I don’t think it’ll happen, but Dick Morris has high hopes for Dr. Rice. Would Americans elect a woman for president of the United States? If the two candidates were women, they obviously would. But I doubt Republicans or Democrats would nominate a woman. I think a black man would stand a better chance at gaining the White House than any woman.
What do you think?
A Biased List of Related Sites:
{ 4 trackbacks }
{ 36 comments }
If Dr. Rice were to decide she’s willing to run, I’d place her in the front-running for the Republican nomination. There are other strong candidates, but none that have quite the same broad appeal as Condoleezza Rice. She wouldn’t quite be a shoo-in, but almost.
The question is whether she’ll want to run. As of a year ago, the answer seemed to be “no” — she said quite clearly she wasn’t interested. Whether that will change by 2008, who knows?
The two issues are: 1) black and 2) female.
Female first: The woman must be feisty and iron strong like Indira Ghandi, Golda Meir, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Margaret Thatcher or Betty Boothroyd (former Speaker of House of Commons.)
She can not show teary frustration or have a Hillary type of shrew-shrill voice when she rises to anger.
The US has produced far too few viable female candidates for a simple reason. Women usually stay in local politics. Their numbers drop as the political office sought moves from local to state to national levels. Thus, there is not a viable pool of tried and true women politicians. Hillary is a good example since her one term in the Senate from a state she kidnapped is her total elected experience.
Condi Rice has the iron strength and the calm demeanor of the few women who have served at the world leadership level. It is not by accident that she recently had “evil eyes” put on one of her pictures. Furthermore, Condi has held extreme “heavy weight” positions in government. And her Birmingham youth and growing experience has made her a witness to determination and success.
And now black: Check the Vegas odds on this, but I have always felt that the first black president (I exclude Bill Clinton) would be a woman. I will stay away from the power of the black female vs. the black male in our society, but statistically, within the black population, women have achieved far great strength in numbers than males.
Condi Rice is hardly going to appeal to the “you go sister” crowd; I don’t think she is Spike Lee material.
How Ms. Rice will do in the black vote is of greater concern to me than whether she can garner Republican and independent votes.
I would love to see them oppose each other, if for no other reason than it would be an interesting race. Me thinks the soothsayers would be unable to predict the outcome, though I’m sure they’d fill the airwaves anyway.
I suspect, though, given those two choices, a lot of people would just stay home. I’m a black, conservative female, and I have a few concerns about Condi, though I would NEVER vote for Ms. Rodham. My sister, who is a ultra-liberal New Yorker, made the statement that Condi might get her vote over Saint Hillary (I am not kidding, that’s what she thinks). Of course, that was pre-Iraq.
I do think the MSM would have to be very careful how they handled Dr. Rice. If they treated her the way they normally treat Republicans, her dignified and strong responses probably would gain her a larger share of the black vote than she would otherwise get.
I would vote for Condi in a second, and I know a lot of other people, both men and women, who feel the same.
I think she has it all: Toughness, intelligence, and the ability to think on her feet, along with a gift for handling the press.
I’m with Nick — I too would vote for Condi in a second. And think about it: she’d be the Dems’ worst nightmare …. a woman and minority who’s a Republican getting that party’s nomination and running for the highest office of the most powerful country of the world.
Sure would shatter a few of the hysterical lies about Republicans and non-whites, eh?
Heliotrope - See my trackback above. The issues you raised are addressed there. The things you raise as issues could prove to be more of a benefit than you might think.
Condi has fared extremely well in recent blogger straw polls–she is the current favorite for the Republican nomination if she decides to run.
The conservative Republican base needs someone to rally around. A Condi Rice - George Allen ticket is one that I would support wholeheartedly.
Rice is politically experienced, cool-tempered, and highly intelligent. We’d be lucky to get her for president. She’d be the first candidate I can remember that I didn’t more or less consider the lesser of two evils. I might even get all crazy and volunteer for her campaign.
ElCee, good point about the media. They don’t seem to be very good at controlling themselves, however, so I’m sure they wouldn’t be able to resist slamming Rice in precisely the wrong way. I.e., in a way that would offend black voters.
