Ace of Spades HQ

August 31, 2012

I'm Tired So Whatever Here's The Condi Rice/VP/Abortion Thing
— Ace

I just don't believe Condi Rice is a politician or seeks to be a politician.

I don't think it's her ambition. I don't think it's her skill set.

I just never have.

That certainly doesn't mean she's without value; we are fortunate to have in this nation only a tiny cadre of politicians, and a much larger group of people who actually do things.

But the GOP's got this thing about insisting she's actually a politician and we'll all soon be voting for her and whatever.

Yes, it would be great to run a black female for President. Assuming such a person was agreeable to the party and actually was a politician.

People deride politicians, and for good reason; but anyone who denies that politicians have and practice a particular skill is just wrong.

Not everyone in politics is a politician, of course. David Axelrod could not be elected to anything, even Comptroller of Bridge-Trolls. A more likable, photogenic Bridge-Troll would beat hm.

Condi has skills, no doubt, but primary as an academic and adviser. She has appeal, but it's a quiet type of appeal. She does well in speeches, but she just doesn't seem to make the sort of choices that an actual office-holder would make. Why not run for Governor of California, for example? Or, if California's too hostile, run for governor of some state she's lived in.

Anyway, here's Allah gaming out Condi's chances in 2016, which I think he overstates, for purposes of providing a lively discussion, and I don't blame him.

But I just have never seen this. I think she's a bit like Romney in the sense that she's naturally a thinker, and thus an introvert. But Romney has spent years and years attempting to recast himself as an extrovert "people person" politician (and you can see, by the way, how hard that is, given that a very focused, very driven guy has had such a hard time doing so).

I just don't see Condi Rice yet making this hard transition.

Posted by: Ace at 03:33 PM | Comments (77)
Post contains 355 words, total size 2 kb.

The thing about Allah is, he's a dipshit.

2016? So, he's conceding a Romney loss...or replacing Ryan...or what.

Mind you. I haven't read the post, so, there is that.

Posted by: garrett at August 31, 2012 03:36 PM (7eD7C)

2 Condi has maybe a 1 in 8 shot. She's smart, but quiet and vulnerable.

Posted by: sven10077 at August 31, 2012 03:36 PM (LRFds)

3 Condi has skills, no doubt, but primary as an academic and adviser.

I think she would be a bang-up dominatrix.

From what I've heard about what they do.

Posted by: pep at August 31, 2012 03:37 PM (6TB1Z)

4 Ace: "I just don't see Condi Rice yet making this hard transition" (from academic/adviser to politician). I would add: If she wanted to, she'd have done it by now. Hard as it is for me to believe, she's in her late fifties. She was Stanford's youngest provost (at 39) because that was a position she wanted. She sought it and, being driven and talented, she got it. If she wanted to be a politician, I think she could have left the Bush administration after her term as National Security Adviser, run for elective office, and pushed her career in that direction. She didn't.

Posted by: JPS at August 31, 2012 03:38 PM (V0KTo)

5 Condi has said that a. she does not want to run for office, b. she will not run for office and c. the only office for which she would ever think of running is NFL Commissioner. I am inclined to take her at her word.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD 2012 - Feel the burn! at August 31, 2012 03:38 PM (Gk3SS)

6 Here's the thing......SHE DOESN'T WANT IT!

Posted by: Tami at August 31, 2012 03:38 PM (X6akg)

7 >>>I think she would be a bang-up dominatrix.

Go on.

Posted by: Zombie Kaddafy at August 31, 2012 03:38 PM (RLTt1)

8 I seem to remember her being escorted somewhere with Juan Williams. Feh. Instant D.Q. for that.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at August 31, 2012 03:38 PM (+tqYo)

9 Condi? No. I just don't see it in her personality makeup. Spot on analysis ace.

Posted by: Bosk at August 31, 2012 03:39 PM (n2K+4)

10 Condi is very good, but she does not have the background for a serious run at the presidency. If she runs for Governor of California and wins, WATCH OUT!

