Today at the confirmation hearings of Condi Rice, Sen Voinovich, R-OH was questioning her on how negatively America is viewed in the world. He expressed how astounded he was at how much anti-American sentiment abounded in the areas of Europe he had visited. He lead into his request for her plans to alleviate this by commending US moves to respond the the tsunami disaster in southeast asia. This is an almost exact quote of the first sentence of her answer:
"I agree that the tsunami was a wonderful opportunity and we are getting great dividends from that..." (with a smile/smirk)
This from the nominee for Secretary of State.
we are in big trouble.
she could not have provided more damning evidence of the Bush administration's utter disregard for the rest of the world, the suffering of others, the self-serving mind-set. Fortunately, Barabara Boxer fed it back to her in the next round of questioning...but the damage is done. that 10 second sound byte, which will no doubt be ping-ponged around asia for days to come, summarizes the competence of the Bush administration's choice to head America's diplomatic presence in a very troubled world.
I hope someone with far greater techno savvy than I have can capture that and manipulate it into a watchable sound byte to play back during every the spin on every blunder and catastrophe this admistration visits upon the world. Of course she sees it as a "wonderful opportunity",..just like tens (hundreds?) of thousands of Iraqi's dead is a "wonderful opportunity" to democratize the middle east. just like 9/11 was a "wonderful opportunity" to implement the neocon/armageddon agenda. just like our staggering twin deficits are "wonderful opportunities" to dismantle social programs.
how many more "wonderful opportunties" both natural and man made can this country and the globe sustain with this administration at the helm?
Specific comments on the hearings are already underway on a recommended diary today. But let this be an activism call diary to support our Democratic Senators who made a decent show of opposition today (Kerry, Boxer, Feingold)...let's continue to contact them in our show of support for their stance as an opposition party. Insist that they keep it up. Remind them that we cannot let the Bush admin frame every world happening as a "wonderful opportunity."