Not only would I vote for Condoleeza Rice in a heartbeat, but if she announced she was running I would wear out my shoe-leather campaigning for her. I’ll second what others have said; she’s extremely intelligent, thinks on her feet, is unflappable, and has that indefinable iron quality that’s so desperately needed for a good leader. I believe the media consistently underestimates Americans, especially Middle Americans. I think there are very, very few people who would care that she is black or female. I think most are looking for competence and stability, and she’s devastatingly competent and stable as Gibraltar.
La Shawn,
I think it all depends on what the woman stands for, does she has a track record, and does the public trust her.
You can like Sen. Clinton, lover her, or hate her, but the fact is, that she will “reinvent” herself whenever it is politically expedient to do so. Conservatives are quick to point that out. Libs say she is “evolving” or “developing her positions on important issues”. But even her most ardent admirers know that Clinton can be one thing in a given year and be a totally different person years later and the media will ignore the transformation even going so far as to help explain it.
Dr. Rice, on the other hand, has no history or reputation for such a metamorphosis. She has been in the trenches with the most powerful men in the world. She won some and she’s lost some but no doubts that she can play, compete and win with the big boys. Just ask Powell and to a lessor degree Rumsfeld. While everyone else’s star has fallen, dimmed or burned out, hers has risen to what some might say is historic heights, even as the old media goes through great pains to ignore many of her great accomplishments. And the Madame Secretary is one of the most well liked and trusted officials in any branch of U.S. government today. And considered by many to be one of the smartest. That is not to say that her negatives would not be driven up by the rough-and-tumble of a presidential campaign.
The bottom line would be: What does the candidate stand for, do we trust “her” and does she have a track record that shows what she is “really” all about? As long as Dr. Rice stood strong on conservative principals, held private meetings to directly engage religious conservatives, and ran hard in communities that conservatives have historically ignored, I, for one, believe that she can beat John McCain (for whom conservatives have had much animus) and win the nomination. If the Iraq war shows undeniable positive results, Dr. Rice would be unbeatable. If the war does not show promise in some form or another, then all bets are off. That would effectively eliminate anyone from this administration.
Best regards and Merry Christmas to you.
Victor
I will strongly associate myself with the points raised by Gidgidonni (# 12), ak(# 10), John M. Martin (# 8), Hube (3 6) and Nick ( # 5).
I’d vote for Condi over anyone for President in 2008, without the slightest hesitation, given half a chance.
In my opinions she simply IS the best candidate for the job.
In these vey dangerous times that we are living in, with Islamofacist scum determined to kill as many Americans as they can, Condi just brings the right toughness, smarts and steely determination needed for the job, without the jarring shrilness of a Hilary Clinton.
The latest example of Condi’s toughness and competence in dealing with difficult issues was over the Washington Post’s treasonous leaking of information about CIA “detention camps” in Europe.
From americansforrice :
“The UK’s Financial Times described this European trip in an article last week as a “forceful rejection of requests for information,†and Reuters in an article yesterday reported that Dr.Rice “will urge the Europeans to back off over the issue.†Today, as she left from Andrews Air Force Base, she maintained the hard line attitude with a statement to the press prior to departure. She defended aggressive US counter-terrorism policies and pointed out that even the French use “rendition†when it suits them – as in the case of “Carlos the Jackal†who was brought from the Sudan to France in 1994 and is now in a French prison. Further, the European Commission rejected the terrorist’s claim that his capture and transfer to France was unlawful.”
http://americansforrice.com/
You just gotta love that woman.
# 13, Victor :“I think it all depends on what the woman stands for, does she has a track record, and does the public trust her.
You can like Sen. Clinton, lover her, or hate her, but the fact is, that she will “reinvent†herself whenever it is politically expedient to do so”
# 1. Condi has a VERY SOLID track record , of very solid achievements in everything she has done in her life, and most recently as National Security Advisor and curently as an excellent Sec of Sate, the best we have had for ages.
# 2. You sure can’t say the same about Hilary Clinton. Her record in the US Senate is nothing to write home about.
As for her time as the first lady, don’t even go there.
