68 Comments

1. Anthony (Los Angeles):

And it would be very convenient for “President” Rice to travel there to open the games, too!

Rice-Giuliani in ‘08?

Jun 28, 2005 - 12:04 pm 2. Jeff Harrell:

I would throw my full-throated support behind a Condi Rice candidacy in a heartbeat.

And if Kay Bailey Hutchison is her running mate, so much the better.

Jun 28, 2005 - 12:05 pm 3. Lola:

I just love her impeccable sense of timing. I’ve never actively worked for a presidential campaign, but if she decides she is ready after all to postpone her private life for the presidency, I will do my best to help her along the way.

Jun 28, 2005 - 12:09 pm 4. Paul:

Condi has it all. An impeccable and impressive resume, brains, looks, artistic talent and accomplishment. Being a black woman she is the perfect foil for the left’s “America is racist and sexist” canard, as well as a thumb in the eye of Islamist mysongonists everywhere. She cannot help but add to the ranks of black and female Republican voters, and would likely be a highly effective and popular president.

Why do I have a feeling the feckless Republicans will most likely botch this golden opportunity and nominate a nebish like Bill Frist, thus paving the way for Shrillery’s election and the totalitarian nightmare she has in store for us?

Jun 28, 2005 - 1:46 pm 5. mojo:

Ah, the old financial kiss-of-death ploy.

The Olympics are a black hole for money, offering minimal return for the huge investment required.

And that’s not even counting the bribes to the IOC.

Jun 28, 2005 - 1:48 pm 6. ed:

Hmmm.

Sorry but Condi Rice is not a Presidential candidate.

She has never held elected office, at ANY level. She has not been a stunning success as a Secretary of State. A success yes, a stunning success, no.

Sorry but she doesn’t have the resume.

Jun 28, 2005 - 1:55 pm 7. Kevin P:

Mojo:

The olympics can be run without sending a state into dept. Check out Dick Riordan and the LA summer games. It was run like a swiss watch and he dug up enough corporate sponsorship to keep the games out of the red. It just depends on who manages it. My guess is that it will fall under demo leadership and will become more like the “big dig” rather then the Riordan games.

Jun 28, 2005 - 2:18 pm 8. ms anne:

Ed:

Ike wasn’t elected to office until he ran for president.

and how can we judge rice’s “stunning success” as secretary of state this soon?

i don’t know what kind of resume you’re looking for, but rice’s accomplishments as a solo act in her long career far outshine hillary’s achievements as valedictorian of wellesley, lawyer in arkansas, spouse of bill clinton, grudging first lady, and finally senator.

Jun 28, 2005 - 2:22 pm 9. codias:

Run Condi Run ! ! !

http://www.supremetort.com

Jun 28, 2005 - 2:22 pm 10. c:

But she still is stunning, Ed. She’s just getting started as SoS. Who was the last stunning one, anyway? Who was the last stunning politician, while we’re at it?

Jun 28, 2005 - 2:22 pm 11. Patrick Tyson:

Who Says She’s Not Running?

I. If the top people in the Executive Branch feel that none of the declared candidates for the 2008 party nomination is a suitable successor, Dick Cheney will join the racee.

Kevin P—

Peter Ueberroth organized the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Tom Bradley was mayor. Traffic was never better. A lot of money was made. So it goes.

Jun 28, 2005 - 2:40 pm 12. Kevin P:

Patrick:

How quickly I forgot. Of course it was Uberroth, not Riordan. The predicted traffic disaster was fixed with the simple idea of having all 18 wheelers restricted to night driving. And since he allowed tasteful corporate ads, which was derided as giving into nasty capitalism, the people of california were not saddled with massive bills to pay. My apologies to Peter.

Jun 28, 2005 - 2:58 pm 13. Kyda Sylvester:

Who was the last stunning one, anyway

How soon we forget

Jun 28, 2005 - 3:28 pm 14. Kevin P:

Patrick:

Another of the cassandra predictions about the LA games that was left up to the joys of capitalism was the parking situation. Many writers wailed about the need for massive parking structures to be built. What happened instead was business that had large asphalt area’s sold their inventory and

transformed their property into parking lots. Even individual homes sold their driveways as parking spots. There was so much compition that parking was cheaper then it would have been if large parking structures had been installed. Some were built and are used by the USC campus but Ueberroth didn’t panic and build to many. The guy was brilliant.