Posted by: rd at August 31, 2012 03:39 PM (9sUlj)

11 I haven't heard much of a reason to want her to run, apart from her gender, skin color, and that she is pretty smart and not a racialist/Democrat.

Posted by: Grey Fox at August 31, 2012 03:40 PM (toGqH)

12 She's no Joe Biden, that's for sure.

Posted by: the Charlie Daniels of the torque wrench at August 31, 2012 03:41 PM (ufLRj)

13 She's oozing with class and sophistication (the good kind). She'd be a good spokesperson for any politician. I tend to agree with you Ace that she comes off as not being really interested in elected office anyway. But I do like her. She has a good presence.

Posted by: Soona at August 31, 2012 03:41 PM (zPoXN)

14 I really liked Condi's speech at convention, however! she's for pressuring Israel and she's for amnesty, and these were her views as of just 2 months ago as expressed on Greta. Let her be a good speech-giver, but no elected office.

Posted by: Aslan's Girl at August 31, 2012 03:42 PM (KL49F)

15 Condo said it herself in here speech last night: "my father brought up his daughter to know that she could be the Presidennt of the United States....if she wanted to be". If she wanted to be POTUS, she would become the POTUS. She obviously does not want it. Good on her.

Posted by: Michael K. at August 31, 2012 03:43 PM (Gx+Vn)

16 Oh, and why are we talking about Allah, again? This is ACE of Spades, not Allah of Spades.

Posted by: Aslan's Girl at August 31, 2012 03:43 PM (KL49F)

17 5 AtC, Yup, she'd rock as commish.

Posted by: sven10077 at August 31, 2012 03:43 PM (LRFds)

18 Here's the thing......SHE DOESN'T WANT IT!

Posted by: Tami at August 31, 2012 07:38 PM (X6akg)

--------------------------------------------

But she hasn't met me yet.

Posted by: Will Folkes at August 31, 2012 03:43 PM (zPoXN)

19 Well, you couldn't fuck up California more than it already is.

Posted by: weft cut-loop [/i] [/b] at August 31, 2012 03:43 PM (xrX4n)

20 Her last name is Rice. Some Asian-Americans might find that offensive.

Posted by: Chief Diversity Officer John Robinson at August 31, 2012 03:43 PM (R18D0)

21 Okay, I'll say it. There is at least a moderate probability that she is a lesbian, and that she doesn't want that dragged out for public consumption, just like Sally Ride. So she avoids situations where it might be used against her by the ethically challenged. IOW, Democrats.

Posted by: pep at August 31, 2012 03:44 PM (6TB1Z)

22 David Axelrod would sweep an election to the presidency of NAMBLA on his looks alone.

Posted by: Cicero at August 31, 2012 03:45 PM (QKKT0)

23 Well, you couldn't fuck up California more than it already is.

Posted by: weft cut-loop

We have not yet begun to fuck up!

Posted by: California at August 31, 2012 03:45 PM (R18D0)

24 There is at least a moderate probability that she is a lesbian,

Posted by: pep at August 31, 2012 07:44 PM (6TB1Z)

Yeah, but she's our lesbian. Sally Kohn, the udder guys lesbian is a condescendingly arrogant prick. And professional liar.

Posted by: Dr Fish, TDY to SAT for ill mom at August 31, 2012 03:47 PM (ndqJC)

25 Well, you couldn't fuck up California more than it already is.

Are you throwing down the gauntlet?

Posted by: The California Electorate at August 31, 2012 03:47 PM (QKKT0)

Condi has been around politics for a long time.

And yet.....I don't remember her ever campaigning, for Bush, or anyone.

You have to be a pretty darn good campaigner...to win the Presidency.

She probably doesn't like doing that sort of work.

And you can't get elected, without doing some campaigning.

Posted by: wheatie at August 31, 2012 03:47 PM (5BAYg)

27 True story.

FUBAR? Yah, it used to be CA-BAR.

