Why Rice?
George W. Bush picked Condoleezza Rice as his National Security Advisor because she can pronounce the names of foreign nations and dignitaries that he couldn’t. As for national security advice, well, she never has had any that I can tell. Even Dr. Evil himself, Henry Kissinger, would go to Nixon and give advice, not just wait to be asked. We hear the Republicans say that government has to be run like a business; we’ve been hearing that for decades. Running a business into the ground is the speciality pursued by George II (he’s a failed oil tycoon, remember, and the Texas Rangers baseball club enriched him only because his rich buddies bought him out), so we shouldn’t be surprised he can’t pick decent staff. Dr. Rice may be smart, but I don’t see the evidence.

Postcript: I’ve read the transcript of Bush’s press conference, and I can’t say I thought the press offered the grilling I’d have preferred. I know he’s the President, but couldn’t they throw some heat instead of just lobbing the softballs? I mean, asking if there’s anything he regrets or if he’d apologize . . . nobody actually expected anything from that, did they? It’s the same song and dance from Bush to the same tired old tunes the press always plays. Everybody’s willing to go in swinging in the op-ed pages, but not so much in the press room at the White House. I guess they don’t want to be retired early, but where’s the story?