Does Rice really know her role?

msnbc ^ | Howard Fineman

[anniegetyourgun]

How national security adviser's testimony hurt Bush

WASHINGTON - Republicans who'd been hoping that Condi Rice would calm the political waters with her testimony to the 9/11 commission have to be disappointed. Stylistically and tactically, she was serviceable. Her voice seemed to quaver at times, but overall she was a confident master of detail, choosing, for the most part, to praise rather than confront the accusatory Richard Clarke. But the larger picture she painted of herself, her president and the administration certainly won't help George W. Bush's re-election chances.

A self-proclaimed expert at understanding "structural" change in large institutions, Rice wasn't aware — may still not be aware — that the nature of her job had changed by the time she took over as national security adviser in January 2001. Reared in the Cold War era, she saw herself following in the footsteps of Henry Kissinger. "National security" was largely a matter of global state-to-state diplomacy.

In fact, as her predecessor in effect warned her when he was turning over the keys, the model was no longer so much Kissinger as it was, say, Elliott Ness or J. Edgar Hoover. If, as she said, we had been at war with terrorism for 20 years; if, as she said, the terrorists are determined to attack America, then the NSC chief has to be a ruthless hunter for clues around the world — and on American soil.

Asked at the hearing why she hadn't pressed the FBI more closely about what it knew, or didn't know, about domestic terrorist threats, she acted as though the question was an odd one: It wasn't her job. Well, in retrospect, it was and now certainly is.

[anniegetyourgun]

I didn't even have the heart to post the entire article. This little missive is one of Howie's most embarassing. Poor soul.

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[Chuckster]

Must have been a different hearing than the one I heard.

[Enterprise]

"Republicans who'd been hoping that Condi Rice would calm the political waters with her testimony to the 9/11 commission have to be disappointed."

Hey Fineman, speak for yerself ya bitch.

[Finalapproach29er]

If Howie isn't on the Kerry payroll, he's getting screwed.

[anniegetyourgun]

I'm convinced he had his fingers crossed when he wrote it.

[anniegetyourgun]

LOL~!

[cyborg]

Sure Condi knows her role.. .her role is taking democrat heads and shoving them up their own arses

[Keith in Iowa]

In Howie's case, you have to only pay attention to the first four letters in the word "analysis" to understand his POV.

[Asclepius]

"National security" was largely a matter of global state-to-state diplomacy.

This is the new mantra chanted by the left in print and on the airwaves: the new terrorist threat is stateless; only elitist, unreconstructed cold-war warriors who cannot let it go still think in terms of states. Hence the President's policy of preemptive attacks against the states that sponsor terrorists is misguided at best; at worst it only inflames the terrorists etc., etc.

I hate these people.

[cwb]

Right...and Sandra Burger was such a terror warrior as NSA. Of course, he was probably out of the loop since terrorism was a "legal" concern for the Clinton administration. We all now the Christians at Waco were a bigger threat than the Muslims who almost brought down the WTC in 1993. WTF!

[Williams]

The leftist media cannot stand when their plans come to naught. They built up the Rice testimony as something the Bush Administration dreaded because it would be a disaster. For too many reasons to list she did fine. So now they will spin twist fold and mutilate the reality until they can remake it in the public mind. And they may succeed.

[Tax Government]

Does she know her role? Yeah... President of the United States.

[Williams]

Denial of reality is one of their "strong" points. If they have their way, we will be left defenseless against N Korea, Iran, Syria, et al.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Does Rice really know her role?

And of course this hit-piece phrases the title as a question so they can't be accused of making it a baseless accusation. Happens all the time. That's how the media operates: phrase an accusation as a question, as in, "Did Bush know about 9/11?", "Does Bush have what it takes to run the country?", "Is Bush unduly obsessed about Iraq?"

[JasonC]

She got to talk directly to the American people, who heard every word she said, and saw every snide piece of partisan sniping the left engaged in. And they notice, in spades, that the only publically defensible criticisms of the Bush administration are calls to do even more, more thoroughly and more radically.

And they know, already, and will hear in at great length in the subsequent campaign, that the left's platform is the exact opposite, to do less. The Dems have jujitsu'ed themselves right out of their whole campaign. They are peaceniks running against a fire breathing cowboy. And they can't even begin to publicly defend the idea of doing less in the war on terror - which is in fact their entire platform, and everyone knows it.

[BlessedByLiberty]

Well we know that Howie knows his role - shill for DNC politics on Chris Matthews show. Matthews constantly extols Fineman's virtues and poor Howie believes it.

[gatorgriz]

He's getting screwed... But like those on the left he's learned to like it; its for the cause don't you see?

[grellis]

Republicans who'd been hoping that Condi Rice would calm the political waters with her testimony to the 9/11 commission have to be disappointed.

BWAHAHAHAHAHHAHA! This is better than a Friday Fun post!

[cardinal4]

Ill bet the outline was written last week. This is all part of the continuing leftist angst over the 2000 loss. As Americans we should be outraged the the DNC doesnt care who they put up as long as that candidate wins. Kerry, Albright, who cares? As long as Bush is out..