Posted by: weft cut-loop [/i] [/b] at August 31, 2012 03:48 PM (xrX4n)

28 I think Condi could do it if she wanted to do so. By do it I mean run and succeed. The thing is she would have to be pushed and dragged into saying yes and she and everyone around her knows that alone will make the whole enterprise much more difficult. She's a natural Secretary, Advisor, Ambassador. Accept it. It's okay.

Posted by: eman at August 31, 2012 03:48 PM (Wp4rQ)

29 Ace maybe you need more argument inciting headlines to push more traffic for the HQ? Link ever single article you can find involving atheism and/or religion, no wait never mind someone else already does that...

Posted by: Drew in MO at August 31, 2012 03:49 PM (MkgGw)

30 How could we deride the dems for putting people in power from the world of academia, Obama, only to run our own professor?

Posted by: Serious Cat at August 31, 2012 03:49 PM (zrpqj)

Condi, beautiful?

You don't know the half of it...

Posted by: The Chair at August 31, 2012 03:50 PM (1Y+hH)

32 There is at least a moderate probability that she is a lesbian,

Posted by: pep

So, you're saying if another woman ran against her... she could get licked?

Posted by: Dang at August 31, 2012 03:50 PM (R18D0)

33 Yup, she'd rock as commish.

Yup. Can you imagine the owners trying to intimidate her? She'd laugh in their faces.

As far as the lesbian thing, I really don't think so. IIRC, she was rocking the 20 years younger than her boything awhile ago.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD 2012 - Feel the burn! at August 31, 2012 03:53 PM (Gk3SS)

34 Condi a Lesbian? That's hot. Rice/Palin 2012: We Know What You're Thinking

Posted by: eman at August 31, 2012 03:53 PM (Wp4rQ)

35 I think someone is trying to do a momentum buzz-kill by trotting this out.

As others have said, Ms Rice is on the record not wanting the job.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 31, 2012 03:53 PM (X/+PP)

>>So, you're saying if another woman ran against her... she could get licked?

Creamed.

Posted by: garrett at August 31, 2012 03:54 PM (7eD7C)

37 Mommy! The kids are still fighting in the Clint Eastwood thread! Please make them stop!

Posted by: jakeman at August 31, 2012 03:55 PM (96M6e)

38 I found it interesting that (rumor has it) Ann wanted Condi in the VP slot and Mitt nixed it because she is pro-choice. Condi was vetted pretty thoroughly, it's hard to believe that she said 'no way in hell' to the idea if she wasn't at least open to the spot.

Posted by: GnuBreed at August 31, 2012 03:55 PM (ccXZP)

39 Hey let's win this one first.

Posted by: mama winger in paul ryan's district at August 31, 2012 03:55 PM (P6QsQ)

40 35 AtC, I'm inclined to agree, but suspect she dabbles. Classy lady.

Posted by: sven10077 at August 31, 2012 03:56 PM (LRFds)

41 Magic 8-ball say: Romney / Romney, then Ryan / Ryan, then Rubio / Rubio. Pachyderms as far as the eye can see, then Condi can run in 2036 if so inclined, I guess.

Obama has salted the earth for a generation.

Posted by: Kate 58 at August 31, 2012 03:56 PM (oLZsm)

42 Hey let's win this one first. Posted by: mama winger in paul ryan's district at August 31, 2012 07:55 PM (P6QsQ) Indeed. Wrap this talk in foil and freeze it until November 7th.