Even putting aside her evil, shameful machinations as first lady, I might just point out to you, that Hilary’s only attempt at policy contribution during the Clinton adminstration,in the form of reform of Medicare, FAILED woefully.
# 3. One can’t re-invent a track record.
You got, or you don’t.
And Hilary sure doesn,’t.
Just last week I wrote about Hillary Clinton and how she’s like a nagging mother and wondered if it would affect her chances in a presidential race. I even compared her to Condi Rice. About Hillary and Nacy Pelosi I said,
“They may be saying one thing but all you’re hearing is “I know more than you. Now, go to your room and in the future you better do what I say. You understand?” And they say everything with raised raised eyebrows, no less. YEEEAAAARGH.
I know I raise my eyebrows when lecturing to my children, and it drives me crazy because my mom would do the same thing to me. It’s like a mother’s facial exclamation point.
Condi Rice doesn’t have that effect but maybe it’s because she’s never had children and was never forced to extremes by annoying children (and even angels can be annoying sometimes). Once you’ve crossed the line, it’s over. There’s no turning back. Those eyebrows go up and the condescending attitude kicks in.
Maybe that why most men can’t make themselves vote for Hillary.”
Just food for thought….
Condi talks to university students in the Ukraine:
“”Ukraine has won its democracy the hard way. You won it in the streets,” Rice said. “People stood their ground and they insisted on a democratic resolution.”
Now, Rice said “you have to defend it.” That means voting, working in political campaigns and asking tough questions of candidates, she said.
“It also means that you have to be really willing to accept that some people will be defeated and some people will win; that’s the nature of democracy.” “
http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/12/7/160746.shtml
Would America elect a woman? Yes! I would be shocked if gender swayed a significant number of votes.
The only widespread issue would be grit. Margaret Thatcher has cleared that hurdle for all futre female candidates.
I would vote for a woman. I think the bigger concern is this: would republicans vote for a pro-choice, pro-affirmative action person?
The answer is “No.”
However, you can bet your sweet bippy that liberals will blame our lack of enthusiasm for Condi on our “blatant sexist attitudes”.
Dick Morris has done a dangerous thing for Republicans by even suggesting Condi as a candidate. She is not electable, and putting her out there and touting her qualifications as being “hey! She’s black, she’s a woman, and she’s a republican!” is disgusting.
I’d vote for her. She is pro-choice, but not pro-partial birth, or anti-parental notification. I did not know she was pro-affirmative action but how extreme is she? Is she pro-quotas? Are we making up words here? I’m pro-Condi, doubly so if McCain is the alternative.
Jewels writes:
>>>”She is not electable, and putting her out there and touting her qualifications as being “hey! She’s black, she’s a woman, and she’s a republican!†is disgusting.”
I so agree with you here. I wouldn’t vote for Condi Rice anymore than I would Alan Keyes, JC Watts or any other of the scarce, reprehensible republican blacks out there.
Of course, I’m a liberal, so I wouldn’t dream of voting for a person like Rice anyway, but I still don’t get her appeal. IMHO, she is a cold, uncharismatic, aloof, bourgoise opportunist with a penchant for lying about mushroom clouds, hurricane relief and CIA renditions. Even Al Gore has a better sense of humor (could you see Condi on Saturday Night Live?). Plus, I cannot WAIT to see what the vicious right wing attack machine from Bill Frist or George Allen will do to her in a South Carolina GOP primary. If they’ll stoop to calling McCain’s wife a “drug addict” and spread rumours about his “black baby” (McCains’ have an adopted child from Bangladesh) just IMAGINE what that mob will do with Condi.
It tickles me to no end.
Is this all just another case of propping up a minority for saying exactly what white conservatives want to hear? I notice that Colin Powell has fallen far out of favor in Conservative blogs once he decided to go off the Karl Rove script.
Cooked Rice
–Cobra
Realistically I don’t think Condi would run as Prez, unless Hillary won the Democratic nomination. However, whoever does win the Republican Prez nomination, I think Condi would be the VP. Conversely I think Hillary will also be added to the Democratic ticket as VP.
