Kerry is in an unenviable situation

[brentspeak]

We can't ignore the race issue re. Condi Rice. The rightwing echo chamber will cry "racism" if any Democrat votes against Rice. And the Repubs will shout it long enough until the black community at-large hears it.

And therein lies Kerry's dilemma: He hopes to run again for prez in 2008, but he can't afford to look as if he's "keeping black people down".

On the other hand, Rice is clearly incompetent, like all of Bush's appointees. It is almost criminal that the National Security Advisor who did absolutely ZILCH prior to 9/11 is actually up for promotion to Sec.of State. Any honest appraisal of Rice's worth for the position forces Kerry to vote "nay".

[Patchuli]

1. I'd go with honesty everytime

and the 'race card' would be obviously bogus in light of Condi's
blunders. We have to shout the truth louder than the other side
can lie!

[Catch22Dem]

2. When you put it that way...

Yeah, that does suck pretty bad. However, I, as a voter, would have a great deal more respect for him if he ignored his presidential aspirations and voted his conscience.

Add this to his dilemma, he absolutely RAILED the entire administration for a year. Basically (and rightfully) called the whole lot of them failures. Could he really vote to promote one of their chief offenders?

[brentspeak]

9. Yup, Catch22, Kerry's definitely in an, er...

...catch-22.

Austin Powers: "Allow myself to introduce...er, myself".

:silly:

[Catch22Dem]

22. HAHAHA, that was good

Didn't even notice the irony. Good...um...catch! ;)

[journalist3072]

3. Condi

We cannot let them turn this into an issue of race.

Condi's incompetence has zero to do with race. She's damn incompetent b/c she and Bushie share the same thinking.

[cvoogt]

4. b/c we all know how racist them dems are

and how honest and unprejudiced the GOP is. I say ignore the race issue. It is irrelevant, and if it gets exploited, point out the voter disenfranchisement of 04 and 00.

[Merlot]

6. Considering that it seems to be repubs who want

to limit who votes, I'd say that playing the race card won't get them to far. We just have to play the truth card.

[cvoogt]

26. right on EOM

[zulchzulu]

5. Do you think most black people like Condi?

They hate her.

It's no loss for Kerry or ANYONE to take Condi's many failures to task. She might want to play the race card later, but her performance is enough to damn her historically.

I want to like her, but she just proves time and again that she is way over her head...her gig at Stanford was about where she should have stayed...

Unless she repents like that other black person Colin Powell for her lies and distortions with the Iraq War and 9/11, she's as bad as they come...black, white, green, purple....whatever.

[JI7]

7. most black and other minorities do not like Condi

the racism thing wont work because Kerry and most other Democrats have a positive record on the issue of race relations and civil rights.

the reason it works well against right wingers is because they have a record of being opposed to civil rights and other things involving better race relations. for example the trent lott controversy wasn't just about his comments about things being better if strom had been president. the fact that he has such a crappy record on the issue of race is why it hurt him.

[whistle]

8. Bullshit, she is an incompetent lackey of the president....

...she was totally unprepared for 9-11 and she will be an awful Secretary of State. As Secretary Rice will be the chief US diplomat and will have to over see the State Department. She blew her job as National Security Adviser and as Chief US diplomat over the entire State Department of the United States, I can not imagine Condi being at all effective with 21st century diplomacy, unless her role is to return diplomacy to the cold war atmosphere of 40 years ago,implementing policies of her cold war heroes John Foster Dullas and Allen Dullas.

[emulatorloo]

10. Typically Congress lets a President have the cabinet he/she wants

The President is given a lot of leeway w advisors.

That being said, I would like to see Kerry vote against her.

He did a good job of getting her BS lies on the record under oath today. . .

[aquart]

11. Confirm her.

I'm hoping we can reduce her to tears. That woman's ambition is to get into the history books? Well, let them record her as the most incompetent ever known.

She sold out her country, her race (whatever it is), her gender, her everything to be part of this criminal alliance. She thinks they'll respect her more than Powell? Give her the job.

I hope the stress turns her into a puddle on the floor.

Condi Rice, the pointwoman for the American decline.

Give her the job.

[Old and In the Way]

12. She's a failed NSC chief who happens to be a black female.

I understand your point, but the black female part should not enter into the calculus one iota. Really, what kind of SOS is she going to be? She simply doesn't have the horsepower for the job. She'll taking her marching orders from Rumsfield, I suspect. This position is being downsized for the 2005-2008 period.

But, all failures in this administration are rewarded. Those who chose to disagree are shown the door.

