Hypocritical Iconoclasm for Fun and Profit...There was once a time in the history of this great land, when certain folks of a peculiar political bent would never-ever-in-a-million-years believe it would be okay to criticize a black woman, regardless of what controversy was swirling around her. Political orthodoxy required, nay demanded, that a display of solidarity was necessary to defend the sistah from those small-minded enough as to further oppress and already oppressed minority.

Them days is over. Especially if your political orthodoxy doesn't jibe with the other kind.

To wit: Condoleeza Rice. Here we have an intellegent, successful, black woman. She happens to be a Republican, but that would be okay, so long as she didn't tell anyone about it. Unfortunately, she also happens to be the highest-ranking black female ever in the history of the country, and tarred by association with that nasty, cowboy, idiot Texan in the White House. This makes her unacceptable in certain political circles because she breaks the mold: there is no way in hell that a black woman should be a Republican, it's just not DONE, say those who also believe that stereotypes are bad juju for other people's self-esteem.

Thirty years ago, Condi Rice would have been held up by these same people as an example of what blacks, and especially females, could achieve. She would have been a goddess, a beacon of hope, a treasure beyond calculation. Twenty years ago she would have been an icon to the progress of "race relations" in America. Ten years ago, she would have been on the cover of People magazine in a celebratory pap-piece on diversity.

Today, Condi is just G.W.'s house nigga. Her and that other sell-out Colin Powell. If you don't think so, just get your typical, fur-breasted "liberal" drunk and ask what he or she (the she's are usually more condescending) REALLY thinks about either. In vino veritas and all that.

Then again, politics usually works that way, doesn't it? The democrats (small 'd' intentional) can't make hay these days. Economy is bad? Can't prove it. Civil rights still a hot issue? Not to all the blacks that have jumped into the middle class in the last 30 years. Gay rights? Too much of the country is too accepting for this to be a catalyst for radical emotion. The War on Terror? Popular and working, despite all the Chicken Little wailing. They're reduced to the time-tested clasic strategy of "throwing cow chips against the barn wall and seeing how much of it can stick."

The issue becomes "what-did-they-know-and when-did-they-know-it?" as regards September 11th, 2001. If the questions get specific, as in: did anyone know for certain that a) terrorists would hijack airliners and use them as bombs, b) that said hijackers were already in the country and c) having had that information, could something have been done to prevent 3,000 dead people, the answer is ambiguous. If the questions get more general, as in: can anyone raise at least a shadow of doubt about GW's responsiblility vis-a-vis the horrific deaths of 3,000 people, then there are enough dots to connect, post-mortem, to raise an eyebrow. That is the goal --- raise enough eyebrows and perhaps those eyebrows vote for Kerry in November. Of course, hoping for raised eyebrows and then trying to win an election with them is not exactly strong staregy.

And so, Condoleeza Rice, who in another time and place would be held up as the ultimate example of the American Dream, must be dragged through the mud. Now instead of a smart woman, she's a an irresponsible public servant. Instead of being recognized as someone with talent, she's just another of GW's evil minions. She's a route to the unassailable fortress of GW's almost-guarenteed re-election. If that means the other side has to engage in hypocricy, dissembling and malice, so be it. The ultimate goal is power, never fairness or logic.

They have picked on the wrong bunch and beat the wrong dead equine this time. This group knows how the game is played. They know how the cards get dealt from the bottom of the deck, and they always know it's better to have that extra ace up your sleeve. Condi is under attack at the moment, because she was the one who was supposed to co-ordinate anti-terror policy at the time, but she will prevail. She is a giant amongst mental midgets. I hope they all remember what they did to her when she becomes the first black and female President in 2008, handily beating the crusty, black pantsuit off what the other side considers "the smartest woman in the world" and sends her packing back to whatever rock she crawled out from under.