What a swell idea....

The NYT editorial board beggars belief in calling for the Bush administration to call in the big guns in order to implement Bush's "carrot and stick" approach with Iran. Ignoring the fact that the NIE report actually flies in the face of the rhetoric that has emanated from the oval office for months, and ignoring the fact that Bush undoubtedly knew that Iran had shuttered their nuclear weapons program at the time he hinted at WWIII, they encourage the administration to send in the big hitters in the rush towards actual diplomacy. And who do they nominate for this delicate and important task? Wait for it.... Condi Rice.

It's hard to understate the extent to which this Secretary of State has bungled one assignment after another. As national security adviser, she ignored George Tenant's briefings on OBL, and ignored the memo which warned of an imminent attack on our soil. She has become a born again neo-con, turning her back on the legacy of Brent Scowcroft, who was her boss in the first Bush administration, and who has become a vocal critic of the shit show that we have had to sit through for the past eight years. Perhaps only Junior bears more responsibility for this pointless war and the undeniable fact that is has worked at a diametric pole to our actual national interest. Cheney is a bloodthirsty old ghoul, his support for this war and any other war he could sink his teeth into should be no surprise. But Condi.....she has unquestionably supported a war that has squandered our treasury, killed thousands of our best and brightest, and created many more terrorists than we could ever imagine. Everything that she has touched has turned to shit.

The Times' editorial is a nice bookend to Hillary's suggestion that she would turn to Colin Powell in order to engender bipartisan support for a new international diplomacy. Please, can we not do better than a man who's legacy has to be defined by his performance at the UN? He sold his soul to the devil that day, and it should be a stain upon his visage all the days of his life. If the Democratic candidates feel that it is necessary to rehabilitate the reputations of this group, I'm afraid I won't be able to watch.