News and Commentary Archive for August, 2005 August 1, 2005: Councilwoman Glorious Johnson of Jacksonville, Florida, is "on a mission" to see that Dr. Rice gets elected President in 2008.  She is going to "step up to the plate" this Labor Day weekend and speak at the NFRA convention's opening Goldwater reception sponsored by Americans for Dr. Rice and the National Black Republican Association in Scottsdale, Arizona, after our previously scheduled speaker, Rep. Jennifer Carroll, had to cancel due to a conflict with legislature-related travel. Councilwoman Johnson is no stranger to public speaking. She spoke at a Bush-Cheney 2004 rally at Jacksonville's Alltel stadium with over 50,000 in attendance. None other than Sean Hannity praised her for electrifying the crowd. Before entering politics, she taught school in Duval County after receiving a Bachelor's degree in Music. (She's a concert pianist like Dr. Rice.) While teaching, she went on to obtain two Master's degrees. You can read more about her at the City of Jacksonville website. Ms. Johnson has a daughter, Stephanie, who graduated from Lincoln University after studying business administration and Japanese. In addition to the many accomplishments and interests listed on her biography page, Councilwoman Johnson is also an NRA member and shooting enthusiast.August 1, 2005: Condi's back in town. And the press has literally been falling over themselves to marvel at our globe-trotting Secretary of State. Last week she was given the title "World's Most Powerful Woman" by Forbes. During the Jim Lehrer PBS interview she rhetorically asked, "When we are going to stop making excuses for the terrorists? Both the Washington Post and Knight Ridder spoke of her "control" (read that "leadership") at the State Department.
Six months into her tenure as America's top diplomat, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in a position that her predecessor, Colin Powell, could have only dreamed about.
Rice, President Bush's foreign policy mentor, has emerged as the unquestioned spokeswoman for U.S. foreign policy and the person in apparent control of key policy issues, according to U.S. government officials, foreign diplomats and analysts.
Warren P. Strobel, Knight Ridder, 7/31/2005
Even the Russian News Agency, Novosti, reporting about progress in the six-party talks about North Korea's nuclear program, gushed:
This major breakthrough was brought about by the "new style" diplomacy of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Dr. Rice in her first six months at State has set the bar very high for her performance during the rest of her tenure. Although US foreign policy surely will suffer a setback, or two, during the next several years; the Secretary's overall accomplishments, energy and leadership will make her unstoppable for 2008.
August 4, 2005: Twice as Good, that's the title of Gulf News (Dubai, United Arab Emirates) reporter Anil Pillai's article today giving a brief biography of Dr. Rice and describing her "steep climb" to success, as she is named "most powerful woman" by Forbes for the second year running. Seeing positive recognition for a strong female leader from the Arab world is encouraging.
We responded to the article with a short letter to the Gulf News editor:
We were pleasantly surprised to see recognition of Dr. Rice's accomplishments in the Gulf News.
Reporter Anil Pillai pointed out Dr. Rice's nickname, "Condi." Your readers also might like to know that it is rumored that President Bush refers to her as "forty-four" -- as in the 44th President of the United States. (He is the 43rd.)
August 5, 2005: Golf Lessons. It's the clearest indication yet that Dr. Rice is running in 2008! The AARP Magazine published an Ann Reilly Dowd article that provides rare insights into Dr. Rice and her personal life -- including her efforts to  improve her golf game. This is required reading for all Condistas.
And at least one former Republican National Committee chair thinks a Rice candidacy could prove a GOP masterstroke. "She tips the tables," he says, noting that if by 2008 Bush's gambit in Iraq looks like a success and national security is at the epicenter of the presidential debate, Rice could jump in late and prove the Republicans' white knightess. "Sometimes in politics," he says, "there are genuine cases of spontaneous combustion."
August 9, 2005: "The Condi Doctrine" is the title of a Time magazine article in the 8/15/05 issue (posted online 8/7/05). It is yet another article in a series of recent mainstream media (MSM) reports focusing on Dr. Rice. Overall, the reporting is positive as it describes how she has "seized control of US foreign policy" during her six months at the State Department. However, the Time organization's organic  leftward bias is easy to see.
(What's odd is that it would seem that the individuals and editors responsible for biased reporting do not even seem to be aware that the bias exists. Of course, if you spend your life swimming in cherry Kool-Aid, the whole world, even when you open your eyes, appears to be rose-colored -- especially if you swallow the Kool-Aid as you come up for air!)
A lot of the article focuses on Dr. Rice's glamorous "rock star" image.
Her enthusiasm for travel has transformed her image from that of a remote presidential consigliere to a glamorous, globe-trotting operator with first-name-only cachet. (A Madrid hairdresser has started offering "the Condi flip.")