Jun 28, 2005 - 3:29 pm 15. E Rey:

Too soon for prez? Maybe, but she’d make an intriguing choice for VP.

Jun 28, 2005 - 3:32 pm 16. Kyda Sylvester:

The Olympics are a black hole for money, offering minimal return for the huge investment required.

Well, not in all cases. I have friends in Park City who rented out their house and went to Palm Beach for 2 weeks. Paid their mortgage for a year.

Jun 28, 2005 - 3:35 pm 17. Rick Ballard:

Dammit Kyda, I missed the reference to “the last one” and I had my little granddaughter sitting on my lap when I clicked on that link. She still hasn’t stopped sobbing. Give a warning, OK?

She’s only four, maybe the memory will fade with time.

Jun 28, 2005 - 4:13 pm 18. Knucklehead:

Kyda,

That wasn’t very nice so close to dinner time!

Jun 28, 2005 - 4:19 pm 19. Katherine:

Guys, at least be grateful that it was not Janet Reno. Talking about nightmares.

Kevin,

ButÖbutÖbutÖI thought that market never worked and we needed central planning?Ö.

Jun 28, 2005 - 4:27 pm 20. Rick Ballard:

It’s OK now, I told her it was the Orange Ookie Monster – just make believe.

Jun 28, 2005 - 4:30 pm 21. Kyda Sylvester:

Well, it is the Orange Ookie Monster. Who did you think it was?

Jun 28, 2005 - 4:50 pm 22. c:

Kyda,

Very funny! Just want to make it clear that I was referring to “stunning” as in how one performs in office, and not in how one looks, though Albright’s brooches were perfectly awful. Oh, and not Clinton’s kind of “performing in office”, either, which admittedly was kind of stunning…

Jun 28, 2005 - 5:06 pm 23. Buddy Larsen:

Kyda’s right on, I opened the link, and I’m friggin’ stunned alright.

Jun 28, 2005 - 5:29 pm 24. Buddy Larsen:

CiC’s speech–good stuff. Simple, emotional reiteration. Screw it, he’s a leader.

Jun 28, 2005 - 5:33 pm 25. LouMinatti:

I don’t see what the big fuss is. Paris will win it. Big. If you disagree and think the IOC is concerned with the best location and best financial package, you are mistaken. The 2012 games will be awarded based on politics. Period.

Jun 28, 2005 - 5:41 pm 26. c:

Yeah, right on, and Albright was a TERRIBLE Secretary of State. It’s just that the shots that Dems take at the way Bush, his twins, Katherine Harris, Linda Tripp, Paula Jones, etc. look as opposed to think and act go kinda low.

Maybe we should wish the Olympics on Paris. We had mixed results here in Atlanta, but the toga parties were interesting. How did Athens fare after the fact?

Jun 28, 2005 - 5:57 pm 27. Luther McLeod:

I thought it was a good speech as well, short, simple and to the point. Finish what we started. And, contrary to what ‘the trite’ (thanks c) thinks, what better venue that in front of the very people who are being asked to shoulder the burdens that we, as American’s, ask of them.

Jun 28, 2005 - 5:57 pm 28. Buddy Larsen:

All these poll-cats are little-by-little drawing us into the game.

C, who is Not Jose Marti, re Athens Olympics–they did not fare that well; within a few centuries, the whole damn country fell to the Roman Empire.

Jun 28, 2005 - 6:10 pm 29. Katherine:

Lou,

I hope you are right. May I suggest Pyongyang next?

Jun 28, 2005 - 6:10 pm 30. Luther McLeod:

And oh, I forgot. What Paul said. Rice in ‘08. I do want to see a woman President before I check out. But, please, not shrillary. From a somewhat emotional viewpoint I would love to see a Black Woman as President of this country. I think it would be a really big deal. Condi may be the best chance, and the most qualified, for a long while.

