Rice v. Clinton: An election where nobody wins

When it gets down to it, aside from the incompetence, what really gets my goat about this administration is their massive arrogance. It’s couched in brilliance, I have to admit. So, when they fuck something up royally – Iraq, Katrina, whatever is going to happen next week – and senators ask for documents relating to those faulty decisions, they simply say no. Republican congressmen and women tow the line, insinuating that this is par for the course.

It’s very easy to imagine what things would be like if Bill Clinton ever tried it. The answer, of course, would be that there would be outrage that would trickle down to the news every night until Clinton folded. Which, of course, he would. But it’s not really a fair comparison – even though I do it all the time. Why not? Because Clinton only had a Democratic controlled Congress for the first two years of office, which is far less than that when you account for midterm election posturing, etc.

I know there are people out there who honestly can look at all the data – the war, the economy, the tragedy in New Orleans that is still massive but underreported, the NSA spying, Jack Abramoff – who still support Bush and Cheney. But…I just started writing these list of egregious behavior off the top of my head. There are quite clearly about another 100 things going on (Valerie Plame, anyone?) that deserve outrage. And to quote someone, I’m outraged that there isn’t more outrage at this. How do people just blindly smile at all this? What kind of drugs are they on?

Rob suggested the other day that 2008 elections might feature a choice between Condoleeza Rice and Hilary Clinton. First of all, there’s no way that will ever happen. The Democrats might be stupid enough to nominate HRC, but Rice simply won’t be in the mix. There are the obvious reasons – look, the Republican party is, quite simply, not a party of tolerance. Many Republicans are incredibly tolerant and wonderful human beings, but the PARTY itself has thrived on capitalizing on Southern prejudice, to name just one obvious example. (Before the Civil Rights Act, the South was a Democratic stronghold. Blacks who voted tended to vote Republican, presumably as a legacy of Lincoln freeing the slaves. After the Civil Rights Act, that flipped – black voters became a backbone of the Democrats and the Southern whites switched parties, not willing to associate themselves with a party that actually wanted to treat black Americans the same as white Americans. This is not a coincidence or a theory, it’s the truth.) So, you are telling me that the Republicans are not only going to have a woman candidate, but a black woman candidate? No freaking way. Not. A. Chance.

Besides all that, she is woefully incompetent, which means she fits right in to this administration.

It says so much about the people who are in control of the GOP that John McCain is a dark horse to be the candidate. He’d crush ANYONE the Democrats could throw up there, and people like me would probably vote for him over Hilary. Yup. But still…they won’t nominate him because he hasn’t sucked up to the Christian Right. That’s so sad, I can’t believe anyone would vote for a Republican unless they themselves were part of the Christian Right.

But if…just if, this happens, and it’s a Rice-Clinton battle in 2008, then Abby may need to know that we’ll be moving to New Zealand.