Question about Condoleeza Rice. What is her

[coalition_unwilling]

relationship (if any) to the neo-conservatives?

I had often thought of her as being league with them. But today I read somewhere that Russia and China used her as a vehicle to deliver a message of non-cooperation with neo-con policy vis-a-vis Iran.

Is she herself a neo-con? If not, what school of ideology would you place her in. (I know her former academic speciality was the Soviet Union, but am not sure if she was a Kissinger-esque realpolitiker or some other variant.)

[goclark]

1. I put her solidly in the NeoCon camp, she is a lap dog for the Bush

Family.

She is a mean and evil woman and if anyone tries to define her in a different way ~ they LIE!

[BuyingThyme]

2. I used to see her as a Bush, but she's apparently a neo-con.

In fact, she's apparently on the AIPAC espionage payroll. (She's a traitorous spy.)

[sweetheart]

3. Just another liar (eom)

[Eugene]

4. Condoleeza Rice is a leading member of the "Vulcans"

the neocon cabal that has shaped administration policy since 2000.
She is long time cold warrior rather than a PNAC'er.

She openly espouses the neocon belief that the Middle East has
no stability worth preserving and that regime change is the
only way forward. As Secretary of State, she diligently
carries out the administration policy of diplomacy through
intimidation.

[peacetalksforall]

5. She is solidly PNAC. She is WHIG. She was Iran-Contra. She was

NSA and NSI(?). She is Chevron. She is oil. She is evil. She would not be in the Cabinet if she were not on board. Cheney vets all of them unless George pulls a loyalty-betrayal fit and stomps the ground and threatens to go off the deep end and not fly out to raise money if he doesn't get his way on someone. Cheney is the Pres and she would not be there if she wasn't in on the PNAC agenda. That circle of people were given a mandate to do what they are doing.

Remember, she is the Sec of State - it is her job to report back - take messages here, bring messages back. Try to persuade. Threaten. She is big on threatening, huffing, and puffing. She is best at lying. She is da' Queen Liar.

[coalition_unwilling]

6. My thanks for all the spirited replies -- I was struck by this

commentator saying that Russians and Chinese had used Rice to "deliver a message to the neo-cons" (not a direct quote but a rough paraphrase).

The wording suggested that she wasn't a neo-con herself, but merely a messenger from and to them. But I haven't done enough research into her background to know where she falls out on PNAC and the neo-con agenda.

Further question: I have seen many of the neo-cons (Wolfowitz and Perle come to mind right off the bat) associated with Leo Strauss at the U. of Chicago. Does Rice have any connections with Strauss and his philosophy of (I think I'm stating this accurately) the "noble lie"?

[peacetalksforall]

10. Here is her official bio -

http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/ricebio.html

Take a look at the names of the people who were co-authors with her - that could be a hint. Looks like she hasn't attended the U of Chi; closest geographicaly was Notre Dame.

co-authors:
"...with Philip Zelikow"
"...with Alexander Dallin"

If I had the time and was better able to tolerate having her in my head - I would like to read an unofficial bio.

[MadMaddie]

7. Many won't like my answer but here it is...

Condi Rice is the "House n*&%$#" of the slave masters house"! She smiles and bows pretty when her master tells her too...she takes all of the bullshit for her master and oh dear some say she sleeps with the master....

Condie's big mistake is she thinks she is truely one of them....when the shit really starts hitting the fan....who do you think master is going to turn on?


Oh and a note on her expertise in Russian History....my Russian friend says she was terrible...she didn't and still does not appreciate Russian history....she has had the gall to tell them how their history should have been....she is not well liked in Russia....

That's all...I have my Kevlar vest on today....($440.00 in car repairs) so I am not in a very good mood....so flame away my friends...flame away.

[coalition_unwilling]

8. Not surprised to hear she was weak on Russian History. I thought

her expertise was more akin to Kissinger's, i.e., not history per se but national security strategies vis-a-vis the Soviet Union.

But I'm now relying on less than firm memories.

[merh]

15. MadMaddie, may I ask you a question?

What is your race?

Do you find the term ""House n*&%$#"" and referring to the "master" as racist (not to mention sexist)?

I find focusing on her race and sex as disgusting attempts to degrade her.

Deal with the facts, challenge her expertise in Russian History, challenge her weak knowledge of foreign relations when she took her job and her failings to date, but for gosh sake, leave the race and the sex of the person out of the equation.

I find the use of the terms you have used as hateful and not necessary to the question presented.

[Mr_Spock]

9. Sycophant

She has no independant personality - she simply does & says whatever makes her boss happy.

[saltpoint]

11. Posters upthread have filled in the picture very well and given

essential info about what makes Condi tick. Some of the most useful Condi posts I've seen on DU.

The oil connection is a first clue for me that her security advisor and State roles are not coincidental.

She has a hyper-corporate handkering for pipelines across the expanse of the Middle East. She's a pipeline-cravin' kind of gal. "Is that a pipeline in your foreign policy, or are you just glad to see me?"

Her florid, fart-in-a-whirlwind lying before the 9-11 Commission, if it wasn't a testimony to her personality, was certainly a revealing insight. She sounded like a storm siren you can't turn off. It was one of the most contemptous public testimonies I've ever heard in my life.

[DrDebug]

12. Condi was part of the team who selected Bush for presidency

George Pratt Shultz: Profile of a Hit Man
by Scott Thompson & Nancy Spannaus
2004-12-10 source: Executive Intelligence Review

(...)

The second crucial, but little-known example of Shultz's importance is his role in putting together the team behind the Presidency of George W. Bush. According to author James Mann, who wrote the Rise of the Vulcans book about Bush's inner Cabinet, Shultz initiated a discussion with George W. in the Spring of 1998, whereby the future President sat down in Shultz's living room on the Stanford University campus, in order to be vetted (in effect) to run for President.

At that meeting were Martin Anderson, the former advisor to both Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan; Abraham Sofaer, a former Shultz aide; John Cogan and John Taylor, two economics professors; and Stanford's provost, and Shultz protege, Condoleezza Rice. After the "scholars" associated with the Hoover Institution indicated that they thought Bush would make a good Presidential choice, Bush invited Shultz, Rice, and Anderson down to Austin, Texas for a follow-up meeting in the Summer. Out of that meeting, which was joined by Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz, came the public decision for Bush to run for President.

By early 1999, Rice pulled together a broader group of foreign policy advisors, who agreed to be called the "Vulcans," at her suggestion. Also present, and effectively supervising them, were none other than Cheney and Shultz.

(...)

http://www.modernhistoryproject.org/mhp/ArticleDisplay.php?Article=GeorgeShultz&Entity=RiceC

[Nikki Stone 1]

14. Thanks for this information--as opposed to the misogynist invective that

substitutes for political commentary in some posts. You can hate someone's policies, lies, downright evil without smearing all things female in the process, but some DUers don't get that.

[Warchild]

13. she's a pipeline lovin' gal..