, but there is still time to redeem the upcoming generation through education and the value of hard, fulfilling work.

she can't speak to the enemy, but keeping vlad and co in line is going to be a v v big deal... so the russian should come in handy...

plus, always fun to scare the piss out of the french or germans by swearing at them in russian!

I believe she speaks fluent French as well, lonewacko. Surely you find that relevant.

Katherine - French is a dead language.

There is no such thing as the hip-hop generation. The music is over 20 years old and it started out with a harmless enough message. The recent culture of moral depravity served up by the P-diddy-ots is mainly bolstered by the efforts of Mtv which is owned by VIACOM. Sumner Redstone is the CEO of VIACOM and he doesn’t look a day younger than 80(Google his image). VIACOM also owns BET, yet another minstrel network. So you see, street credit is completely unnecessary in this fight to change things. The profits have spoken. It’s just as obvious if you look at the data that the decline of the student is more related to single-parent households, increased bureaucracy, completely faulty teaching methods and a serious lack of parental interest (a disease passed on by the baby-boomers). Home-schooled children routinely outperform both public and private schooled ones because there is a culture of actually caring in that social group. Cosby and other such heroes are totally unnecessary to solve this problem. And as for P-diddy, you can thank the FCC’s media deregulation for him. Homegrown rock & roll met bling-bling. Guess who won.

"But, aren't her Russian qualifications a bit "legacy"? Someone who speaks fluent Arabic might be better for the current situation."

What is there to diplomacize with the arabs? "Uh...stop blowing us up and we won't invade your country." ... "Stop blowing up Israel." We need arab speakers in the CIA, not running the State Department.

I thought Europe and Russia were supposed to be our big important allies. Now they don't matter since Bush wants to appoint an expert on them as Secretary of State?

Kerry lost...it's ok to choose a position now.

Strategically all countries in the first world matter. Remember what being top dog means. Going it alone or in poor company has no merit as policy in world history. Condi has quite a task ahead. She'll need everything she's got.

The State Department clearly needed clearing out, Colin Powell has achieved some great things which he should be proud of but now it's time for the really tough decisions. Dr. Rice is the smartest woman in D.C. and she will do us proud. The State Department has been in favor on worldwide disarmament for too long and now that we must fight even tougher battles perhaps Dr. Rice will start cleaning out the State Department like Porter Goss is doing over at the CIA. President Bush's legacy will be taking tough action in the face of criticism, history will look on him as a great defender of freedom and liberty in the mold of Reagan.

Well it would be nice to have some speak fluent Arabic, unfortunately all those people are likely Arabists, and they haven't done us any good.

When the MSM changes the gaurd, it will be more of the same. So far very few that I have heard or read realize that there has been a tectonic shift in news dissemination (as well as politics) .
Just look at the coverage from Fallujah. Nuanced negativity all the time. Stessing our casualties without so much as a peep about the progress being made. Afghanistan is damned with faint praise.
Look at the major flap over the poor Marine who was mainly trying to stay alive and keep his buds alive too. The media have all but condemned him as a cold blooded murderer. All politically driven.
The MSM is not going to change. They will relentlessly ignore, distort and trivialize the blogosphere.
The MSM rolls on as if nothing has happened. Yeah, they may be whistling in the dark, but I think they're betting that they'll outlast and outshout the new kids.
Don't look for an MSM epiphany any time soon, they shed any pretense, thin though it was, of 'objectivity or fairness' in this past election and no that it's been done, they will keep on doing it.
The blogosphere may have bypassed the information gatkeepers, but the MSM still maintains a powerful postiion by being able to broadcast news in print and over the air to large audiences that the blogs can not match.
Progress has been made in the democratization of news dissemination, but there is still a long way to go.

plus let's not forget condi is just plain hot

I take it the lovely Mrs Bingley lacks internet access at school?

i'm refering, of course, to the heat of condi's intellect, which is seared, seared i tell you, into my memory...

Why should we the people eliminate just the federal education dept? Seems like the whole federal government could use a big time shake-up. Lose the liberal nut cases and redo the entire system. Bush is working on it and I applaud him!

I hope Condi will hand each national leader she meets a video of the Basra Highway (the Highway of Death).
"Colin wanted to stop this before we got through. Not everybody agreed with him. So he came to talk to you and did you listen? Noooo. Well, Colin's gone now. Shall we start over?"

But, aren't her Russian qualifications a bit "legacy"?

Is Russia lying somewhere at the bottom of the ocean next to Atlantis? No one here seriously believes they don't want to be a player? Much can happen in a little bit of time, and Dr. Rice's past experience will no doubt come in handy.

