Condi Rice went on the Sunday talk shows this morning to send out a little propaganda to the peoples on the Russia/Georgian front and she had the usual help from everyone. There wasn't much background on the US involvement that has fueled Russia's anger.

Kevin Drum and JPM has some thoughts on what actually happened. The Sunday Shows backed up McCain's position as much as they could and gave no context to Putin's response that I saw. (Please let me know in the comment section if anyone did)  I heard Gregory read Condi a NY Times quote and it seemed like he was going to include real background on the issue, but that didn't happen.

As PublEuS says: Since when does the Bush Admin think international "reputation" matters a lick?

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 Condi: ...this forward leaning modern Russia, well, you know, that reputation is frankly in tatters and so, that in itself is a significant consequence...

Yes, Europe grabbed a newspaper and hit Russia on the nose with it and said: Bad Russia, you're a very bad Russia. Stop making messes in Georgia...

We're just changing our position. Can't you notice the difference?

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So when Obama says we should start negotiations with Iran or the Irag Study group says the same thing---they are traitors to America, but when Condi and Bush do the same thing it's really not the same thing. Oh, boy. They just lie, lie, lie. I can't wait to never see her on the world stage again. Condi, why are you a Nazi appeaser also?

During a speech in Jerusalem, President Bush jumped head first into the 2008 presidential campaign by taking a shot at Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama, by comparing his willingness to hold diplomatic talks with Iran to the appeasement of Nazis in the 1930's.

See video here.

CSM:

In a surprising development in the tense American-Iranian relationship, the US announced this week that it would send a high-level State Department official to attend talks with Iranian nuclear negotiators in Switzerland over the weekend. This unexpected policy turn comes after a tense, saber rattling summer during which the US, Israel, and Iran have traded threats, staged war games, and tested weapons. But observers suggest that the shift in the US's longstanding tactic of isolating Tehran may be motivated by a desire to ensure that other countries such as China and Russia do not make too many concessions to Iran during the negotiations.

(h/t Silent Patriot for helping with the post too) 

Iran is bad, 'mkay? They are really, really bad. They are the axis of evil, 'mkay? We can't talk to them because they're bad, 'mkay? Condi says we'll defend our allies against Iran, 'mkay?

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UPDATED: Download | play Download | play (Condi video)

We've seen this play out in the press over and over again. He's flanked by all his William the Bloody Kristol flunkies as well. BillO says GE are terrorist lovers too, but guess what? Under BushCo's careful eye, our exports to Iran have increased tremendously. Hmmm... makes you scratch your head, doesn't it? Sure, a couple of hundred million dollars isn't a tremendous amount of money, but why the huge increase from from 8.3 million on 2001 to 146 million in 2007? If Bush really believed as he speaks why not decrease the amount of goods being sold? And anybody shocked that Iran is testing missiles?

via CNN:

There has been little love lost between the Bush administration and Iran's hardline government. But even so, U.S. exports to Iran are booming.

Continue reading »

Well, well, well, the girl who ignored the flashing red light from Osama bin Laden right (PDB) before 9/11 is now oh so proud that Bush invaded Iraq. Here she is with Judy Woodruff on Bloomberg.

Faiz:

Rice: Yes, it’s been very, very tough. But I know that great historical events go through difficult phases and often emerge with the world left for the better. And I am proud of the decision of this administration to overthrow Saddam Hussein. I am proud of the liberation of 25 million...

And let's not forget her aluminum tube claim:

Citing Bush administration officials, The New York Times reported Sunday that Iraq tried to buy thousands of high-strength aluminum tubes. The tubes, Rice said, "are only really suited for nuclear weapons programs, centrifuge programs."

Here's here on MTP reminding us all about Saddam back on May 22nd, 2006:

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RICE: I understand that Americans see on their screens violence. They continue to see Americans killed, and we mourn every death. These are very hard things to do. But I would ask that people remember why we are there. We are there because we are trying to-having overthrown a brutal dictator who was a destabilizing force in the Middle East, we're trying to help the Iraqis create a stable foundation for democracy and a stable foundation for peace."

