When it comes to Condi, decency just doesn't apply

Austin American-Statesman. ^ | January 19, 2007 | James Lileks

[neverdem]

NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE

When people say they're "speaking truth to power," you can assume they haven't had an original thought since the Beatles broke up. But that was how Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., characterized her interrogation of Condi Rice.

While chastising the Bush administration for its plan to send more helpless American waifs into Iraq, Boxer said: "Who pays the price? I'm not going to pay a personal price. My kids are too old, and my grandchild is too young."

These are pertinent details; ever since 9/11, analysts have insisted that the fight against militant global Islamic jihadis hinges on the demographic nature of Boxer's offspring.

But then she addressed Rice in a personal fashion:

"You're not going to pay a particular price, as I understand it, with an immediate family."

Meow! Zing! Oh, you had a good laugh, but then the doubts crept in. Attacking a career women for being childless — for not having gut soldat boys fur das Vaterland, in other words — doesn't seem very progressive. Is there any possible defense? Of course. It's really quite simple.

Reason No. 1: Rice is a chickenhawk. No one has the right to an opinion about the war unless she's serving or has a close relative in the armed forces — preferably a child conscripted by the roving press-gangs that stalk the malls and haul off the poor to die in the trenches.

This might seem like an attack on free speech, but free speech has its limits. You don't have the right to shout fire in a theater unless you're a fireman, or have a close relative who has a dalmatian. When Condi Rice has children and forces them to enlist, then she can have an opinion. (Note: She can have an opinion about abortion, as long as it's the right one.)

Reason No. 2: She deserves it because she's a hard-line wingnut. Granted, neocons might disagree. Rice's recent visit to Israel put pressure on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to deal with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, for example. Just a few days ago Abbas made a nice little speech at Yasser Arafat's grave, urging some good ol' fashioned Jew-shooting. "We will not give up our principles and we have said that rifles should be directed against the occupation," he said. "We have a legitimate right to direct our guns against Israeli occupation."

That's what it takes to be a Palestinian moderate: talk about "directing" the guns without explicitly demanding they be fired.

The Bush administration wants Congress to cough up $86 million in "military aid" for Abbas to shore up his side against Hamas. Huh? The Rice of yore was viewed as a steely brainiac with a cold gaze capable of freezing warts off a stone toad at 30 pages. John Bolton plus electrolysis. What happened? Neocons wonder if the oafish trolls at the State Department replaced the original Rice with a pod-person version who talks about the need to talk about talking. Keffiyeh-clad college students who love the Che vibe that rolls off the Hamas leaders should adore the new Condi. You'd think she'd be praised as a Realist, as we now call the people who roll over and show our throat.

But that would be simplistic. She's a single woman (nudge, nudge) who plays classical piano (snob) and likes Bush (creepy secret love-crush) so she's one of them, and hence has richly earned a Boxer smackdown about her fallow womb.

Reason No. 3: No one has dared criticize her before, because she's black. This was the nuanced approach taken by Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii. He called Rice "the most overrated, underperforming individual in executive authority that I have ever seen."

Abercrombie went on to say: "She constantly gets a pass. Who knows if the whole question of race and gender come into it, but . . . I can't account for it, except to say she isn't up to the mark."

Since he's a Democrat, he can't be making a racist or sexist remark. So what did he mean? Simple: Ms. Rice was elevated solely as ethnic window dressing to mouth the agenda of the doughy pale death-ghouls who manipulate Bush. No other explanation is possible, so it's fair to blame her success on the concentration of melanin in her flesh. It may seem harsh, but it's necessary. When it comes to the opponents of the progressive dream, the normal parameters of decency should not apply.

If they ever did.

[Tamar1973]

When people say they're "speaking truth to power," you can assume they haven't had an original thought since the Beatles broke up.

That is the funniest line I've read in a long time. Too bad it's too long to be used as a tag line. ROTFLOL!

[freeangel]

But, then again, when has boxer EVER been decent?

[Polybius]

When people say they're "speaking truth to power," you can assume they haven't had an original thought since the Beatles broke up.

The Beatles broke up?!?

[basil]

I'm amazed that this article appeared in the Austin unAmerican Statesman!

[new yorker 77]

Senator Boxer?

I smell mothballs.

[MNJohnnie]

Really interesting to compare and contrast the deification of Hillary, who would be nothing at all if she was not married to Bill, with the contempt directed at Condi who did it ALL on her own.

Come a long way baby? Apparently NOT.

[MNJohnnie]

This is as close as I could get it. It just fits

If they say "speaking truth to power,"-they haven't had a l thought since the Beatles broke up

[stevem]

Reason No. 3: No one has dared criticize her before, because she's black. This was the nuanced approach taken by Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii. He called Rice "the most overrated, underperforming individual in executive authority that I have ever seen."

This clown must have nodded off during the Halfbright years.

[gcruse]

"When people say they're "speaking truth to power," you can assume they haven't had an original thought since the Beatles broke up."

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