Posted on 01/22/2006 6:57:13 PM PST by andie74
A presidential contest between the two famous women is just a dream.
EVERY couple of weeks, mostly on quiet news days, some cable news anchor rolls out a rumour that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, despite her protestations to the contrary, is planning to run for president in 2008.
A couple of populist political commentators known for their willingness to speculate on anything, no matter how far-fetched, are then rolled out to explain why Rice's emphatic and repeated denials that she would ever run for any elected office should not be believed.
Then the dream presidential contest for 2008 is laid out pitting Rice against Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner for her party's nomination, accompanied by a graphic with attractive photographs of the two women purporting to show that they are, respectively, their party's best hopes for victory.
Last week, Laura Bush provoked a small frenzy of Rice fever by saying that she would love to see Rice run for president, adding that Rice, a close friend of the Bush family, was "terrific".
Hours of television air time and acres of newsprint were then devoted to will-she-won't-she nonsense about Rice and, of course, inevitably, the Rice versus Clinton graphic — updated to take account of hairstyle changes to which both women are partial — was duly rolled out.
Rice again said she was not interested in running for president or vice-president or anything else but this was ignored because for the popular media a Rice versus Clinton presidential race in 2008 would be a ratings bonanza. Imagine, a presidential catfight.
Dick Morris, the former adviser to Bill Clinton who has turned against his former boss and against Hillary Clinton and who uses every opportunity to bag them both, is now a professional controversy provoker on Fox news. He is also a best-selling author with his essentially silly and exploitative book Condi vs Hillary, a title that is about as close to Catfight: Condi vs Hillary as even Dick Morris could respectably get.
Even apparently sober political analysts have ruminated on a Rice presidential run while managing to keep a straight face, even as they must surely know that the chances of a Rice run for the presidency are nil. Laura Bush knows it too. There is no way this conservative and cautious first lady would take the radical and unprecedented step of getting involved in Republican Party politics by endorsing anyone who she thought had a real chance of being a candidate for the presidency.
Rice may be the most popular member of the Bush Administration by a country mile, with an approval rating in the latest polls of about 60 per cent compared with Bush's 40 per cent and Vice-President Dick Cheney's 20 per cent, but her chances of winning the Republican nomination, even if she wanted it, are remote, at best.
It just might be that the conservative evangelical Republicans who insist that they delivered Bush the presidency in 2004 would countenance a female presidential candidate but surely not a woman who is known to be pro-choice and is single and childless and has never been married.
And some political observers say — but never publicly — that Rice would never run for any major political office, let alone the presidency, first and foremost because she would not be prepared to have her private life subjected to the sort of scrutiny that is now an inevitable part of the political process.
There is some debate about whether Americans are ready to elect a woman as president, with polls delivering mixed and confusing results, especially when it comes to conservative voters. If popular culture is a good indicator of public sentiment, then Americans may be ready to accept a madam president, though of a particular kind.
Commander in Chief, in which Geena Davis plays a vice-president who assumes the presidency when the president dies of a stroke, is a hit for the ABC network, a top-10 rating program in its first season.
Davis' president is tough, vulnerable, emotional, determined and overflowing with integrity. She is also a caring mother to her young children. She suffers regular bouts of guilt every time one of her children bursts into the Oval Office for a chat and she can only give them a minute or two of total attention. In other words, Davis might be president, but she's still a wife and a mother and feminine to boot.
Which brings us to Hillary Clinton, who has many qualities and has proved to be a successful senator who has the ability to raise millions of dollars in campaign funds. She also has Bill Clinton, the master politician of his generation, as her campaign manager, but a Geena Davis kind of president she will never be.
In the polls, Clinton consistently scores around 40 per cent support among Democrats, a long way ahead of John Kerry, who is around the 20 per cent mark, with the rest of the possible candidates in single figures.
This sounds promising for Clinton until you realise that Kerry is a has-been with no chance of getting another shot at the presidency and that the rest are state governors who, at this stage, with the election almost three years off, are mostly unknowns nationally.
Every Democrat knows Clinton, which means that 60 per cent of them don't want her as their candidate. And that's not to mention the rock-solid 40 per cent of the country, according to the polls, who would never vote for Clinton even if their lives depended on it. Americans might be ready to elect a woman president, but it won't be Condoleezza Rice and, most probably, it won't be Hillary Clinton. As for the catfight that people like Dick Morris are praying for … in their dreams.
Michael Gawenda is United States correspondent.
Okay...maybe it's a tie.
Geena Davis's Character is a liberal copy of Dr. Rice.
But I WANT Condi to run. She needs to beef up her Pro-Isreal stance a little, but I WANT Condi to run against Hillary. We all know she is going to run and it ain't gonna fly some paunchy white Republican. Sorry, just stating it the way it is. The female population would vote for a woman just for the 'historical' moment of it. Those are pretty much a given. At least that is my opinion.
I think that Condi would also swing the black vote as well. It would be rough for the Dems to keep up the "house slave", "brown sugar" persona.
Are females that vacuous?
"And some political observers say — but never publicly — that Rice would never run for any major political office, let alone the presidency, first and foremost because she would not be prepared to have her private life subjected to the sort of scrutiny that is now an inevitable part of the political process."
So what is he trying to say here - that there is something about her private life that would make her unelectable or just that she is a private person?
>>>The female population would vote for a woman just for the 'historical' moment of it. Those are pretty much a given. At least that is my opinion.
Are females that vacuous?>>>
Sadly enough, I believe so. You have the hard core left, who would vote for their hero. Then you'd have the "I don't usually care or pay attention to politics because Sex in the City reruns are on in 10 minutes" bunch who would vote for a woman just for the hoo hah of a female president and not know or care that Hillary is the anti-Christ(Ok, not really, but...)
So to answer your question, no, not all are. But unfortunately alot would be.
I am a female before anyone starts flaming me.
Well, she's single...and I am sure that that alone would bring scrutiny.
Yeah, especially after they heard her speak. Condi is my hero and I would LOVE to see a debate between the elegant Condi and the Screecher.
I'll take this with a grain of NaCl...earlier today there was another article posted from down under about how McCain will be the nominee from the GOP. Ha.
"The female population would vote for a woman just for the 'historical' moment of it."
No, they won't. The country isn't ready for a woman president, and any man will beat Hillary. Putting Condi up against her is not a good idea.
>>>No, they won't. The country isn't ready for a woman president, and any man will beat Hillary. Putting Condi up against her is not a good idea.>>>
I disagree. Just because YOU think the 'country isn't ready for a woman president' doesn't mean squat.
And quite frankly that is a sexist crap comment. So long.
Among DIMocrats, I'd say the incidence of vacuousness is about the same with both sexes. Probably with republicans also, just that the percentage of empty headed pubbies is significantly lower in general.
you have to assume any single person is going to have a personal life that could be used against them. I have no idea what rice's is but it ain't chastity, more than likely. And I am just assuming what comes out is something fairly ho-hum...what if it isn't? This is the american public we are talking about, after all.
I am not making a personal judgmenet, just a media comment.
Saw that. The reason I think the MSM loves McCain is because he is a boil on the GOP's behind.
It won't be Clinton VS Rice. It will be Clinton vs McCain.
LoL. Hurt your feelings? Lol.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.