Jun 28, 2005 - 6:10 pm 31. Buddy Larsen:

I’m like you, Luther…she would draw a neat circle. Not her, but what she would mean about us.

Jun 28, 2005 - 6:27 pm 32. c:

Thanks for the update on Athens, Buddy. But the toga parties continued despite, right?

What’s really interesting about Condi is that many of us see an accomplished strong person first, before focusing on her color and gender. She doesn’t do identity politics and it’s wonderful!

Jun 28, 2005 - 6:29 pm 33. Luther McLeod:

Yeah Buddy, that’s what I meant and didn’t know how to say. Spot on, c.

Jun 28, 2005 - 6:39 pm 34. Buddy Larsen:

Thanks for saying I said what you meant, Luther, but C just said what I meant.

Jun 28, 2005 - 6:48 pm 35. c:

I didn’t say anything y’all didn’t say.

Jun 28, 2005 - 6:52 pm 36. JenLArt:

c, perfect observation and as a white woman, that’s what I think, too, although I didn’t realize it until you said it.

That being said, I’ll be behind Dr. Rice 110% should she decide to run in 2008!

Jun 28, 2005 - 6:58 pm 37. Luther McLeod:

Well I’ll say anything you both say you said.

Jun 28, 2005 - 7:00 pm 38. Kevin P:

Roger:

That is why Condi is such a threat to the Dems. She isn’t a silver spoon african american. She has an amazing resume and he has the intellectual chops that they howled that President Bush didn’t. And, of course, she doesn’t buy into the myth that the African American community can only achieve if it is a ward of the state.She knows that anyone who rely’s completely on the government for their survival will eventually be very dissapointed. when you own it you call the shots. When you have to sweat out every budget negotiation of the congress for your life support you are a slave.

The reason the LA olympics worked was because Uberroth included private industry. He was attacked for commercializing the games but he wisely thought that if he could get a corporation to pay for a diving stadium by putting a plaque on it and giving tastefull ad space during the games it was better then saddling the taxpayers with the bill. If you polled most Angelenos at the time and asked them if they wanted any form of visible advertising allowed in the games they would say no. If you then told them how much money it would take off their tax bill they suddenly warmed up to the idea. The combination of profit driven corporate sponsorship and government stewardship produced an Olympics that was not a billion dollar legacy of debt on the host city.

Jun 28, 2005 - 7:00 pm 39. Buddy Larsen:

Well you won’t say what JenLArt said, because I’ve known white women, and you’re no white woman.

Jun 28, 2005 - 7:04 pm 40. Sandy P:

Reaganite at LGF said they turned away 80,000 from Ft. Bragg, the last time was 60,000.

Jun 28, 2005 - 7:06 pm 41. Buddy Larsen:

Roger that last sentence in your top para, Kevin P.

Jun 28, 2005 - 7:11 pm 42. Ray Zacek:

Kyda! I clicked on that link and the cat, purring peacefully in my lap, shrieked and died.

Jun 28, 2005 - 7:32 pm 43. Kyda Sylvester:

Oh dear, sobbing 4-year old, dead cat. Now I do feel bad.

Jun 28, 2005 - 8:32 pm 44. Buddy Larsen:

I’ve been having a twitch like Herbert Lom’s in the Pink Panthers ever since I clicked on it.

Jun 28, 2005 - 9:05 pm 45. jaed:

Unfortunately, I think Condi is barking up the wrong tree here. We’re too much hated to be granted the (dubious, all things considered) honor of hosting the Olympics by such as the IOC. Remember all the snide remarks after the SLC games?

I don’t think the IOC will award the Olympics to the US again in my lifetime, no matter what city bids. I can just imagine the screams were they to do so.

