Condoleeza Rice

The twisting of language is one of the most fundamental traits of George Bush's policy legacy. His notoriety for being a bad orator is what has made him the perfect neo-con President because he's the perfect mouthpiece for their rhetoric.

This Bush administration trait became too obvious while watching Robert Gates and Condoleeza Rice's morning press conference. I failed to transcribe their speeches, because I found myself lost on sound-bites that seemed too Machiavellian to take at face value.

So here's a list of some of those memes :

• the forces are going to be phased in
• national reconciliation process
• violence spills
• destabilizing forces
• a little time
• lessening of violence
• reconstruction from the grassroots up
• national oil laws
• Iraqis in the lead
• an Iraqi iniative
• long war against terrorism
• world-wide war against terrorism
• the consequences of failure

Of course, my favorite line for deconstruction is "we will support their decisions but our patience is running out".

It's obvious the Bush administration wants a dummy government that makes it seem they have control over the rule of law over the whole country. This ruse makes it easier for the US oil corporations government to have one country and one "national oil law" to deal with in the future.

Bob Fertik gives us the 411 on John Negroponte's demotion from Director of the National Intelligence Department to Condoleeza Rice's deputy at the State Department [Liza's Note : This article has been reprinted with permission by the author] :

Everyone is trying to figure out why John Negroponte would take a demotion from Director of National Intelligence - overseeing 16 intelligence agencies with an unlimited budget and zero oversight - to become Condi's #2 at the State Department, which gets as much respect (and funding) under Bush as the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

There's a very simple reason: Karl Rove has chosen Condi Rice to run for President , and he needs to line up her replacement so she can resign in March to begin her campaign - before she has to answer subpoenas from Joe Biden.

You read it here first.

The idea of running Condi isn't new; Dick "Toesucker" Morris wrote a book about it , and talks about it all the time on FOX.

Many believe that the White House is Hillary's to lose, but as longtime strategists Dick Morris and Eileen McGann explain in Condi vs. Hillary, the former first lady's bid for the Oval Office is vulnerable to a challenge from a most unexpected quarter: the Bush administration's brilliant and charismatic secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice.

Political pollsters need to justify their existence. Chief among them is Rassmusen Reports. The company has turned its efforts at handicapping the 2008 Presidential race.

For the Democrats :

Following Election 2006, the nation can look forward to our first female Speaker of the House. Another woman, Senator Hillary Clinton, is the initial frontrunner for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination. However, another freshman Senator, Barack Obama, is close on her heels.

The first release of the Rasmussen Reports 2008 Presidential Tracking Poll finds Clinton the choice of 29% while Obama has 22%. Former Vice President Al Gore is number three with 13% and the 2004 Vice Presidential nominee John Edwards is also in double digits at 10%. The Democrats' 2004 standard bearer, John Kerry, is the choice of just 4%.

Not only do I find it risible people are thinking seriously about Obama for president; but am actually relieved that only 4% wants Kerry back. John needs a looooong vacation away from the political spotlight. He ought to focus on becoming the next Chuck Schumer.

I insist that Obama is too green to be considered presidential material. I'd rather see the profile of a Gov. Schweitzer raised significantly in the next 2 years. And I'm still looking at both Gore and Edwards independently since I doubt Edwards would want to play second fiddle to anybody this time around.