Posted by: eman at August 31, 2012 03:57 PM (Wp4rQ)

43 Condi was vetted pretty thoroughly, it's hard to believe that she said 'no way in hell' to the idea

I'm pretty sure that when the rumors started that she was being considered she said no way in hell. I love the idea of putting her in charge of dismantling the Department of Education.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD 2012 - Feel the burn! at August 31, 2012 03:57 PM (Gk3SS)

44 Exactly Mama Winger.

I think someone with malice aforethought is trying to drive a spike into the gears of this election.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 31, 2012 03:58 PM (X/+PP)

45 I love the idea of putting her in charge of dismantling the Department of Education. Hadn't heard that one, but yes.

Posted by: jakeman at August 31, 2012 03:59 PM (96M6e)

46 Let Bolton fumigate/nuke State Department.
Send Ms. Rice to the UN to sort those kleptocrats out. Or put her on the IPCC.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 31, 2012 04:00 PM (X/+PP)

47 >>So, you're saying if another woman ran against her... she could get licked?

Creamed. Posted by: garrett

The press could really grind on her.

Posted by: Dang at August 31, 2012 04:02 PM (R18D0)

48 I would love to see Dr. Rice deal with the smarmy Jerry Jones.

Posted by: huerfano at August 31, 2012 04:03 PM (bAGA/)

47Exactly Mama Winger.

I think someone with malice aforethought is trying to drive a spike into the gears of this election.

-----------

Agreed.

I mean...2016?

Is someone already conceding defeat this year?

2016...should be Re-Elect Romney/Ryan Year. ...Right?

Posted by: wheatie at August 31, 2012 04:03 PM (5BAYg)

As far as gaming things out in 2016 and beyond, If R/R win, is there any reason to belive that the Presidency will not be Romney's until 2020; and Ryan's until 2028?

If Romney does poorly enough that we need a new President in 2016, it will NOT be a Republican. If Romney loses in 2012, Then expect Ryan or another conservative to win in 2016, and possibly someone from the party that replaces the republican party. (Because if Republicans cannot win against Obama in this economy, then will they ever win again???)

Posted by: rd at August 31, 2012 04:04 PM (9sUlj)

51 I agree generally, but think you're a bit off about David Axelrod and his political appeal. Apart from his obvious savvy and expertise, he's a polished interview subject. I've seen him numerous times on Meet the Press and the other Sunday morning shows. He is charming, personal, witty and above all GENUINE. Clearly he's a Democrat, but conducts himself in such a gentlemanly, above-the-fray, older-brotherly way that you'd almost expect his picture to appear before the word "non-partisan" in the dictionary. As to his looks, I defer to my wife who (despite being conservative) calls him "dapper" and "a keeper." She says he reminds her of a young, dashing Walter Cronkite. So he'd be a formidable foe in any senatorial or even presidential race.

Posted by: Charles Muscarelli at August 31, 2012 04:04 PM (NCkFb)

52 Ace, it isn't that Condi isn't a politician in the common sense, it's that she, along with a lot of others who have held a job like hers, is a different style. After all, diplomacy is a form of politics. I get your point that she isn't like, say, Hillary!. But if you notice, most Secretaries of State don't go on to elected office, or make only half-hearted attempts. Well, you couldn't fuck up California more than it already is. Posted by: weft cut-loop at August 31, 2012 07:43 PM (xrX4n) Oh, yeah? Wanna put a wager on that? Wait until the state, well, Los Angeles and San Francisco, vote in favor of the tax increases Gov Ronstadt has on the ballot this time around.

Posted by: Bill H at August 31, 2012 04:05 PM (3sZO1)

53 #54 Nice try. That comb-over does not remind me of Walter Cronkite. If you had to ask my opinion, I would say "Snidely Whiplash."

He isn't at all dapper and personable. He is a smash-mouth Chicago politician who appears on TV in rumpled clothing, greasy-looking and often sweaty.

So I give your post 4 Pinocchios and return you to Moveon.org.

Posted by: Miss Marple at August 31, 2012 04:07 PM (GoIUi)

54 I mean...2016?
Is someone already conceding defeat this year?
2016...should be Re-Elect Romney/Ryan Year. ...Right?

Posted by: wheatie at August 31, 2012 08:03 PM (5BAYg)

------------

Exactly.

Romney wins and runs for re-election in 2016. Speculating on which other Republican might want to run in 2016 sounds to me like WTH?