Jun 28, 2005 - 10:46 pm 46. HA:

With apologies to Bow Wow Wow:

http://www.80smusiclyrics.com/artists/bowwowwow.htm

I know a gal who’s tough but sweet

She’s so fine, she can’t be beat

She’s got everything that I desire

Sets the summer sun on fire

I want Condi, I want Condi

Go to vote for her before the polls go down

Ain’t no finer candidate in town

You’re my gal, just what the doctor ordered

So tough, you make my Jacques quiver

I want Condi, I want Condi

Condi in the White House, there’s nothing better

But I like Condi cause she’s wrapped in iron,

Some day soon we’ll vote here in,

Then with Condi we will win

I want Condi, I want Condi

I want Condi, I want Condi …

Jun 29, 2005 - 4:13 am 47. David Thomson:

Condi Rice should be on the Republican ticket. She will get at least 20% of the black vote. There is no realistic way the Democratic presidential candidate can win if this occurs. Actually, anything over 12% may be sufficient to doom them.

Jun 29, 2005 - 4:50 am 48. richard mcenroe:

Buddy Larsen ó Actually, Greece pretty much destroyed itself before the Romans came along. One of the hallmarks of Athens’ decline, ironically, was when they began to pay their politicians, offering the trioboloi (three gold coins) to citizens who attended the Assembly to vote. In short order the Assembly was crowded with ignorant old men who were useless for anything else but had the time to express their ignorance in speeches. Aristophanes has depicted these stampedes of the senescent to great comic effect.

At the same time, the intellectual classes accepted the conceit that a truly wise man withdrew from public life, while in the sciences they had moved away from hard experimentation and mathematics to trying to figure out whether they were shadows on the wall of a cave or shadows of shadows…

So you had a political class establishing public policy as a side effect of lining their own pockets while the society’s self appointed best and brightest refused to even look at what was really in front of them ó excuse me, suddenly I need a large drink and a lie-down…

Jun 29, 2005 - 7:12 am 49. Kyda Sylvester:

Okay, Richard, now you’re scaring me. We are talking about ancient Greece, aren’t we? Aren’t we?

Jun 29, 2005 - 7:25 am 50. ed:

Hmmmm.

“But she still is stunning, Ed. She’s just getting started as SoS. Who was the last stunning one, anyway? Who was the last stunning politician, while we’re at it?”

List her most public accomplishments while as SoS.

Take all the time you need.

Jun 29, 2005 - 7:26 am 51. Buddy Larsen:

Ed, so far, I would say knocking Europe, Asia, and Africa–north-and subsahara–back on their heels with a very simply stated paen to our system as a proven answer to many of the world’s woes. Other than that, not much in the way of cleaning out the State Dep’t, if that’s what you’re getting at. But, I have confidence that nothing is escaping her attention, and that she knows precisely what she’s about. Also, the synergy between her an her boss creates a tremendously open field for US foreign policy. She’s a new world.

Richard and Kyda, another fun fact is that the Golden Age ended with the Peloponnesian (sp) Wars, a long internecine conflict among the Greek states that eventually hardened into Sparta vs Athens–a right vs left dispute–that bled a critical amount of confidence out of the culture. Confidence in the Greek “way”.

Jun 29, 2005 - 7:41 am 52. chuck:

ed,

I haven’t got the time, but look at the asia-pacific region and follow Condi’s travels there. Look at the visit from the Vietnamese PM last week. There is major strategic positioning going on in the region. I think the long term judgement on Condi will turn on what happens there.

Jun 29, 2005 - 7:51 am 53. Buddy Larsen:

Oddly, counterintuitively, Sparta is more like our own Left, wrt to open inquiry, tolerance of dissent, and of course the subjugation of the helots. And Athens would’ve loved our RINOs.

Jun 29, 2005 - 7:55 am 54. Buddy Larsen:

Chuck, Ed.

Jun 29, 2005 - 7:57 am 55. Kyda Sylvester:

Claudia Rosett is smokin’ this mornin’.

And, Buddy, I never had any confidence in the Greek “way”.

Buddy’s link makes me very happy. This mutual defense pact may be getting mixed reviews in New Delhi, but it’s getting rave reviews in my house. When GWB hands over the reigns in 2009, he will leave behind, for better or worse, a plant transformed. I, of course, believe it will be for the better.

Jun 29, 2005 - 8:23 am 56. Sandy P:

A plant?

