Andrea Mitchell: 'Woman of color' blocked from secretary of State

Beco

I'm Not Your Guru
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It didn't take long for NBC's Andrea Mitchell to turn Susan Rice's withdrawal from the secretary of state-stakes into a racial issue.

Asked for her analysis on MSNBC's "The Cycle," Mitchell swiftly claimed that Rice's withdrawal would be bad for Republicans because she is a black woman -- intimating that her skin color and gender were somehow a factor.

"I think that this had become sort of an impossible challenge for her to be confirmed, that she realized that -- the White House realized it as well. I think they know that they are on good political solid ground," Mitchell said. "This is not going to ... help Republicans at all, the fact that a woman and a woman of color has been forced out of a confirmation process even before she was nominated."
Never mind that the first black female secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, was nominated by a Republican, George W. Bush.

In fact, both parties can lay substantial claim to diversifying the nominee pool for that post. Under Bill Clinton, Madeleine Albright became the first female secretary of state. Under Bush, Colin Powell became the first black secretary of state, only to be succeeded by Rice.
Republican opposition this year to the possibility of a Rice nomination was rooted in complaints about her Sept. 16 comments on the Libya terror attack, in which she claimed the strike was the result of a "spontaneous" demonstration spun out of control.

Despite the diversity of recent secretaries of state under both parties, Mitchell is hardly the first to suggest that opposition to Rice was rooted in racial reservations. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., earlier this year said those calling Rice incompetent were using "code words" that people who grew up in the South are familiar with.

Brad Blakeman, Republican strategist and former adviser to George W. Bush, called the racial claims "ridiculous."

"It's easy for the Democrats. ... It's as old as their class warfare argument," he said. "The problem is time has passed by their argument."
Pointing to diverse appointments under the Bush and other administrations, Blakeman said: "Republicans have been as diverse or more diverse than the Democrats themselves."

Susan Rice, for her part, cited Republican opposition to her possible nomination. She said she did not want to subject the Obama administration to a "lengthy, disruptive and costly" confirmation process.
Mitchell said Thursday that she thinks Rice was Obama's choice, but that course "became untenable."

"The critics began to look through all sorts of other aspects of her background, her finances, the kinds of things that would normally come out in a confirmation -- but she didn't have the defense, the group around her that you would have if you were the nominee from the White House if you had been vetted and had that whole array of defenses. She was on her own, really, and left hanging," she said.
 
453px-Condoleezza_Rice_cropped.jpg
 
No denying the entire thing "is" a racial issue. Quite frankly a systematic attack on the Obama administration. However, the fact that she withdrew her name from the nominating pool should be applauded. Ms. Rice put country first over posturing, prejudice and politics.
 
No denying the entire thing "is" a racial issue. Quite frankly a systematic attack on the Obama administration. However, the fact that she withdrew her name from the nominating pool should be applauded. Ms. Rice put country first over posturing, prejudice and politics.

How is it a racial issue?

Because she is black?

Because the President is black?
 
No denying the entire thing "is" a racial issue. Quite frankly a systematic attack on the Obama administration. However, the fact that she withdrew her name from the nominating pool should be applauded. Ms. Rice put country first over posturing, prejudice and politics.

idiot:rolleyes:
 
Did the media label Barbara Boxer a racist when she attacked Condi Rice at her confirmation hearing? Just askin'.:D

I don't think race has anything to do with it either. It is all about the politics of the office holder.
 
How is it a racial issue?

Because she is black?

Because the President is black?

My take on it is this. Ms. Rice presented the information she was given by the so called intelligence community. In my opinion, had she not been an African American within the Administration of an African American President, she would not have been made a scapegoat. John McCain and his buddies would not have made an issue of any of this.
 
My take on it is this. Ms. Rice presented the information she was given by the so called intelligence community. In my opinion, had she not been an African American within the Administration of an African American President, she would not have been made a scapegoat. John McCain and his buddies would not have made an issue of any of this.

So you think she was set up to deliver bad intelligence because she is African American? To embarrass an African American President?
 