I love her for her brains and no-nonsense way. I wish I had her appearance before the 9-11 commisars on tape, so that I could watch that vision of steely coolness over and over. If Maggie Thatcher was a Steel Lady, I'm thinking Dr. Rice will be Titanium.

No begging, no appeasement, but just what we need.

What can I say, I go for the Trinity (the Matrix) appoach: "I don't have time for this s***."

Personally, I am still mad as hell about some of the political cartoons that have run about Dr. Rice in the last few days.

Condi is WAY too much of a lady to pay attention to these antideluvian idiots, but I anxiously await the opportunity to invite one to coffee and pistols at dawn.

I think Hannity and Colmes are going to look at some of the racist/leftist cartoons attacking Dr. Rice. Some black racists are attacking her as well. Somebody needs to shine a light and watch these racist roaches scurry.

Regarding Condi's Russia experience- It is absolutely relevant to today's world. Like it or not, there are two MAD-capable nuclear powers on the planet today. The US is one, Russia is the other. Despite the current cooperation between the two, having someone who understands Russia as SecState is *not* a bad thing.

Regarding this:

I hope Condi will hand each national leader she meets a video of the Basra Highway (the Highway of Death).
"Colin wanted to stop this before we got through. Not everybody agreed with him. So he came to talk to you and did you listen? Noooo. Well, Colin's gone now. Shall we start over?"

My impression is that Powell and Rumsfeld did an excellent job of Good cop/Bad cop. It will be interesting to see if Condi steps into the Good cop role, or if the strategy changes to Bad cop/Worse cop.

Sarge,

Let's not forget the brilliant Dr. Rice's most important qualification: she will drive the liberals nuts! Er, I mean nuttier.

The thought of the Democrat Party unleashing their usual unfair attacks on a black woman while they profess to be the party of racial and gender progress is something I relish.

Getting rid of the one independent voice in the cabinet and replacing it with a close aid...Doesn't sound like in with the new, out with the old and tired to me.

When will people wake up, and realize that Lileks is a obnoxious blowhard, and not some later day Proust as the Internet world seems to treat him is.

I'll take Stephen Green anyday!

Why is it that Democrats never need to have independent voices in their cabinets? Moderating influences?

Independent Voice- I've never heard Condi spew anything that wasn't a predetermined quote from her superiors. Independent- my ass. She got the job cause she agrees with everything dubya does. Just because she is qualified doesn't make her an independent thinker.

Pete - Condi is smarter than Bush (even though Bush isn't dumb), and I suspect that stuff Dubya does in foreign policy is stuff that Condi feeds him, not vice-versa.

Amazing.

I don't follow Dr. Rice's history, but I do notice that the folks that are "pro" Rice sometimes cite facts, while those who are against her only have adhomen.

That should be, "the folks here"; specific, not general!

The Condi story keeps getting worse and worse.

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/1104/188780.html

If this were the comments of, say, Rush or Hugh or Laura, do you think they'd still be on air?

friggin spambot trolls

great post.

Can I just say, I loooooooove Condi! As a sister, I'm really proud of her and I'm soooo mad at those in the black community who are denigrating her. Mhking (mhking.mu.nu) has a post on this.

What has she done for our National Security?

Didn't she miss the terrorist threat while being briefed and warned by her underlings?

Didn't she perform more like an Executive Secretary in her last job?

I look for accomplishments on resumes, less credentials.

Of course, who would want to follow Colin and Armitage on stage.
And it doesn't help the MSM is sending her into a tough job with a big sign hung around her neck "I am here to clean house!", will they never give up trying to undermine their own damned country?

I wish her all the best fighting on two fronts, the MSM and other lesser enemies.

"Didn't she miss the terrorist threat while being briefed and warned by her underlings?"

Do you read the 9/11 report?

Do you know what "actionable intelligence" is?

Did you see the 8/6/2001 Presidental Daily Briefing - "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US"? Was security tightened ANYWHERE?

Do you remenber the terrorist attacks at the millenium -12/31/1999?
No because Clinton and his team "shook the trees" and met EVERY DAY for MONTHS to make sure that everything that could be done was done.

Bush went on another long vacation of "clearing brush" and Condi passed the buck.

The real question is who is more incompetent - Condi or her boss?

At least Bush kicked ass and took names when we were attacked on his 9 month watch.

What was Clinton's response on two, or was it three, attacks on us under his 8 year watch?

There is nothing worse than aggressive stupidity. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)