Venus Fly Trap?

Jun 29, 2005 - 8:27 am 57. Sandy P:

–Remember all the snide remarks after the SLC games?—

That was 1 of the best I can remember. Ahhh, those medals.

On to Turino!

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/06/28/opinion/edeltahawy.php

Via Bros. Judd:

…I arrived in Cairo as another American was visiting. Condoleezza Rice was in town on her first trip as U.S. secretary of state. Saying that peaceful democracy supporters should be free from violence, Rice regretted the assaults of May 25, describing it as a “sad day.”

Two days later, I was marching with Alaa, Manal and about 300 fellow Egyptians through the working-class neighborhood of Shubra, shouting “Down down with Hosni Mubarak.” Riot police that had confined previous demonstrations to one spot were nowhere to be seen.

Emboldened, protesters who had begun the demonstration on a street corner pushed ahead and for the first time since the anti-Mubarak protests began, took their message to the street.

“You might have a point about Rice’s speech,” Alaa said, grinning and taking pictures…..

Jun 29, 2005 - 8:33 am 58. Buddy Larsen:

Actually, Kyda, me neither, in fact, of all the things to have confidence in, the Greek “way” brings up the rear.

Sandy, do you mean, India as an entangling alliance? Get us into more trouble than it keeps us out of? Food for thought, but–remember–we need to support the Pakis, too, and this pact with India is excellent in that it has been swung without public trouble with Pakistan–very adroit–and very confidence-building for our friends in Taiwan, Japan, Australia.

Jun 29, 2005 - 8:38 am 59. Buddy Larsen:

And that our administration can pull it off without rubbing it into any faces–quietly–is very confidence-building with yours truly.

Jun 29, 2005 - 8:40 am 60. Kyda Sylvester:

Ah, no, Sandy, that would be planet–I guess you have to read between the letters (until I reread my post I thought you were asking if that’s what Rosett was smokin’).

Also don’t miss today’s WSJ editorial, which should be required reading, and Noonan’s smackdown of Washingtonian (the place, not the man) sized egos.

Jun 29, 2005 - 9:24 am 61. Kyda Sylvester:

“Give Mubarak a visa and take him with you, Condoleezza.”

A little ackward for a street chant, but it does have a nice ring.

Jun 29, 2005 - 9:32 am 62. Buddy Larsen:

I like that ackward chant. Hosni is well up into his 70s now. Time to peer amid his successors, Egypt!

Jun 29, 2005 - 9:41 am 63. Knucklehead:

Crimmeny, Kyda! Ms. Noonan is apparently as cranky these days as I am. She’s got an excellent point, BTW. Wish I could say the same.

Jun 29, 2005 - 12:08 pm 64. Kyda Sylvester:

Yeah well, Knuck, we’re all cranky these days and for good reason.

Jun 29, 2005 - 12:15 pm 65. ed:

Hmmm.

@ Buddy

“Chuck, Ed.”

Sorry but where was Condi Rice mentioned at all in that article? No offense but a treaty to exchange military technology isn’t the most difficult thing for America to get.

Again.

“List her most public accomplishments while as SoS.

Take all the time you need.”

Not being snarky or anything, I just want a substantive list.

Jun 29, 2005 - 12:49 pm 66. lmg:

Condi running for President would be an audacious move, sort of like, oh, a former First Lady deciding to run for the office. The GOP has no one else even remotely as exciting, IMO. Putting her on the ticket as VP would be a missed opportunity. She should go for the brass ring, and I think she could win. It might even be transformational for the country, sending a signal to blacks that cannot be ignored, that the path to success comes from taking their future in their own hands, not in waiting for handouts from Democratic victim mongers.

Jun 29, 2005 - 1:18 pm 67. Buddy Larsen:

Word, Img. Cosby calls ‘em “poverty pimps”…keeping their “beneficiaries” on the Liberal Plantation.

Jun 29, 2005 - 7:31 pm 68. richard mcenroe:

Ed ó Well, there’s that silly little mutual-defense treaty with India…

Jun 30, 2005 - 6:55 am

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