Centerfield

I don't think that Rice's role in hyping the pre-war intelligence should be dismissed. Nor do I think it unrelevant to the position she was nominated for. So, I think the Dems who spoke up performed a service by holding her feet to the fire in a manner of speaking. Neither she nor President Bush can take from this experience the notion that hype will be meekly accepted by Congress.

If sending our young (and not so young in the case of Reservists and the Guards) men and woman off to die is to hold any real meaning for Americans, then the circumstances under which they are sent to die should never ever be treated as a political football or otherwise treated lightly.

The fact of the matter is that Dr. Rice played a central role in hyping the WMD angle on Iraq. WMD that apparently don't and perhaps didn't exist when the hyping was done.

Whether all the world, half the world or any permutation thereof believed Saddam possessed WMD is beside the point. Suspecting that he had them and starting a war in part on the basis of those suspicions are two very different things.

I don't wanna rehash the whole WMD. I'm just stating why I don't have a problem with the way Dr. Rice was grilled. If we give this issue a pass, what political pressure can we reasonably expect to be exerted in the future if another administration wants to send our boys and girls off to die?

he had all rights to vote her down. This is Birch Bayh's son we are talking about

All soon to be forgotten and (hopefully) we move on to the more important issue: how she does as Sec of State. Personally, I'm glad her first trip is to Europe.

One thing that is missing from the evaluations of Condoleeza Rice is any assessment of her ability to sell American foreign policy abroad. To illustrate this, I read in Foreign Affairs two years ago a comment by then Spanish Prime Minister Aznar that to sell his decision to support Bush's war in Iraq (which I fullheartedly support) to his people, he wanted more Powell and not much Rumsfeld. The question is, if conditions arise during Bush's second term justifying another operation, would citizen Aznar suggest selling it to his fellow country men with "Send Rice?"