Jewels - Condi is not as “pro-choice” as some people think and she is not as “pro affirmative action” as some people think either. I dealt with the “pro choice” view in my blog post that I trackbacked in the first comment here.
Regarding her stance on Affirmative Action, she is not very far to the left with her view of it. Remember, during the Michigan Law School case she stood with the Administration.
Powell’s explicit endorsement of affirmative action and of the University of Michigan’s admissions policy went even further than recent comments of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, who said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “it is important to take race into consideration, if you must” to achieve diversity within a school.
Rice — a former provost at Stanford University — was credited by The Washington Post last week with playing a key role in shaping the administration’s decision to challenge the Michigan policy.
Rice reiterated Sunday that she supports Bush’s position.
“He has made a case that race-neutral means ought to be tried first. And he has, as president, appropriately left to the court the question of what the limits of the Constitution are in pursuit of diversity,” she said. “And I think that’s the appropriate place for the president to be.”
If race-neutral means do not work, however, race can become a factor, Rice said.
“If you must take race into consideration, to do it in a way that looks at the total person, that does not assume certain things about a person’s race just because of the color of their skin,” she said.
source: http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/01/19/powell.race/
Also, when she was calling the shots at Standford she removed some race based policies.
Actions speak louder than words.
(I’ll be updating my post with this information.)
Jewels & Cobra - Given the qualifications she brings to the table I don’t think anyone would say she simply is a Black Republican Woman. My word, she’s worked in the cabinet of several Presidents and advised them. She’s been National Security Advisor. She is the Secretary of State. She’s got more degrees than many who have done what she’s doing now. She can communicate in more languages than most of us can dream about. I think it’s an insult to compare her with Keyes or Watts. They are both great men, but they are no Condi Rice. There are very few people in this nation with her list of qualifications. Maybe none!
In my post above at the point of “Powell’s explicit endorsement ” was where a quote started from the article, but it did not show up as a quote in my response.
Independent Conservative writes:
>>>”Given the qualifications she brings to the table I don’t think anyone would say she simply is a Black Republican Woman. My word, she’s worked in the cabinet of several Presidents and advised them. She’s been National Security Advisor. She is the Secretary of State. She’s got more degrees than many who have done what she’s doing now. She can communicate in more languages than most of us can dream about. I think it’s an insult to compare her with Keyes or Watts. They are both great men, but they are no Condi Rice. There are very few people in this nation with her list of qualifications. Maybe none!”
Don’t get me wrong, Indy. I have no problem with Condi Rice being provost at a college, or sitting on the board of some multinational oil conglomerate. I never claimed that she isn’t an accomplished person.
I wouldn’t vote for her, or any other neo-con who ever runs for office again.
–Cobra
# 19, Jewels :” think the bigger concern is this: would republicans vote for a pro-choice, pro-affirmative action person?
The answer is “No.â€
Nonsense.
You are asking the wrong question.
The right question is, will Republicans vote for best, most qualified candidate, who is best positioned to effectively govern this country at a time when its under attack from Islamofacist scum, and deal ruthlessly with the terrorist abomination that is sworn to destroy this country?
The answer is a resounding YES!!
For proof, go the Thanksgiving poll conducted by Hugh Hewitt, which was given wide publicity on most of the top conservative blogs.
Condi totally destroyed the field of potential Republican candidates for 2008, when her name was included in the list.
I am not quite sure where you got your “Republicans won’t vote for Condi” from.
Umm….do you have any polls to support that ridiculous contention at all?
As for your “pro-affirmative action” charge, it simply doesn’t hold any water.
I am yet to see Condi come out in support of ANY pro-affirmative action fight since she joined the Bush administration.
If you have such a proof, please be good enough to show it to us, will ya?
# 25,cobra :“I wouldn’t vote for her, or any other neo-con who ever runs for office again.”
But I am sure you would eagerly vote for the stark ,raving, loony left crazies represented by Howard “I hate Republicans” Dean, and Hanoi John “American troops in Iraq are terrorists” Kerry, no?
Listen, the left wing moonbats voted against President Bush too, and he still won with more votes than any president in the history of this country.
