December 26, 2005

Condi in '08?

WaPo's Anne Gearan reads the political landscape and sees that Condoleezza Rice is awfully popular:
Kurt Campbell, director of the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, credits Rice's heavy travel schedule, an approach to diplomacy that is more pragmatic than other Bush advisers, and a measure of personal pluck.

"She appears to have sort of skated away" from controversies over U.S. intelligence failures and aggressive U.S. tactics in the hunt for terrorists, Campbell said, and from the perception that the United States is "slogging" along in Iraq.

"She appears at once to be close to the president but separate and detached from some of the foibles of the administration, and that's a very hard thing to pull off," he said.

12 comments:

D.E. Cloutier said...

Condi would get my vote. And I belong to neither political party.

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Oooh. Good use of the verb "skated away" given Rice's training as a figure skater. Also, she's dubbed a "clotheshorse" by the woman writer.

Can a "thin ice" reference be far off?

vbspurs said...

I'm all over her like Condi on Rice!

But you know how it is -- Presidents are not supposed to be "distinguished".

That's a term used for Senators, of whom we expect gravitas and elegance, and all that good country-club stuff most of us do not embody (although I sure as hell do).

Would I vote for her for President? In a heartbeart.

My dream ticket is Rudi/Condi in oh-eight.

But I don't think she'll run. And he won't be chosen.

And we Repubs are screwed with McCain.

*sniff*

Cheers,
Victoria

vbspurs said...

Can a "thin ice" reference be far off?

I'm trying to think of a very witty triple-sowkow followup pun.

I'll be right with you.

Cheers,
Victoria

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Victoria:
"Salchow"
http://figureskating.about.com/od/glossaryofterms/g/Salchow.htm

Sowcow is what you get when the pigs and the cattle get a little too friendly.

vbspurs said...

On foreign policy issues, Condi would be the best prepared and most knowledgeable President in US history.

With the exception of Jefferson, Madison, and John Quincy Adams...and Teddy Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson, and FDR, and JFK, and GWHB...et al. ;)

She is kind of a blank on domestic policy, but she's probably more conservative than most people expect (the only domestic issue I know she's spoken out on is gun owners' rights, and her comments would have made Charlton Heston proud).

That's because her Republican dad, who probably most people know as the minister from Alabama who is the true love of Condi's life, was told by the police chief in their hometown, that he couldn't protect the Rice family, following the race-disturbances of the time.

Next day, he got a rifle.

There's nothing so powerful as seeing your dad protect his little family with a gun.

That's why I myself am I'm 100% pro-fire arms.

Abortion -- she's very Christian.

It's only in Affirmative Action that she differs from the majority of Republicans in the president's inner-circle.

Which speaks well of both of them.

I gotta disagree with Victoria - I think Rudi is the top contender for the GOP nomination.

Believe me, Larry, I hope you are right.

It's true that any other Republican with his positions on abortion/gay marriage etc. wouldn't even be a serious candidate, but Rudi is a special case and, in fact, is very popular with the Republican base (unlike McCain).

Yes he is, which analysts (especially foreign ones) are consistently aghast, and will continue to be.

They think us Conservatives are all religious nutters.

Well, I'm religious, possibly a nutter, but I don't fit their narrow bill -- I'd vote for him in a trice.

The self-confident part of me wants to say, don't even hold an election if it's Rudy/Condi in '08.

They'll win by a landslide.

But underestimating their opponents is what our friends from the other side always do, to their continued humiliation, and I refuse to do the same thing to them.

But Rudi/Condi will beat any Hillary/Edwards/or Southern White Religious Guy ticket they can think up.

Of course, Condi is an ideal VP, and if she doesn't run for POTUS she will be at the top the VP list.

I'll go with SCOTUS, but I jump off the POTUS ship.

Cheers,
Victoria

vbspurs said...

Sowcow is what you get when the pigs and the cattle get a little too friendly.

So basically you are saying a double axl is not Guns-and-Roses related?

Welcome to the Jong-Il!

Cheers,
Victoria

Steven said...

The interesting thing would be Rice as the POTUS candidate, balanced on the ticket with a domestic policy specialist -- say, one with expertise on and practical experience with public health care management. Maybe with direct legislative experience, too.

Since this is a Republican ticket, a VP who's utterly reliably anti-abortion would be useful. A Catholic on the ticket might be worthwhile.

Of course, a nonwhite of recent-immigant origins would have its advantages too, especially since it would deflect "Rice is a figurehead" claims.

Somebody else young and vigorous would only add to the charms of the ticket. If you don't pick somebody who is a vertran, somebody invulnerable to draft-dodging questions for other reasons (like youth) would be useful.

In any case, somebody like Congressman Bobby Jindal, of Louisiana's First Congressional District, would be a very interesting VP choice. And, hey, he's just old enough in '08!

Anonymous said...

Dr. Cond-o-lies-a-lies-alot

August 6th, PDB; "I believe the title was Bin Laden Determined To Attack Inside the United States."

Mushroom Clouds;

"I don't think that anybody could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center, take another one and slam it into the Pentagon, that they would try to use an airplane as a missile"

You see, this war came to us, not the other way around."

# CLAIM: "The fact of the matter is [that] the administration focused on this before 9/11." – National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, 3/22/04
# FACT: President Bush and Vice President Cheney's counterterrorism task force, which was created in May, never convened one single meeting. The President himself admitted that




Katrina & Ferragamo Shoes;
Chevron Tanker Condoleeza;

But in terms of Saddam Hussein being there, let's remember that his country is divided, in effect. He does not control the northern part of his country. We are able to keep arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt." 2001

As I was telling my husb— As I was telling President Bush.

vbspurs said...

In any case, somebody like Congressman Bobby Jindal, of Louisiana's First Congressional District, would be a very interesting VP choice. And, hey, he's just old enough in '08!

I'm not sure I want such a young whippersnapper one heartbeat away from the presidency!

I already didn't take Edwards, who looks like the junior varsity swim champ, seriously because of his excessively youthful looks.

BTW, remember when it was said that Hillary and the DLC were really hoping Kerry would be defeated in '04, because that would make her run for the POTUS (I give in) easier?

I wonder if Barak Obama isn't really hoping for the same outcome in '08 (a Hillary/-D defeat), so he could run in '12?

Gosh, I can't believe I referenced the presidential bid for 2012, already.

I'm worse than Chris Matthews.

Cheers,
Victoria

Simon said...

My views on Rice have not really changed from those expressed here.

I think Victoria is a little off; you can't really have a moderate-moderate ticket, it has to be balanced. Anyone who seriously thinks that the religious right won't cut their throat to spite their face by staying home on election day should study the 1992 election more closely. They would not turn out for a Condi-Rudy ticket, not least because they are both pro-choice. They could live with a McCain-Brownback or McCain-Gingrich, because while McCain is a pain in their ass, he is a pro-life pain in their ass who simply disagrees with them on a few issues. Faced with an acceptable, balanced ticket, and the possiblity of a Hillary presidency, I think the GOP would line up behind McCain, even if he wouldn't be many people's first choice. Further, it seems to me that both Stevens and Ginsburg are going to cling on in office for dear life, which will mean that - like every Presidential election since Roe, and like every Presidential election until Roe is finally overturned - the 2008 election will essentially turn on what kind of Judges and Justices the President will appoint. That means that, unless those two are carried out in the next three years, any GOP nominee for the Presidency or the Senate is going to have to be firmly pro-life, or have a compelling excuse explaining why not.

knox said...

Victoria: no one's worse than Chris Matthews.