Then they quote the envious Democratic Senator Joe Biden, "She has a little bit of star power, which isn't a bad thing to have." (Oh please, Condi's boots have more "star power" than Joe does. And the Senator could use a little "star power" himself since he reportedly has Presidential ambitions for 2008.)
Here's another fine example of Time's not-so-subtle bias.
But by assuming the mantle as the chief exponent of the Bush foreign policy, she has also inherited responsibility for cleaning up its biggest calamity: the war in Iraq.....That has increased the burden on Rice to hammer out a political arrangement that can appeal to disaffected Sunnis and eventually allow the U.S. to beat a dignified retreat. (italics ours)
"Calamity" is an interesting choice of words here, but that's what happens when you inhale the smoke in the air at a Michael Moore film festival then sit down to write. "Dignified retreat" -- are they getting copies of Jane Fonda's vegetable oil, anti-war bus talking points faxed to them daily? Last time we checked, the strategy in Iraq and the War on Terror is to DECISIVELY WIN THE WAR POLITICALLY AND MILITARILY. We think that we pointed this out before, but it bears repeating because the MSM incessantly keeps repeating the left's anti-war propaganda.
But the most laughable comment in the article is at the end. (They saved the best for last.)
Whether she ascends even further--some G.O.P. insiders are already touting her as the running mate for the Republican presidential nominee in 2008--will depend largely on whether she can find a way for the U.S. to declare victory in Iraq before support for the Bush doctrine, at home and abroad, runs out.
Vice-President? Over the next 3 years Dr. Rice will have finished the most effective "apprenticeship" for the oval office that could ever be designed. The only GOP "insiders" that would propose Condi as #2 are those that need her to bolster their candidates' chances. Dr. Rice as VP would be like the old Miami Dolphins not using Dan Marino as their starting quarterback. (He just got inducted in to the NFL Hall of Fame.)
One of the most interesting oversights in this article, especially after coining the phrase "Condi Doctrine," is the lack of any reference to parallels to the Monroe Doctrine. The Monroe Doctrine was a policy designed by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, who was appointed by President James Monroe, himself a former Secretary of State. Adams succeeded Monroe when he became the sixth President. These two men shared a career path that we hope our current Secretary of State follows in 2008.
So, while we recommend that you read this article if you get the chance, we wouldn't go so far as to recommend that you buy the magazine. (Read it online, or get a liberal friend to lend you his/her copy before it ends up at the bottom of a bird cage. You do have liberal friends, don't you?) As far as this issue of Time is concerned, it's more like the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition -- the photos are the best part. Follow this link to the Time photo essay, Condi on the Hot Spots.
August 9, 2005: Weapon of Mass Delusion! Nothing can unite a country like a common  enemy or "scapegoat." Taking a page from the playbook of Hitler and Castro, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez is now working on keeping his country's population in line by scapegoating the United States as an evil aggressor that is on the verge of invading his country and holding large public rallies, that even include a few US leftists
Gee, that must be the same invasion that Castro has been warning his countrymen about since the 60's! Unfortunately, his credibility has been damaged by the fact that the only "Cuban invasion" has been the invasion of South Florida by Cubans escaping his socialist wonderland -- the same Cubans (now Cuban-Americans) that are owed a huge "muchas gracias" for the part they played in preventing Al Gore, the inventor of the Internet, from becoming President in 2000.
Chavez is either a sophisticated political strategist -- or off his medications.
Link: USA Today
August 11, 2005: New Americans for Dr. Rice T-shirt design! You can now order the new AFR t-shirt that sports our logo. Click here to go to our apparel page.
August 11, 2005: GOP COULD SERVE RICE IN WHITE HOUSE RACE: POLL. That was the title of Debra Orin's New York Post article.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (19%) would be right up there in the 2008 Republican presidential race with former Mayor Rudy Giuliani (27%) and Sen. John McCain (24%) if she were to run, a poll shows.
All other Republican prospects are in single digits in the poll. Gov. Pataki is favored by just 3 percent and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (Tenn.) by 9 percent.
August 12, 2005: New Kid on the Block! The National Black Republican Association is a new  organization of African-Americans who are seizing the opportunity to accept an active role in Republican politics and party leadership. Visit their website frequently, they will be a group of activists that energize "The Party of Lincoln." They are going to be a CPAC sponsor in 2006, along with Americans for Dr. Rice. We look forward to working with them to elect Dr. Rice to the Presidency in 2008.
