Many of us are bilingual. As I mentioned before, My grandfather was fluent in 26 different languages. This was also a guy who had his ph.d. at 21, so he was pretty remarkable. He was a Hebrew professor for 40 years. I wish I could consult him on this question, but he has passed on. However, I have translated professionally (although not in Arabic or German-neither of which I know at all), also having passed stated administered test to prove fluency.

...but not to negotiate. This is weird. I mean, I understand it--the White House and Dana Perino can't call this negotiation with a member of the "axis of evil" a negotiation, because the White House has always assured its conservative base that it does not negotiate with terrorists.

But--if they're not going to negotiate, why did the White House ask for a meeting with "Tehran's nuclear negotiator?" Let's look at the story and try to figure this out:

Iran test fired some missiles yesterday. Naturally, their preparation to defend themselves against the attacks which are openly discussed by ruling circles in Israel and the United States is portrayed as a belligerent move. Turning the world on its head, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says, ""Those who say that there is no Iranian missile threat against which we should build a missile defense system perhaps ought to talk to the Iranians about their claims." Their claims? Their claims are that they are prepared to respond to any attack with a counterattack, not exactly the most surprising of claims.

As far as legacies go, I guess, you go with the one ya brung ...

And Condi Rice has a death grip on hers, and her work husband, The Commander Guy

1946 - The bikini bathing suit, created by Louis Reard, made its debut during a fashion show at the Molitor Pool in Paris.

1984 - The U.S. Supreme Court weakened the 70-year-old "exclusionary rule"

COINCIDENCE? I think NOT!

Quote:
"An apology for the devil: it must be remembered that we have heard only one side of the case; God has written all the books."
-- Samuel Butler

FROM THE CHURCH OF INEFFABLE STUPIDITY:

In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Rice said she was "proud" the administration decided to invade Iraq. Believe it or not that's not the only quote from the interview that's worthy of "last throws", "bring it on", or "Mission accomplished" status. She goes on to insult the entire Muslim world with an incredibly ignorant comment. Follow me over the jump for the details.

Condoleezza Rice's editorial in today's WSJ defends the administration's use of diplomacy with North Korea.

She writes: "We have no permanent enemies."

Nevermind that this may go down as the biggest Bush administration flip-flop since H.W.'s "no new taxes"...

Nevermind that Cheney is probably planning an invasion anyway...

Does Condi's stance suggest a tacit endorsement of Obama? I argue why it might after the break...

Back in 2003, General Tommy Franks called Bush Iraq intelligence fabulist Douglas Feith "the f**king stupidest guy on the face of the earth."  Two years later, Colin Powell's one-time aide Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson said of Feith "seldom in my life have I met a dumber man."  Defending Condoleezza Rice's - and by extension, President Bush's - pre-war "smoking gun/mushroom cloud" Iraq talking point, Douglas Feith today once again justified his critics' low opinion of him.

Okay, this has got to catch on.

This seems to me a potential tide-turning, Rice-resigning, chickens-home-to-roost, Republican-Party-annihilating moment. If this gets the play it deserves, it has the right elements to permanently change the valence of “Support Our Troops,” the phrase that did more to stifle dissent in the early days of the Iraq invasion than any other.

We know about fraud on the part of military contractors, but this is real proof that this administration sees its role as abetting that fraud, rather than protecting the troops.

via TPM, this is too good to pass up...particularly when the United States Department of State starts running interference for Miami arms dealers who are just past their teen years...

The Albanian government and U.S. embassy in Tirana were working together to disguise from the NYT that China was the country of origin for the ammunition that our favorite 20-something Florida arms dealers were buying from an Albanian arms dealer and shipping to Afghanistan under a U.S. government contract, for which same dudes were indicted last week for violating the Arms Export Control Act.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmem...

It should be clear by now that the McCain campaign and the GOP surrogates are all over Obama's allegedly being "soft on terrorism".  "Terrorism" is the new Communism.  But it's not an ideology. Just a time-honored tactic that almost every ideological, nationalistic, or patriotic movement has used. The Boston Tea Party was an act of terrorism in some ways.  I cannot understand how the Democrats have bought into the terminology of the "War on Terror". Edwards came close to bringing this out into the open when he called it a "bumper sticker slogan" or something like that.

OK, never mind all that.  Maybe it's too late to educate the public on this issue.  Perhaps the public understands that the "war on terror" means how to prevent radical Islamic terrorist attacks.

But the "pre-9/11" failures are those of the GOP, not the Democratic administration.  Who is making this point besides Vincent Bugliosi in his new book, THE PROSECUTION OF GEORGE W. BUSH FOR MURDER?

This, and foreign policy in general, should be our issue, not theirs.

As the End of Bush Days draws near, the desperation and insanity of the administration and its neoconservative policies become more and more apparent.  One of the most recent examples is Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's address to the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on June 3, where she once and for all crossed over to the dark side and swore fealty to Lord Cheney's quest to start a shooting war with Iran.  

With Horse's Caboose Condi hitched onto the Cheney train, can Armageddon be far behind?

A major talking point by the McSame campaign is that Obama is too anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian.  It looks like Condoleezza Rice of the Bush administration is being "anti-Israel" herself:

http://apnews.myway.com/...

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel's persistent building of Jewish homes on disputed land undermines the U.S.-backed attempt to write an Israeli-Palestinian peace draft this year and invites questions about Israel's motives, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday.

...

"We should be in a position of encouraging confidence, not undermining it. No party should be taking steps at this point that could prejudice the outcome of the negotiation," Rice said following meetings with Palestinian officials in the West Bank.

More underneath the fold

The new reporter-blogger on Talking Points Memo, Andrew Tilghman, wrote a very interesting piece today on Condi Rice in which he quotes her ridiculous statement to AIPAC

The real question isn't why won't the Bush administration talk to Iran. The real question is why won't Iran talk to us.

This became the jumping-off point for Andrew to discuss Scott McClellan's assessment (in his book) that Rice has the ability to somehow evade any responsibility for the disasters in this administration that she was directly responsible for.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmem...

And that got me thinking about who she really is and how she ended up in a position that is both powerful and shielded from censure.

On Wednesday, embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and lame duck American President George W. Bush will meet in Washington in a gathering of the walking wounded.  Bush's fading hopes to secure a Middle East peace agreement before leaving office have dimmed further as scandal enveloped his Israeli counterpart.  Worse still, by moving ahead with peace talks with Syria and the expansion of West Bank settlements over just the past two weks, Olmert has already dealt President Bush a double-blow.

The 'who could have known' defense

117 United States Army soldiers committed suicide during 2007!

That statistic was announced today and is the highest number of soldiers to take their own lives in a single year since the army has kept records.

During McClellan's comprehensove media book tour I've been hearing a lot of the obvious questions from the media, even from my fave Keith Olbermann.

But we all want to know more... because we know there are even more questions to ask about the inner workings of this White House.

So here are my questions for Scott McClellan - Reps. Wexler and Conyers please take note!