Quick. Who's the Secretary of State?

I never in my life had to pause before answering that question, but I paused today.

A friend asked me that question and it took me almost a minute before I could reply that it is Condoleezza Rice.

Have we ever had a more invisible SoS?

Have we ever had a more meaningless job than it has been during this administration?

Assuming Bush/Cheney and their cronies are ever brought to justice, perhaps Condi will be a forgotten co-conspirator.

By the way, can you name the Secretary of State during Bush's first term? C'mon, admit it. You really had to stop and think about it, didn't you?

Same as the answer to "Quick. Who is the President?"

And there are so many choices!

with his little vial of false evidence.........

But I get your point. A Bush Administration diplomat must get about as much use as an Amish Computer Repairman.

I disliked Rice intensely during term one (I'm not crazy about unflinching liars), but I feel that both Powell and Rice did okay at State considering they were crossing swords one-on-one with Cheney. Powell was ineffective because Bush trusted Cheney more than Powell. Rice, on the other hand, is more trusted by Bush than Cheney, and Cheney has been pushed back from the picture.

I'm not proud of the all the decisions made, but the Department of State has made far more progress in the second term than in the first.

Sorry, I don't mean to be sarcastic. But could you enlighten me as to the "progress" made by the Dept. of State during Bush's second term?

They're now talking to our "enemies". That didn't happen for the first 4+ years.

A protester holds up a picture of US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice as he attends a demonstration march in Kyoto on June 25, 2008 against G8 Foreign Ministers' Meeting. Some 400 protesters held a rally here as Foreign ministers from Japan and the other G-8 members will gather in the ancient capital city of Kyoto on June 26-27.


U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, center, walks through the lobby of Shangri-La hotel after attending the 15th ASEAN Regional Forum retreat meeting in Singapore, Thursday, July 24, 2008.



2 months ago: French President Nicolas Sarkozy, center, welcomes U.S. first lady Laura Bush, left, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, 2nd from left, Ismaili Muslims leader, the Aga Khan, 2nd from right, and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, right, at the opening of the Afghanistan donors conference, in Paris, Thursday, June 12, 2008. The Afghan government is hoping to secure US$15 billion to US$20 billion at the conference.


4 months ago: US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice(L) and Madeleine K. Albright(Rt), the 64th US Secretary of State, walk past Albright's official portrait(rear) after it was unveiled April 14, 2008 in the Benjamin Franklin Room of the Department of State in Washington, D.C.

I might be wrong about this, and, frankly, I just don't care enough to look it up, but isn't Condi a certified Sovietolgist? I mean, yeah, there's no more Soviet Union, so that renders her Ph.D. sort of archaic, or maybe more like a doctorate in modern history, but she's the pro in things from that part of the world.

Yet, as the news reports it, she's not interrupting her vacation to do anything about the Russian invasion of Georgia.

Every day, even as their reign winds down, these fuckers get worse and worse. Just when I think I am incapable of despising them any more, I find new depths of my loathing of all of them.

doesn't speak it very well. Somehow I feel her whole Ph. D. wasn't gotten because she's good at the subject, maybe just good at passing exams and reviews. I don't believe she's really the expert they claim she is. Maybe that's why she won't interrupt her vacation. It would put her in the position of being exposed as ignorant and perhaps not up to date in her field of expertise as she's supposed to be.

I always expected more from her because of her academic credentials. As it turns out, she's just one more Bush/Cheney "Yes Man." (Yes Woman?} What a dissapointment.

Then again, anyone who is in good standing with this criminal administration is a co-conspirator.

. . . doused by Popeye with a little Olive Oil.

seeing James Baker or Warren Christopher would get on a plane and go negotiate head to head. That was the heavy guns. It got attention every day in the press. Now we scarcely know when Rice leaves the country.

Chances are there are a few old-timers here who will look over that name and not recognize him as Richard Nixon's Secretary of State. Henry Kissinger only officially got his job in '73, in the middle of the Watergate scandal, though he had effectively usurped Rogers as chief of foreign policy long before that.

Both Powell and Rice have been boxed out of foreign policy decisions just as Rogers was, and for the same reason: criminals conduct their foreign policy under the table, not on it.

that got her the gig..as well as being a board member of Chevron, Charles Schwab, and Hewlett-Packard.