August 14, 2005: Condi's a Hit! At least among 215 "right of center" bloggers, that is. John Hawkins reported on Right Wing News (RWN) that Dr. Rice is #3 on their list of Favorite People, behind Michele Malkin (#1) and President Bush (#2). Furthermore according to Hawkins' rating system, she is numero uno on the Most Desired Nominee for 2008 list while some of her most talked about potential primary opponents appear on the Least Desired Nominee for 2008 list. In the highly divisive environment of the blogosphere, that's about as strong of an endorsement that a candidate can receive.
Webmaster's note: In the interest of full disclosure, Americans for Dr. Rice has appeared on RWN blog advertisements in the recent past, but we have no RWN advertising at the present time, nor planned for the near future.
August 17, 2005: Condi on Top in Iowa! In this critical presidential primary state, Dr. Rice is "a surprising top choice for President" among Iowa Republicans as reported by the Quad City Times. (Of course, it's no surprise to us.) The poll of 400 Iowa Republicans likely to attend the 2008 caucuses was done by Victory Enterprises August 8-10. It showed Condi with the backing of 30.3% of those asked. Senator McCain was a distant second at 16% and Rudy Giuliani third at 15% -- both of whom were outdone by "undecided" who received approximately 20%. This is exciting news! Despite all of the "fly-by" visits to Iowa by other Republican presidential hopefuls, it appears that their efforts have not borne any political fruit. But Condi, with no such "preliminary" campaign trips, exploratory committees, etc. already is becoming (Dare we say it?) the frontrunner.
August 18. 2005: "Something very dramatic is changing in the Middle East," said Dr. Rice during a New York Times interview at the State Department yesterday. The Secretary spoke  about a wide range of issues. She expressed sympathy for the Jewish settlers being removed from their homes in Gaza. She pointed to the need for further "confidence building" steps by both Israel and the Palestinian Authority. (We especially are hopeful that the PA's promises to disarm terrorist groups, like Hamas, are not empty and do not make Israel's continuing sacrifices for peace in vain.) Other positive changes highlighted by Dr. Rice were elections in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Egypt, women voting in Kuwait, reform efforts in Jordan, and the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon. In the area of nuclear arms, she spoke of cooperation with the Europeans to keep up pressure on Iran to abandon its nuclear program and the resumption of the six-party talks regarding North Korea.
August 20, 2005: Off to Iowa! On the heels of the Iowa poll results earlier this month that show Dr. Rice as the #1 choice of Hawkeye State Republicans, our Cooper-driving Crystal Dueker is off to Des Moines, and other Iowa cities, to raise funds and awareness (how cliché) of Condi's unique qualifications as a candidate for 2008 by meeting with other supporters, speaking at political gatherings, and informing the media of our accomplishments, activities and plans for the future. (You can see Crystal's Cooper, appropriately adorned with a Condi bumper sticker, in our photo gallery.)
August: 21, 2005: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner -- in Tripoli? Assuming that Libyan Dictator Muammar Gaddafi's invitation to visit is accepted by President Bush and/or Dr. Rice; it would be a dramatic signal that the North African country's "rogue nation" status is over. As reported by Reuters, the Libyan leader is anxious to improve relations with the US.
August 21, 2005: Online Polls to Close. Our online polls will close shortly after the Labor Day weekend. If you haven't voted, please do so as soon as possible.
August 23, 2005: Florida Wants Condi in 2008 Race! Yesterday, NewsMax reported the results of a Strategic Vision poll of registered voters in Florida. When "Sunshine State" Republicans were asked their 2008 candidate preference with Dr. Rice included, they responded:
Guliani with 23%; Rice 21%; McCain 11%; Gingrich 6%; Frist 4%; Allen 2%; Pataki 2%; Santorum 2%; Romney 1%; Hagel with 1%; and 27% undecided.
David E. Johnson, CEO and Co-Founder of Strategic Vision, LLC made the following comment after his analysis of the results:
"A Rice candidacy would change the dynamics of the entire Republican race."
August 23, 2005: Fantasy Candidate? This is really getting old. Yet another poll of potential Republican candidates in 2008 that doesn't include Dr. Rice -- at least not directly. In this latest straw poll, she's included, but in a "cute, kind of, sort of" way. Patrick Ruffini is being politically coy by including Condi as a "fantasy" candidate -- a postscript to the "real" poll. In an interesting polling twist, her inclusion is then used to show how she, and others, would "hurt" the other, supposedly, "serious" candidates. We thought that we were beyond this after Republicans in Oregon, Wisconsin, Iowa, and right-of-center bloggers picked her as their #1 choice for 2008, she finished #2 at CPAC 2005 and #3 in a recent CNN-Gallup poll reported in the New York Post. More impressive is the fact that she's achieved these numbers with no "pseudo campaign" trips to New Hampshire or Iowa, no direct mail fund-raising, and no multi-million dollar PAC's. Excluding Dr. Rice is more a measure of a pollster's own bias, or political agenda, than a reflection of the support her candidacy in 2008 would enjoy.
