I fully understand Lugar and Hagel support Rice and her job is to talk with the Foreign Relations Committee no matter who is in charge of it.
I hope I passed the test, so we can move past you trying to teach me something, I already know and fully understand.
My point and only point is this: The article is basically a slam on Condi. In DC and especially the inner circle of power is relatively a small group of people who made momentous decisions. If Condi is listening to JUST people like Lugar and Hagel for advice and ignoring other people like Cheney, Bolton, Gringrich, we are in trouble.
As I side note, I certainly would hope Condi would give Dennis Kucinich her full and complete attention as head of Foreign Relations Committee and do exactly the complete opposite of his advice.
What I think is that she talks to those people, but is her own person.
I have noticed a concerted effort suddenly to trash her. I find it interesting that all of a sudden, after 2 years, we are suddenly reading all of these posts about how she is a "lightweight" and that she is responsible for all sorts of supposed disasters. Perle and Gingrich are dubious sources IMHO.
I share your opinion of Lugar, but I have seen no sign that he has any real influence on her thinking. Of course, I could be wrong, but I do think that this article is more about worrying that she might be a competitor in 2008 than anything that she has actually done wrong.