Do I Get to Say, "I Told You So"?

You might accuse me of picking on Condi Rice for being an incompetent in every government job she's ever held, so let's just stick to recent history--her tenure as Secretary of State. Well, folks, even Robert "I finked out a CIA agent" Novak is reporting that Republicans line up on this issue with Olaf.

Republicans in Congress, who do not want to be quoted, tell me the State Department under Secretary Condoleezza Rice is a mess.

Rice leading the State Department into disaster was easily predictable given her previous tenure as national security advisor ("No one could have predicted...", etc.), but the persistence with which she has been promoted and applauded by the administration, the Republicans, and still by elements in the mainstream media who are terrified of challenging her for reasons that totally escape me, have enabled her to become a one-woman diplomatic wrecking machine. This, according to Novak, is why John "Honduran Death Squad" Negroponte was pressured to give up his intelligence czar job to become Rice's number two at State--he's supposed to bail her out so she can be reassigned to bring failure to some new arena.

I've got a suggestion--make her chair of the Republican National Campaign Committee for 2008.

Final thought--I wonder if Rice's failure at diplomatic duties is one reason that the administration decided on an escalation of military force. There may have been no alternative because she could not get a foot in the door with essential players in the region.