August 24, 2005: Condistas Everywhere!
Once again, Condistas are on the move -- especially in early primary states! Yesterday in Des  Moines, Iowa, local television reporters caught up with one of our "operatives" as she carried the Condista message across this great nation, like Paul Revere on his horse. (Except, instead of one of our "founding fathers" on a horse, it was a blond woman in a Mini-Cooper adorned with Condi bumper stickers.) Due to the overwhelming response, she became the feature story on yesterday's prime time newscast on Iowa's WHO, NBC Channel 13 -- and her "cover was blown." (We'll post the video highlights just as soon as the disk arrives from one of our clandestine broadcast "listening posts" -- strategically placed throughout the country.) Capitalizing on recent strong poll results in the Hawkeye state, we're wasting no time in making sure that Iowa will be "Condi Country" on "caucus night 2008." These Midwestern Condistas will make history as they officially begin Dr. Rice's '08 march to the White House.
August 25, 2005:When you wish upon a star! Dreams can take you very far!
Even though there have been efforts to relegate a candidacy by Dr. Rice to political "fantasy" -- the latest incarnation of which is the Patrick Ruffini 2008 Presidential Straw Poll; you cannot keep a rising political star like Dr. Rice down. What's it going to take for the "experts" and pundits to wake up and realize that the next Republican presidential candidate is not going to chosen by political consultants on K Street in Washington, DC, but by the Internet-empowered grassroots? And of course, we firmly believe that THE candidate will be Dr. Rice. Let's review:
1. Dr. Rice was the number one choice of Republicans for 2008 in Wisconsin, Oregon, and most recently Iowa.
2. She is consistently, if not #1, in the top three in a variety of national, state and regional polls. (Florida Strategic Vision, a recent CNN-Gallup poll, CPAC 2005, etc.)
3. Online Bloggers and Online Republicans have picked her as their #1 choice in polls hosted on the Free Republic, Right Wing News, and most recently on Patrick Ruffini's poll when he graciously included her -- but with the "fantasy" label.
After her tours of Europe and Asia is there any doubt of her ability to perform on the campaign trail? Those who argue that Dr. Rice should serve as a Senator, or Governor, before becoming president are ignoring the fact that her knowledge of foreign leaders and the federal bureaucracy will peak at the end of her tenure as Secretary of State. To throw away those accumulated relationships and knowledge would be a terrible loss for the nation. Now having served in three administrations, we challenge anyone to design a better "apprenticeship" for the presidency than Dr. Rice's career. Furthermore, does anyone really think that Hillary would make a better President having served in the Senate? So why would it be essential for Dr. Rice to be sidetracked by some lower elective office in a state where she hasn't lived for eight years?
And the last oft-repeated question is: "Will she run?" We cannot answer this any better than Mark Goldblatt did in the American Spectator:
"... she's said that she has no plans to run, that she won't run.....But I believe Rice is first and foremost a PATRIOT, and if a case were put forward that campaigning for president were an act of service to her country, rather than service to her ego, she might reconsider." (emphasis ours)
More direct was Wesley Pruden, editor of the Washington Times:
"Miss Rice. . .left escape holes big enough to accommodate a Sherman tank. She knows all the ways to say no in this town, to deny emphatically without absolutely, positively, cross-my-heart and hope-to-die denying . . . . Condi Rice or anyone else is perfectly entitled to make up her mind now and change it later."
Wes's tone in this March, 2005, article is understandable. He'd just been "sand-bagged" by Dr. Rice's staff who had hinted that the editorial board of the Times should ask about 2008 the previous Friday. When Dr. Rice tantalizingly "left the door open" ever so slightly, the headlines on Drudge and the Washington Times trumpeted that she didn't rule out a 2008 run for White House. Then, realizing that they might have "let the genie out of the bottle" just a little prematurely, Dr. Rice quickly came out on three Sunday morning talk shows that weekend to say, "I won't run." But she wouldn't go so far as to repeat the Shermanesque pledge on Meet the Press, even though Tim Russert plastered a graphic with it word-for-word in front of her while he was applying the "journalistic thumbscrews" and using interview tactics that would have made guards at Abu Ghraib blush.
It is time to recognize Dr. Rice as the candidate she is, and will be. Far from being a "fantasy" or "dream" candidate, Pat Ruffini's own straw poll, at last check, was showing Dr. Rice with over 38% of the vote from a field of 16 potential candidates. That sounds like a strong dose of political reality to us.