 The dreaded "War on Christmas" has obviously influenced the Bush White House. First, Bush wished the press corps a "happy holidays" at the end of his press conference.

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Today, Condi Rice did the same thing.

At the end of her press conference this morning, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice teamed up with “secular progressives” in the War on Christmas, cheerily wishing reporters a “Happy Holidays everybody!”

It's so bad, even the White House holiday card avoids use of the word, "Christmas."

For at least the third year running, President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush have joined the “War on Christmas.”

The 2007 White House holiday card is just out. Yep, that’s right. It’s a holiday card. Once again, the annual December greeting fails to contain the word “Christmas” and features no Christian symbolism.

What will O'Reilly think?

   Updated:  Foreign service officers were screaming at the Director General's Town Hall meeting on Iraq staffing because they are being forced to serve in Iraq. Jack Crody was especially honest calling it a "death sentence" if they are forced to go. The State Dept. didn't even have the guts to tell them face to face. They read about it in the Washington Post.

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Crody: Who will take care of our children? Who will raise our children if we're dead or seriously wounded?

I absolutely have no respect for the whole process because you've demonstrated a lack of respect for your own colleagues.

Thomas: Thank you for that comment. It's full of inaccuracies, but...that's OK.---Don't you or anybody else tell me the people in HR do not care about foreign service officers. I find that insulting.

Q: You may care, but you don't articulate it. You roll your eyes, but we have polled the foreign service. 12% of your foreign service believes that Secretary Condi Rice is fighting for them. 12%.

Thomas: That's their right, they're wrong.

Q: Sometimes if it's 88-12. Maybe the 88 % are correct.

Thomas: 88% of this country believed in slavery at one time, were they correct? (grumbling) So don't come here with that.

 OMG, Harry Thomas used slavery to tell them to go f*&k themselves! Only in BushWorld. Condi then tells the Diplomats: "Iraq jobs must be filled"

More than 200 diplomats have been told they are in a pool of people who may be forced to go to Iraq to fill 48 positions for which no qualified candidates had volunteered.

 via MyLeftNutmeg:

Shays: "I can't think of hardly anything this new Congress, my Democratic colleagues have done to help our soldiers win in Iraq and allowed them to come home succeeding rather than failing to help the Iraqi people live in a safe and free Iraq. Free from terrorism, free from foreign intervention.

It also "blows him away" that Condi has to come before Congress to examine the question of whether the Iraqi government is corrupt.

Chris, Chris, Chris, isn't America a foreign intervention? He wanks away while Condi Rice is in for a hearing. Listening to Chrissy, you can understand why there has been no oversight of the Bush administration while the Republicans held Congress. Waxman slams him and Blackwater at the end of the clip. CT, what will it take to get rid of this clown?

Joe Lieberman's warmongering has paid off for Dick Cheney today.

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Jim Webb said this about the Liberman/Kyle amendment: " Lieberman/Kyl Amendment: “This proposal is Dick Cheney’s fondest pipe dream” I'd say that's about right.

Did I hear correct? Did Condi say she'll talk to Iran? Andrea Mitchell reported on the TODAY Show that Condi lost against the Cheney hardliners who have been pushing for this...

Associated Press

The Bush administration imposed sweeping new sanctions against Iran Thursday — the harshest in nearly three decades — cutting off key Iranian military and banking institutions from the American financial system for Tehran's alleged support for terrorism and nuclear weapons ambitions.---Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the moves would further isolate the Islamic republic's government by further distancing it from the international economy and discouraging its trading partners from continuing to do business with it...read on

(Photograph by Charles Dharapak of Associated Press.)

Code Pink protestor Desiree Farooz confronts Condoleeza Rice with "blood-stained" hands, calling the Secretary of State a "war criminal" who should be tried at the Hague.

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USA Today:

Rice was preparing to testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee when she encountered Farooz inside the hearing room. Farooz had painted her hands red, apparently to symbolize her group's claim that members of President Bush's cabinet have blood on their hands because of the way they've waged war in Iraq.