I am quite sure Condi can easily win without the votes of the mad men from Kos/DU/moveon.
Smithy writes:
>>>”Listen, the left wing moonbats voted against President Bush too, and he still won with more votes than any president in the history of this country.”
Can you name me the candidate who had the second highest vote total in the history of this country?
–Cobra
Cobra :“Can you name me the candidate who had the second highest vote total in the history of this country?”
Ummm …..you loony left moonbats are very welcome to get the second highest votes in any elections, dude.
That is perfectly OK by me.
We the Republicans, will continue to take the highest number of votes and the highest number of delegates, and the White House with it as well.
Your preference for finishing second might explain why the RATS Party has only won the presidency just 3 times in the past 40 years, and the RATS are on track to lose yet again come 2008, thanks to “Screaming Lord” Dean, Hanoi John Kerry and the total surrender of the RATS leadership to the bottom feeders from DU/Kos/moveon.
I would vote for Condi in a heartbeat. I would also vote for a Guillani/Condi ticket. Personally, I see that one as 16 more years of an R White House.
FWIW, hell will freeze over and crack significantly before I vote for McCain.
With respect to the commenter who noted that Condi, being a minority (and a black one at that) and a woman, would shatter exactly zero preconceptions. The R’s will still be party that hates blacks and minorities and wants women “in their place”. It won’t take five minutes until the NYT outs her as a non-black, non-woman.
I would vote for Condi, but I don’t think she is going to run. She still has a lot of work to do to straighten out Foggy Bottom. Plus, she has never done the political campaign before.
Hillary is a disaster. She is not going to survive her own primary. She’s too right-wing (which is hysterical) for her party.
The ticket that will win is Allen/Rice. This way she keeps it up being Sec. of State for a while, offsetting Senator Allen’s inexperience on the world stage.
Dick Morris is quite cute about Condi, but his selling books and TV interviews is no doubt more important to him than who is President.
But Hillary’s “pro military” stance is amusing - as I have heard she used US Marines to serve snacks to digintaries at the White House.
After the midterm elections Cheney will have more heart trouble and anounce that he has to resign. The Dems will be overjoyed. The MSM will exalt. The moonbat left will *&%$# themselves with joy.
The Bush will anounce that the will apoint Condi as VP with a heavy hand over at State. And a hush will fall over the Dems, the MSM, and the Moonbats will rejoice because they KNOW that Bush has just alienated his base and most of the Republicans.
Condi will then enter 08 as the sitting VP and be FIRMLY backed by Bush. The rest all back in the “now who are they again” pack will try and break out but I don’t think they will make it.
Who else could take the Flag from Bush and continue the fight?? Who amoung the “now who are they again” pack could come close. Bush will want someone HE TRUSTS to succeed him. You really think he will leave it upto the “now who are they again” pack?
Mr. Hamilton: I do not want anyone, and particularly President Bush in particular, to “hand the flag” off to anyone; as in, it is not up to him to hand-select a successor. To imply such comes very close to a monarchy, and the next to last thing I want is a dynasty of squishy new-right “conservatives” like the one we have been subject to for the last 5 3/4 years.
Mr. Hamilton, I’ve been waiting for the scenario you mentioned to unfold and I hope it does. If she becomes VP during Bush’s term I could better advocate her running for President.
Mr. Slater, one President handing the flag to another is as old as our Republic. George Washington fully endorsed his VP John Adams and it has continued since. Bill Clinton and Al Gore were not the best of friends, so it did not occur in that case, but it is a normal occurrence and nothing that borders on monarchy.
I was very enthusiastic about Dr. Rice until her pro-choice views on abortion became known. Her pro-Palestinian posture and support for the Israeli Gaza pullout more strikes against her, in my view.
She is not very “Pro-Choice” at all when you consider her actual stated position on the issue. She is for “States Rights”. See my first post above.
I think it’s Dick Morris still finding ways to milk money from the Clinton haters.
Zogby is apparently thinking that Condi has a shot at it. I just filled out a poll and there were several would you vote for Condi questions..Condi vs. Hillary, etc.
Comments on this entry are closed.