Okay, so let's see if I have this right.

Condoleezza Rice, whose parents should be flogged just for spelling her name that way, was so incompetent as National Security Advisor that she was the natural choice for Secretary of State. And the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved her WITH ONLY TWO DISSENTING VOTES?

At least Barbara Boxer had the stones to come out and - almost - confront Rice with the fact that she out and out lied to both Bush and the American public about Weapons of Mass Distraction. The amazing thing is that Rice actually sat there and acted insulted that someone might question her integrity. Hard to question something that barely exists.

Come on, people, this is the same woman who ignored a memo entitled "Osama Bin Laden Plotting Attacks Against United States", that was practically a blueprint for the 9/11 attacks.

Secretary of Freakin' State. Only two dissenting votes.

A colleague of mine thinks she knows what the actual tactic is, here. The Democrats on the Foreign Relations Committee, she postulates, are trying to give Bush just enough rope to hang himself.

You'd think the Democrats' butts would still be sore over the way they were treated in the election, and wouldn't make this same mistake twice.

They reasoned in April 2003 that they could vote for the invasion of Iraq - based on Bush's, Rice's, and Powell's blatant lies about the existence of WMD's - and therefore give Bush just enough rope to hang himself. When Democrats decided to yank back on that rope later (after it became obvious that there were no WMD's and the word 'quagmire' started circulating the Capitol Dome), they were accused of 'flip-flopping', and 'failing to support' our valiant boys in desert camo fighting Bush's War.

Bush rode that elegant piece of spin all the way back into the White House.

Now, with twenty-twenty hindsight, and a clear understanding of Bush's underhanded, sinister way of doing business, the Democrats have formed a unified, enlightened bloc to stride forth and... well... do it all again, it seems.

What a bunch of spineless weenies.

If there was ever a time for Congressional rancor and party-line votes, this is it. The Foreign Relations Committee should have been split right down the line - Republicans for and Democrats against - on this nomination, as they should for every nomination this asshole in the White House makes over the next several months, including (most of all) Gonzales. The vote in the Senate should also be broken right down the aisle - ayes on the right and nays on the left.

That's the only way Democrats have a chance to take back the House and Senate in 2006 - by clearly delineating the differences between themselves and the Republicans.

Instead, though, they appear to have decided that it's no use fighting the Bush juggernaut and - like the Parisians in WWII - are standing by crying in their wine coolers as the right wing parade goose-steps through the Arc de Triomphe and down the Champs d'Elysses of American politics.

Thank you, John Kerry and Barbara Boxer, for standing firm and refusing to endorse this total failure Condoleezza Rice as America's Top (shudder) Diplomat. As for the rest of the Democrats on the Foreign Relations Committee - either get with the program or get lost. We don't need an opposition party without a backbone.