Actually, I've noticed that Secretary of State seems to be a set aside for "diversity" for a while now. Sort of like the Governor General of Canada had to be "diverse" for a long time. They have a non-"diverse" GG now though. Maybe time for the USSoS to be non-"diverse" again for a while. Who knows, its all pre-planned by the establishment. These people are all puppets anyway.
 
Wasn't racist. She declined consideration.

Good thing, if a little political wrangling seems too "hot" for her to handle, it's best she get out of the kitchen.
 
My take on it is this. Ms. Rice presented the information she was given by the so called intelligence community. In my opinion, had she not been an African American within the Administration of an African American President, she would not have been made a scapegoat. John McCain and his buddies would not have made an issue of any of this.

Nah. They attack anyone and everyone they feel like attacking. It's not about gender or race, it's about them trying to make and October surprise out of it to win an election and then having to carry through.
 
Nah. They attack anyone and everyone they feel like attacking. It's not about gender or race, it's about them trying to make and October surprise out of it to win an election and then having to carry through.

I think you are spot on.
 
So you think she was set up to deliver bad intelligence because she is African American? To embarrass an African American President?

No, she was attacked by Mr. McCain and friends because she is African American and working under the Obama administration.
 
I think you are spot on.

Shame on Andrea Mitchell. This is just hyperventilating political bullshit. She's doing what she's accusing them of doing - bringing sex and race into a subject where it doesn't belong and wasn't before.
 
No, she was attacked by Mr. McCain and friends because she is African American and working under the Obama administration.

Can you produce any quotes or evidence of such? Or is this just a thought crime? "I can tell they were thinking it?" sort of thing.

Doesn't it make sense that they're Republicans and she's a Democrat and that's what they do?
 
Nah. They attack anyone and everyone they feel like attacking. It's not about gender or race, it's about them trying to make and October surprise out of it to win an election and then having to carry through.

Your point is taken but the underlying issue is race mainly and systematically aimed at Mr. Obama.
 
Your point is taken but the underlying issue is race mainly and systematically aimed at Mr. Obama.

That is certainly true in the president's case, but there's no real evidence of that in this case. She got treated the way other people get treated in the highest echelons of politics and world events.

Personally I don't think she handled it that well and she should have straight-faced and calmly pointed out that she was doing her job, and her job includes not giving out sensitive information publically during an investigation of an incident and stuck to it.

I'm sad she buckled, but she did. I think she did the right thing by stepping down, either because she wasn't ready for that level of play or she doesn't have the diplomatic skill to handle something like that seamlessly. Her job is to lie and she went about justifying the truth and that's the wrong person for that job.

The media portraying her as a "poor dear" somehow because she's female and black is more sleazy than what McCain did.

What she is...is a perfectly competent lady who happens to be black, but didn't handle an international incident as well as she could have, and that's not a good person for Secretary of State.
 
Can you produce any quotes or evidence of such? Or is this just a thought crime? "I can tell they were thinking it?" sort of thing.

Doesn't it make sense that they're Republicans and she's a Democrat and that's what they do?

Sure its a donkey and elephant thing but the underlying issue is still race related. This is just one battle in a series of battles encompassing the war that the republican party has wage against Mr. Obama and his administration sine he was sworn in. The object of the game was to "make him a one term President" plain and simple.

You must understand that this is just a small part of a larger agenda.
 
That is certainly true in the president's case, but there's no real evidence of that in this case. She got treated the way other people get treated in the highest echelons of politics and world events.

Personally I don't think she handled it that well and she should have straight-faced and calmly pointed out that she was doing her job, and her job includes not giving out sensitive information publically during an investigation of an incident and stuck to it.

I'm sad she buckled, but she did. I think she did the right thing by stepping down, either because she wasn't ready for that level of play or she doesn't have the diplomatic skill to handle something like that seamlessly. Her job is to lie and she went about justifying the truth and that's the wrong person for that job.

The media portraying her as a "poor dear" somehow because she's female and black is more sleazy than what McCain did.

What she is...is a perfectly competent lady who happens to be black, but didn't handle an international incident as well as she could have, and that's not a good person for Secretary of State.

I would agree with that part. To come into a nomination process where some believed she lied (whether she did nor not), that is not what anyone should want in a SoS.
 
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