Posted by: mama winger in paul ryan's district at August 31, 2012 04:07 PM (P6QsQ)

55 Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a miserable failure.

Posted by: steevy at August 31, 2012 04:09 PM (6o4Fb)

56 There is at least a moderate probability that she is a lesbian Wasn't she engaged once, am I remembering that right?

Posted by: toby928© at August 31, 2012 04:09 PM (QupBk)

57 Miss Marple, you must learn to put politics and emotions aside. Mr. Axelrod did not become advisor to the President by accident. Nobody appeals to ALL people, but when so many agree on a man's charisma and magnetism there's always something behind it.

Posted by: Charles Muscarelli at August 31, 2012 04:12 PM (QTKGF)

There is at least a moderate probability that she is a lesbian

And most of us on the Republican side will not care if she is gay or straight as long as she is professional and discreet. Which she has been for all her adult life.

Of course the compassionate, caring liberals will use muckraking, lies and innuendo to try to destroy her if she runs as a Republican. (See Palin, Haley, Bachmann for examples)

Posted by: rd at August 31, 2012 04:16 PM (9sUlj)

59 Charisma and magnetism, eh?

So that's the secret of Chicago politics. And all this time I thought it was because they are corrupt thugs who would step over their own dying grandmothers to grab power. My mistake.

Posted by: mama winger in paul ryan's district at August 31, 2012 04:16 PM (P6QsQ)

60 Whenever I see or hear Axelrod, I get a boner in my pants that can only be relieved by visiting the nearest chicken ranch.

I spend a lot of time there.

Posted by: Charles Muskaroma at August 31, 2012 04:17 PM (ccXZP)

Geraldo on with Laura Ingraham, who's filing in for O'Really...

He's all butthurt about Clint Eastwood's performance.

Calling it a 'disaster'....saying it ruined the whole evening, and now...

"The only thing that will be remembered is that stupid Chair".

Fuck off, Geraldo.

Posted by: wheatie at August 31, 2012 04:21 PM (5BAYg)

62 Posted by: Charles Muscarelli at August 31, 2012 08:12 PM (QTKGF) You're not from around these parts, are ya? Look, Charles, the thing with Axelrod is not only is he as Miss Marple described, he was part of the machine that selected and ran Obama back in 2008. Your wife can drool all over him all she wants- there ain't no accounting for taste, and I'm certainly not about to call her out for it- but the fact of the matter is he's a lying, smarmy, shady SOB. Does he have charisma? For those on the left looking for an 'external' handler of Obama, I guess. For those of us here who see him as he is though? Not so much.

Posted by: Bill H at August 31, 2012 04:23 PM (3sZO1)

63 How do we know that isn't just a wooden dummy in that chair. We know Obama rarely has cabinet meetings, so I imagine any other explanation is highly unlikely. Looks like it could be Charlie McCarthy's twin from here (without the hat).

Posted by: Jay Bee at August 31, 2012 04:26 PM (6W8+8)

64 oops. wrong thread!

Posted by: Jay Bee at August 31, 2012 04:26 PM (6W8+8)

65 Bill H, Let's practice civility here -- we're both on the same side! I'm with Romney 100%. My only concern is about what my daughters will do if they need contraceptives or to terminate an unwanted rape pregnancy or if they chose a same-sex marriage with the woman they love. Also, women died of cancer when Bain laid off their husbands and the union-busting Koch brothers tied Seamus to the roof of a car with rope made of ten years of unfiled tax returns and magic Mormon underwear and spent $70,000 on a dancing horse with its own elevator

Posted by: Charles Muscarelli at August 31, 2012 04:31 PM (QTKGF)

66 I'd be happy to see Thomas Sowell run for president as I think he's one of our most brilliant thinkers. But he, like Condi, is an academic at heart. And also apparently happy at Stanford, I might add. Leave the government by academics to the other side, please. That's not to say that they don't have their place in terms of consultation and advice, but I think that the current administration provides enough evidence of the damage that academics, whose theories rarely get tested in the real world, can do.

