Posted by
Wes Fowler on Monday, March 10, 2008 11:54:00 AM
There is an article in the latest issue of "
The New Yorker" about McCain's running mate options. It says:
“WITH MCCAIN ATOP TICKET, TALK SHIFTS TO SPOT NO. 2,” the
Times
headlined the day after Spot No. 1 was definitively filled. According
to the accompanying story, McCain has no Vice-Presidential short list
and no process for making one, “merely a process to find a process.”
This seems odd, but I guess he figures he has time to contemplate.
The good part is :
"If McCain really wants to have it all—to refurbish his maverick image
without having to flip-flop on the panderings that have tarnished it;
to galvanize the attention of the press, the nation, and the world; to
make a bold play for the center without seriously alienating “the
base”—then he can avail himself of a highly interesting option:
Condoleezza Rice."
Why?
"To deal first with the obvious: Rice may be “only” the second woman and
the second African-American to be Secretary of State, but she is
indisputably the highest-ranking black female official ever to have
served in any branch of the United States government. Her nomination to
a constitutional executive office would cost McCain the votes of his
party’s hardened racists and incorrigible misogynists
[translation- the GOP is the party of racism and misogyny] . They are surely
fewer in number, though, than the people who would like to participate
in breaking the glass ceiling of race or gender but, given the choice,
would rather do so in a more timid way, and/or without abandoning their
party. And with Rice on the ticket the Republicans could attack Clinton
or Obama with far less restraint."
But what about the Iraq War???? Won't that harm the ticket????
"By choosing Rice, McCain would shackle himself anew to Bush’s Iraq war.
But it’s hard to see how those chains could get much tighter than he
has already made them. Rice would fit nicely into McCain’s view of the
war as worth fighting but, until Donald Rumsfeld’s exit from the
Pentagon, fought clumsily. And it would be fairly easy to establish a
story line that would cast Rice as having been less Bush’s enabler than
a loyal subordinate who nevertheless pushed gently from within for a
more reasonable, more diplomatic approach."
But isn't Rice an idiot?? The worst Secretary of State in US history?????
"It’s true that her record in office has been one of failure
[says the liberal media], from
downgrading terrorism as a priority before 9/11
[translation- 9/11 is her fault] to ignoring the
Israel-Palestine problem until (almost certainly) too late. But this
does not seem to have done much damage to her popularity. In a
Washington
Post-ABC News poll taken when opposition to the Iraq
war was approaching its height, she enjoyed a “favorable-unfavorable”
rating of nearly two to one. The conservative rank and file likes her.
Though she once described herself as “mildly pro-choice,” she is agile
enough to complete the journey to mildly pro-life. And she is a
preacher’s daughter."
But "The New Yorker" concludes she'd be a good choice for McCain:
"Choosing Rice would be a trick. Her failures would be buried in an
avalanche of positive publicity for a personal story as yet only
vaguely known to the broad public. (One of the little girls who died in
the 1963 Birmingham church bombing was her playmate? We didn’t know
that!) But the trick would not be an entirely cynical one. Her
ascension, though nowhere near as momentous a breakthrough as the
election of Obama or Clinton, would be a breakthrough all the same. In
this connection, a kind word for George W. Bush may be in order. By
appointing first Colin Powell and then Rice to the most senior job in
the Cabinet, a job of global scope, Bush changed the way millions of
white Americans think about black public officials. This may turn out
to the most positive legacy of his benighted Presidency.
"
Wanna know more???? E-mail me or go to http://www.thinkcondi.com