Posted on 01/26/2005 9:23:45 AM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) won easy confirmation Wednesday to be President Bush (news - web sites)'s new secretary of state, despite strong dissent from a small group of Democrats who said she shares blame for mistakes and war deaths in Iraq (news - web sites).
The Senate voted 85 to 13 to confirm Rice, who succeeds Colin Powell (news - web sites) as America's top diplomat and becomes the first black woman to hold the job.
Plans were made for her to be sworn in at the White House Wednesday night, take her place in the State Department Thursday morning and have a more elaborate swearing-in by Bush at the agency on Friday.
The Senate vote showed some of the partisanship that delayed Rice's confirmation vote by several days. Twelve Democrats and independent James Jeffords (news - web sites) of Vermont voted against Rice. The Democrats included some of the Senate's best-known members such as Massachusetts Democratic Sens. Edward M. Kennedy and John Kerry (news - web sites), who was the party's presidential candidate in last year's election. Thirty Democrats voted for her.
Democratic foes of her appointment focused mostly on the way Bush and Rice took the United States to war in Iraq and how they have handled the war with insurgents since deposing Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).
They said mistakes had led to mounting American casualties. As the debate drew to a close, word came from Iraq of the crash of a U.S. military transport helicopter in bad weather, killing at least 30 people in the worst U.S. loss since the war.
Rice's nomination was never in doubt, however. Republicans had hoped to hold the vote last week, on the same day that Bush took the oath for his second term, but Democrats asked for more time. The GOP accused Democrats of inappropriately delaying Rice's confirmation to make political statements about Iraq policy.
Rice, 50, is Bush's trusted national security aide and a main architect of his policies on Iraq and the war on terror.
Although Rice was assured of confirmation, she got the most "no" votes since World War II. Seven senators voted against Henry Kissinger and six each against Dean Acheson and Alexander Haig.
"Dr. Rice is an honorable, fine public servant who needs to be confirmed," Bush said during a news conference Wednesday. "She will be a great secretary of state and Dr. Rice and I look forward to moving forward."
Bush rejected claims by Democrats that they had been lied to in the run-up to the war in Iraq.
On the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., suggested Democrats are sore losers. Rice had enough votes to win confirmation, as even her Democratic critics acknowledge, McCain said.
"So I wonder why we are starting this new Congress with a protracted debate about a foregone conclusion," McCain said. Since Rice is qualified for the job, he said, "I can only conclude that we are doing this for no other reason than because of lingering bitterness over the outcome of the election."
What had seemed at the outset to be a cinch turned into sometimes angry debate over Bush's decision to go to war with Iraq, his struggle with a potent insurgency and Rice's role in helping him make a case for overthrowing Saddam.
An academic who specialized in the study of the now-defunct Soviet Union, she has been one of Bush's closest advisers as his national security adviser for four years. In testimony last week to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, she swore she has not been shy about disagreeing with him privately at times.
Now, she will be at his side trying to improve relations with European allies, pursuing a Middle East settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, seeking a way to stop North Korea (news - web sites) and Iran from developing nuclear weapons — and, above all, trying to pacify Iraq with limited additional U.S. casualties.
Some of us watched him LIVE on the Senate Floor during debate announce his intent to vote no on Rice and go on about why.
Let me see if I can find it and link everyone up to the spot when Bayh rose to speak...Back in a sec.
well here is the link for his 2004 voting record. He defected from the party 21% of the time which is more than most but still voted 80% for the Republican issues. I would say 80% is at least moderate wouldn't you.
http://bolson.org/gov/us/senate/2004/
or would you still say 80% denotes a liberal cause there are Dems here that defected more than that and they have been vilified here like Grahan in Florida.......my god, we hate him but he voted with Repubs 50% of the time.
This is the only reason I say that people tend to highlight the negative and not the positive
Well... You better find a cheap raincoat, because "GRaham" has been cuddlin up to HITLERY of late, like is hard to believe and is far worse than a "couople things," my fine feathered FRiend!!!
Of course I'm "singeling" out the negative things that "heit" the press... That's how you judge these sickening, lurching RINO's and the disturbing damage they do by pissing on their own Party and the conservatives that rightly dominate it!!! (Said conservatives used to include me, till I dropped out from embarrassment at the dumping on considerate conservatives by celebrity and wannabe celibrity RINO's)
It's enough to make a saint cuss, and sometime I might even slip!!!
ok........I will agree with you on some of that but let me ask you.......is Bush a RINO??????? because his spending the first term was out of control not vetoing one bill and spending more than Clinton (not including the war) and his immigration policy is atrocious and won't control the border. So in fairness, does your definition extend to Bush as well????????
This crap isn't "advise and consent!" It's advice and dissent!!!"
The thirteen puking pissants deserve and have well earned any deamonization they get!!!
They're even inadequate as hipocrites!!!
Thank you!
Perhaps this group of "thirteen" may wish to review the 2004 USA popular vote by county. Their stand may endear them to the Radical Left, but it may make their unlucky number shrink in power in the next election.
See Peach's reproduction of this map at http://www.freerepublic.com/~peach/
My take was that he was just voting against Condi as a ruse, so the left of the party would think well of him. Now I'm convinced that no matter why he voted against her, it will come back to bite him on the butt. (Good news as far as I'm concerned, because until this vote, he was the only demo candidate that I feared in 2008.)
My problem with McCain is the big things he defects on such as same sex marriage and tax cuts. He also believes the junk science called global warming. These aren't small issues. When it counts most, he's not there for conservatives.
When I lived in Nevada , Reid was considered a left-wing socialist by the local talk shows
Start reading here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1327944/posts?page=292#292
to see what Evan Bayh said yesterday on the Senate floor to explain his intent to vote against the confirmation of Condoleezza Rice.
I thought there was more discussion but evidently not. I noted a post or two later a couple of his exact quotes where he used some buzzwords. The mask was dropped, IMO.
We're in sync. I just posted that "the mask dropped" before reading your comments.
Yes, it's good to have the cards on the table.
I agree with you on that and I never said I'm a total McCain supporter but I don't think that someone who vote 80% of the time with us is a liberal. I don't like his stance on some things but you said when it counts most, well he campaigned for Bush and was very pro war and those two things were bigger than anything else last year if you ask me.
Total coincidence, but Israel and the Palestinian Auth have some kind of peace deal going today.
I was surprised by the Bayh vote, also. What's with him?
I'm surprised that he campaigned for Bush. I have to admit to a lot of eye rolling on my part everytime he came out in defense of Kerry. Talk about being "double minded"!
he didn't support Kerry for Pres but did as a friend. I think they have some type of Vietnam buddy thing going and while Kerry is a snake, I missed Vietnam by 1 1/2 years so I will never ever lecture on that one..........it was so divisive I'm not surprised that it made strange bedfellows
Wasn't this presidential campaign the oddest thing you've ever seen?! ;-)
it was one for the books......I have to be honest, even though I don't agree with McCain on some things I actually really think he is one of the more honest guys out there despite being a media pig. It is just my opinion but even Bush can be kind of a snake in the grass on some things. I really really think McCain is trying the best he can to be ethical.......i may be wrong but I just like the man maybe more than his politics.......I so think Kerry was almost as bad a candidate as Mondale and McGovern......
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