Condi Rice wants to be Vice President - JUST SAY NO

In the past, when Condi Rice was asked about the possibility of her seeking the presidency or vice presidency of the United States, she always said no way, she had no desire to run for political office.  Well, it seems she has changed her mind.

ABCNews’ Mary Bruce Reports: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is actively courting the vice presidential nomination, Republican strategist Dan Senor said. 

“Condi Rice has been actively, actually in recent weeks, campaigning for this,” Senor said this morning on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”

According to Senor, Rice has been cozying up to the Republican elite.

“There's this ritual in Washington: The Americans for Tax Reform, which is headed by Grover Norquist, he holds a weekly meeting of conservative leaders -- about 100, 150 people, sort of inside, chattering, class types,” Senor said. “They all typically get briefings from political conservative leaders. Ten days ago, they had an interesting visit -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice -- the first time a secretary of state has visited the Wednesday meeting.” (ABC)

There are plenty of Conservatives and Republicans who think Condi as VP would be great.  She's Black, she's a woman, she's well known, she would be a plus for John McCain in many ways.  But I do not agree.

Wake Up America says, "I think that John McCain would probably be hurt by this choice because of Condi’s association with President Bush. I don’t agree that she would be considered an outsider, or a fresh face."  I agree completely.

Patterico's Pontifications, "So far, it’s an election that is more about personalities than principles and IMO Condoleezza Rice is a personality whose principles aren’t very well known."

NewsBusters is reporting that Joe Lieberman also suggested Condi Rice might be a good VP candidate.

Blogs for Victory, "I don’t think you’ll see Condi on the ticket…"

Rice is pro-choice on abortion and will run into trouble with conservatives on this issue. Plus, she lacks executive experience.

FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog, "Rice is an accomplished Secretary of State but Flap thinks there are better Vice Presidential choices for Senator McCain."

Quo Vadimus:  "While she has incredible national security and foreign policy bonafides, that's not exactly an area John McCain needs help with."

Other comments, " ... a ticket that would not lose."

  Drudge Report

Comments

[courtneyme109]

Oh yeah, about Little Satan and Palestine - cruising HAMAS's site and Fatah's it is very obvious that the only thing or person that these cats HATE more than Little Satan is - guess who? Yup! Dr. Condi Rice.

Little Satan fans might reconsider - every time she hits the ME - these sites totally freak.

[courtneyme109]

To deal first with the obvious: Rice may be “only” the second woman
and the second African-American to be Secretary of State, but she is
indisputably the highest-ranking black female official ever to have served in
any branch of the United States government.

And with Rice on the ticket the Republicans could attack Clinton or Obama
with far less restraint.

By choosing Rice, McCain would shackle himself anew to Bush’s Iraq war.
But it’s hard to see how those chains could get much tighter than he has already
made them. Rice would fit nicely into McCain’s view of the war as worth fighting
but, until Donald Rumsfeld’s exit from the Pentagon, fought clumsily.

And it would be fairly easy to establish a story line that would cast Rice
as having been less Bush’s enabler than a loyal subordinate who nevertheless
pushed gently from within for a more reasonable, more diplomatic
approach.

Rice is already fourth in line for the Presidency, and getting bumped up
three places would be a shorter leap than any of the three Presidential
candidates propose to make. It’s true that her record in office has been one of
failure, from downgrading terrorism as a priority before 9/11 to ignoring the
Israel-Palestine problem until (almost certainly) too late. But this does not
seem to have done much damage to her popularity.

In a Washington Post-ABC News poll taken when opposition to the Iraq war
was approaching its height, she enjoyed a “favorable-unfavorable” rating of
nearly two to one. The conservative rank and file likes her. Though she once
described herself as “mildly pro-choice,” she is agile enough to complete the
journey to mildly pro-life. And she is a preacher’s daughter.

Choosing Rice would be a trick. Her failures would be buried in an
avalanche of positive publicity for a personal story as yet only vaguely known
to the broad public. (One of the little girls who died in the 1963 Birmingham
church bombing was her playmate? We didn’t know that!)

But the trick would not be an entirely cynical one. Her ascension, though
nowhere near as momentous a breakthrough as the election of Obama or Clinton,
would be a breakthrough all the same. In this connection, a kind word for George
W. Bush may be in order.

By appointing first Colin Powell and then Rice to the most senior job in
the Cabinet, a job of global scope, Bush changed the way millions of white
Americans think about black public officials.

This may turn out to the most positive legacy of his benighted Presidency.

[Tim]

Not only do I think Condi would make a good V.P. I think she would be a great President. She is very intelligent and has a lot experience with foreign affairs. The left is afraid of her as they should be. She stands for everything they don't, the people of the United States of America. She wants to win the war on terror not stick her tail between her legs and run.

[Mushy]

I have supported this possibly for some time now...I too think it an unbeatable ticket!

[Debbie]

Yes, Condi's treatment of Israel would be one of the major reasons I would be against her in political office, Aurora.

Miluimnik, thanks for reminding me of that "birth defect', I posted about it and should have mentioned it here.

I'm with you Grouch.

[Aurora]

Her betrayals of Israel are, alone enough grounds for me not to want her carrying on. And I'm sure the American Jews would not be in a hurry to vote for her for that reason either.
I'm really surprised that she is pro-choice. That's a bombshell.
I really hope this isn't going to become a reality!

[Miluimnik]

Golly! We could have B.Hussein.O' and Hildog all rolled-up in one svelte package!

Sec. of State Rice: U.S. Has "Birth Defect" About Race

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday that the United States still has trouble dealing with race because of a national "birth defect" that denied blacks the same opportunities as whites when the country was founded.

And Rice, while declining to comment on the current presidential campaign, said it was important for Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama to give his recent speech on race "for a whole lot of reasons."

"Black Americans were a founding population," she said. "Africans and Europeans came here and founded this country together -- Europeans by choice and Africans in chains. That's not a very pretty reality of our founding."

http://www.npr.org/blogs/news/2008/03/sec_of_state_rice_us_has_birth_1.html

[Grouch at Right Truth]

It really doesn't matter. I'm writing in a vote for Fred Thompson in November. If there are any CONSERVATIVES on the ballot for lower offices, I'll vote for them too.

Let the chips fall where they may.