Posted by: Moonbeam at August 31, 2012 04:35 PM (1k4dd)

67 Thomas Sowell should head the department of education... it needs to be intelligently disbanded... and he's the man to do it.

Posted by: The guy that falls for almost anything at August 31, 2012 04:48 PM (5qkcR)

68 Posted by: Charles Muscarelli at August 31, 2012 08:31 PM (QTKGF) Before we go any further- I get it. I've been had. Decently done sock, "Charles".

Posted by: Bill H at August 31, 2012 04:49 PM (3sZO1)

69 Upon looking at Obama's Tweet Pic and applying mad photo intelligence skills, I note: The President's chair is about 4" taller than the other chairs. And President Obama needs a plate on the back to tell him which seat is his. . image macro -- link under name: _

Posted by: BumperStickerist at August 31, 2012 04:51 PM (RuUvx)

70 70- You could put Sowell anywhere and we would come up aces. Council of Economic Advisors for starters.

Posted by: Moonbeam at August 31, 2012 04:54 PM (1k4dd)

71 No disrespect to the former Madam Secretary for all of her accomplishments, but she is of the Bush ideology of "Compassionate Conservativism", and that is a losing hand, warmed over progressiveness. Bush paved the way for Obama to be a tyrant, there is no forgiveness.

Let's be severe conservatives for a change, as Mitt might say.

Posted by: Joe Bidenmytime at August 31, 2012 04:58 PM (TUnVb)

72 Secretary Rice says she's "mildly" pro-choice. I'm not, at all. But, then, she's beautiful, brainy, around my age, and single. I'm single. Too, her piano playing is supposed to have charms to soothe the savage breast. Just what I need.... I could talk to her about it.

Posted by: Thorvald at August 31, 2012 05:16 PM (1V6Pv)

73 but she is of the Bush ideology of "Compassionate Conservativism" Hillary doesn't have a conservative bone him her body.

Posted by: toby928© at August 31, 2012 05:34 PM (QupBk)

74 75 Beautiful??? This coming from the same crowd that likes to compare the flotus to chewbacca? Condi rice was beaten severely with an ugly stick. I think she's perhaps the most intelligent member of the GOP, but...beautiful? Condi doesn't look like chewbacca. She looks like that little squirmy guy that sat next to jabba the hut.

Posted by: He's a mooslin!!!1!! at September 01, 2012 04:45 AM (UPWC2)

75 Condi should run for Governor of CA in 2014 and serve one term. That gives her two years to prepare for 2020. If she wants to be president, and I heard those aspirations in that speech, she needs to get at least one big campaign under her belt. Because she is not a natural politician, but she is a smart woman. Yes, Condi's pro-choice, and she would have to make up for the large swath of Republican voters who consider that a dealbreaker. As a woman, she has some cover, because the law on the books says it's her body. Independents and libertarians will like that. The Dems will try to discredit her Bush administration experience by saying she presided over the biggest foreign policy blunder in modern history. Having another accomplishment under her belt will neutralize that criticism. As it stands, that's her only public sector experience. She also has enjoyed her privacy up till now, and there are those pesky lesbian rumors. In 2020 that may be old news, voters might be more open-minded, but the way it usually works is they want to meet your partner and get a sense of your personal philosophy. Condi unvetted is a disaster waiting to happen. That was one of the better speeches of the RNC, but she needs more practice. 2020 not 2016.

Posted by: Tattoo De Plane at September 01, 2012 04:45 AM (i0vBR)

76 I don't know what "mildly" pro-choice means. She needs to work on message discipline.

Posted by: Tattoo De Plane at September 01, 2012 04:54 AM (i0vBR)

77 Word on the street is that she is not looking at 2016, but 2014--running against Scary Brown for Governor of California. I'd welcome that!

Posted by: Jennifer Oliver O'Connell at September 02, 2012 03:26 PM (b8OQU)

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