August 25, 2005: Job Approval: Bush Down, Condi Up. Against the backdrop of constant anti-war reporting, President Bush's "numbers" are between 36 and 45 percent, depending on whose poll you believe. However, Dr. Rice's approval ratings have been going up -- a fact not lost on the foreign press, but little reported here in the US.
"The exception was in public views of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, whose positive rating has steadily climbed from 52 per cent in February to 57 per cent in August."
Garavi Gujarat, India, 08/25/2005
This is another clear demonstration of the strength of a Rice 2008 candidacy. Meanwhile the President can take some solace in the fact that, according to a recent Harris poll, Americans have high disapproval, 65%, for the Democrats in Congress. Hopefully his latest road trips will bring up the administration's overall job approval and lift Condi's even higher.
August 25, 2005: "Using a mixture of moxie and charm" was the Washington Post's Jim Hoagland's description of Dr. Rice's leadership at the State Department as she has "improved relations with some of President Bush's harshest critics overseas." In an article published today, Rice's Mission to Foggy Bottom, he goes on to point out that one of the Secretary's most challenging "missions" is to wrest control of US foreign policy from State Department bureaucrats and put it firmly in the hands of White House policy makers. (If memory serves us, we learned, in Civics 101, that the State Department is part of the executive branch and ultimately "works for" the President. Maybe some of these recalcitrant diplomats and staffers missed that day at the Georgetown School of Foreign Service.) Interestingly, Dr. Rice was quoted in the article as saying,
"Running a very big organization is something that I always enjoyed. People are surprised that I go through budget reviews, but paying attention to detail is part of the challenge that comes with running an organization of 50,000 employees."
We're glad to hear it! Because we are working to see her, in 2008, running the State Department -- and the rest of US Government -- from the Oval Office.
(Thanks to Sandra, a Condista in Alabama for alerting us to this article.)
August 28, 2005: We're back -- after Katrina!
After almost 3 days of no electricity, or internet service, in Miami; we're back. We are now turning our attention to the Gulf Coast. With Katrina projected to strike as a category 4, or 5, hurricane we are deeply concerned. President Bush has declared a "pre-hurricane" emergency in anticipation of the impending destruction of this storm. During the our "down time," some of our e-mail boxes overflowed and some messages were lost. If you receive no response to a previously sent e-mail, please re-send it in 2-3 days when we are caught up on our correspondence.
August 28, 2005: Iraqi Constitution. Secretary of State Dr. Rice sent an official message of congratulations today to the Iraqi people upon the completion of the constitution that will be
voted upon by the Iraqi people in October.
August 30, 2005: Insiders Talking up Rice's '08 Chances was Paul Bedard's US News and World Report White House Watch column today. He reports that the administration is "uninspired" by the current "2008 presidential crop" and that sources "close to Rice" are talking about a Clinton-Rice match-up in 2008. However, the article also mentions that some regard her as an "ideal vice-presidential nominee." That would be a tactical and strategic error of immense proportions! All  ready, Dr. Rice has to constantly demur to the President's leadership (as she should at this point) to keep her political "rock star" status from outshining Bush AND Cheney. Condi's hairstyles are mimicked in Europe after she visits, fashion columnists expound on her latest footwear, political commentators around the world follow her every word. Putting Dr. Rice on the ticket as the VP would be like a basketball coach telling Michael Jordan to "pass the ball" and not "slam-dunk it." She IS the "slam-dunk" candidate for 2008. It's nice to see that the party leadership is starting to recognize it. (Or maybe they've known it all along and we're just finding out about it.)
August 30, 2005: Effort to draft Rice grows was the title of an In-Forum News article by Janell Cole yesterday. The article highlighted the recent efforts by us, Americans for Dr. Rice (AFR), and most notably, co-chair Crystal Dueker to carry the message that Condi is a viable, serious contender for 2008. These efforts are capitalizing on strong poll results by Dr. Rice in Iowa, and nationally. Crystal kicked off our most recent campaign by responding to an invitation to speak to Republican Women and activists in Iowa. WHO-TV in Des Moines interviewed her before she returned home to prepare for more AFR events in Scottsdale, Nashville, Los Angeles and Washington, DC. (Look for the video to be posted soon.) TEAM CONDI activists from across the country will culminate this latest round of Condista activity with the NFRA National Convention over the Labor Day weekend and the National Federation of Republican Women (NFRW) Convention in Nashville the following weekend. We'll debut our first television spots at these events and raise the funds to air them. Please help us to bring these ads to a television near you! DONATE NOW!
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