Personally, I expect Rice to go up against the Committee and knock 'em dead. Rove has to remember Ollie North. North got lots of mileage out of his testimony. Unfortunately for him, he had some legal baggage that ended up in a felony count. Rice isn't that stupid.
I think that the Bush people are keeping the pot boiling. Some Pubbie Senators have been saying that they should be able to find a way for Condi to testify in public without a subpoena. This hasn't been happening by accident.
The Administration is looking for a way to use Condi in a very public manner. They know that she is good on live TV. She did reasonably well on 60 minutes, from my reading of the transcript. Reasonably well is as good as any Republican is going to get on the Propaganda Network, especially given the efforts of Ed Bradley, professional hack.
She's pissed off and spitting bullets, and I think she wants to go up there and kick some butts. But there has to be a way found for her to take advantage of the element of surprise plus protect Executive Priviledge.
Be Seeing You,
Chris