3,000 Americans died because she failed on 9/11. If she had any class or self-respect, she'd have resigned and told her story. I'm sure she was duped on 9/11, but by staying, she's become an accomplice in enabling this criminal administration to continue.

[GreenArrow]

15. I don't believe the black community holds her

in especially high regard to begin with. Any racial posturing would be done to get righteous, if naive, white voters.

[EC]

16. Duped?

She really thought our biggest threat was Russia, her specialty, she was going to give a speech on the Star Wars defense Missile System that very day....She was warned by last administration that Bin Laden was going to be her main focus and she out and out ignored the warning and decided it was going to be Russia...now if * or neocon's had a hand in it...it still stems from bin Laden, since he is probably still on the CIA payroll...

[Old and In the Way]

17. She was a useful tool, IMHO.

While she no doubt has this pResident's ear, I think she was pretty well firewalled inside this administrtaion. She doesn't strike me as a particularly malevolent ideologue who is adept at lying and furthering the BFEE criminal agenda. I do think she's loyal to a fault with Bush and may have some kind of wierd relationship that makes her easy to manipulate. But I think she was probably a managing puppet at NSC and her naivete was exploited such that she was totally clueless about the nature of the 9/11 attack. But her actions since 9/11 are indefensible. She's part of the team now. She's sold her soul to her Prince of the Darkness.

[GreenArrow]

13. if he can't or won't vote nay, he should ABSTAIN

!^%$@* is going to be confirmed anyway. Abstentions or nays, one or the other.

[lojasmo]

24. If he can't or won't vote nay, he should RESIGN.

I'm sick of Kerry's "strategic" votes, and abstentions. Sick, I tell you.

[EC]

14. I don't know one black person

that 1. see's her as black
2. thinks that she is competent
3. likes her


except maybe RW pundits...











on edit; Besides, why do we give a damn about what RW'ers think? Let them keep their ignorant base...we don't need to convince anybody who we are, or that we stand with the minorities, they know that....isn't that why we are called socialists by the RW, because we believe in helping the less fortunate?

[politicasista]

18. See my Tavis Smiley post

He is in a tough situation. Tavis just dissed him for pandering to us and using MLK day to address voting rights instead of sooner. Too bad we don't know the real reason behind what happened. Shame on the media.

[paulk]

19. I don't think his unenviable position has anything to do with race

Condi Rice is going to be confirmed no matter how Kerry votes. His problem - with Rice as Secretary of State being the face of American diplomacy - can he afford to damage her (and her ability to conduct diplomacy) by voting "no" and essentially saying she's not qualified for the job?

[Zinfandel]

20. You under estimate the intelligence of African Americans. Who in the fuck

wants to see spineless, rollover Kerry back in 2008?

Are you suggesting Kerry is the best the Democrats have to offer? Then we are in deep shit.

Skin color has nothing to do with telling the truth, African Americans are surely more in touch with this then you appear to be. Color has nothing to do with Rice's lies and incompetence.

What kind of person do you want as president, some weasel who doesn't want to step on some toes and speak the truth because he's afraid he might not get some votes?

Most African Americans know republicans are all greedy, lying, piles of dog shit. They would surely see it's the republicans playing the race card. You are selling people short.

Kerry should stand up for what's right, we have enough "leaders" who don't do anything and let things slide, as things get progressively worst, because they are afraid of Bush, Rove, etc. and are too worried about getting elected.

So they play ball, kiss-republican ass and say fuck America in the process. Just look at Tom Dascle...he did all the republican ass kissing and they still turned on him.

There is no excuse for not speaking the truth.

[brentspeak]

28. Congrats. You win the "Putting words in the other guy's mouth" prize

My thread was basically an analysis of the kind of poltical dilemma I believed Kerry might see himself in. Where in the name of all that's good and holy did I call Kerry the "best Democrats have to offer", or even begin to suggest that African Americans are gullible/less intelligent, or that Rice's incompetence was due to her race?

Unbelievable.

[Dr Fate]

21. So I guess that makes Obama a "sexist" for asking hard questions too?

We need to stop discussing "why we cant" and just start acting.

If we dont start acting, we will whither.

[sendero]

23. If Kerry doesn't vote no...

... it will be a decision based on anything but race.

[robbedvoter]

25. Yea. poor Kerry. It's all about him. Again.

What was that rummy e-mail saying? The one you were all swooning over? "Don't reward incompetence?"

[Jack Rabbit]

27. Let them hollar

The Democrats should not vote against Dr. Rice because she is Black. I doubt any Democrat will.

I expect all Democrats to vote against Dr. Rice becasue she is a liar and a war criminal. That she is Black has nothing to do with it.

[cestpaspossible]

29. I have a dream

that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.