Minute Rice

The confirmation of Condoleezza Rice was a foregone conclusion; the spineless Democrats had all but conceded beforehand, thus putting up only a token fight. It's sad that we talk and talk about how serious we are about matters of national security, yet when it comes time to discuss the incompetent, it's all just Kabuki theater from the outset (like the majority of the political process). Still, Rice got the most "no" votes since Henry Clay, apparently. That says something. Not enough, but something.

Another fact that says something is this:

"We have been the authors of much of our own misery and as a result of that I cannot find it in my heart or in my mind to vote for a promotion of Dr. Rice," declared Sen. Evan Bayh, an Indiana Democrat who supported the Iraq war.

When Evan Bayh -- who is as hawkish a Democrat as they come, and universally considered to be a serious person, as opposed to a partisan bomb-thrower -- says things like that, it's a sign. Bayh is also said to be mulling an '08 presidential run, so that of course may have something to do with it, but he's from one of the redder states, so he can't really fuck around, nor has he been prone to in the past.

(While we're at it, let's take a minute to reflect on how Barbara Boxer has been treated in this process. She asked very solid, sensible questions of Rice, and of course Rice got pissy at having her so-called integrity impugned. Well, sorry Condi, but we're 1,400 dead, 15,000 wounded, tens of thousands of innocent civilians, and $300 billion into this thing, largely because you kept making fearmongering sales pitches about "smoking guns" and "mushroom clouds". Don't be all shocked that a few people might actually have the spine to question you.)

It's also been educational to watch Republicans engage in the very same craven identity politics they've cursed the Democrats for lo these many years. It's always interesting watching people become exactly what they despise. And Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX) deserves special mention for insisting that it's just plain wrong to go rehashing silly things like facts and questions in a confirmation process. Christ. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it, but there it was. Of course, you'll never see it on the liberal network news, which has spent its time pondering the deep questions like, "Do the Democrats want to die taking this particular hill, in the political sense?". Pathetic. Either we're serious about national security, or we're not. This administration has clearly shown, time and again, that it is not serious about it.

Naturally, Bush wants his work wife rubber-stamped ASAP, and is growing ever testier at the notion of questions and facts being re-hashed. How dare they?!

Well, they dare. Finally. She's still in, and she'll be hoist on her own inept petard soon enough. But at least they made her work a little for it. It's a start.