Demagogue

You have to give Condoleezza Rice credit for one thing. After seeing her president -- more than a year and a half earlier -- appear in front of a large banner trumpeting: "Mission Accomplished," Rice was able to keep a straight face as she told a Senate committee today, "The goal (in Iraq) is to get the mission accomplished."

Under Tom Daschle's helm, a shrug of the shoulders seemed to be the most profound form of disagreement that Senate Democrats could muster. Happily, today was different. Condi Rice was appearing for her confirmation hearings to be Bush's next secretary of state, and Senate Dems were in no mood for Rice's carefully packaged platitudes.

After Rice announced, "The time for diplomacy is now," Senator Joseph Biden (D-Delaware) had the presence of mind to correct her: "The time for diplomacy is long overdue."

Then Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) tangled with Rice over the administration's manipulative sleight of hand with the rhetoric of WMDs. As MSNBC reported:

"You sent them [U.S. troops] in there because of weapons of mass destruction. Later, the mission changed when there were none," Boxer told Rice.

"It wasn’t just weapons of mass destruction," Rice responded, saying Saddam supported terrorism, attacked Kuwait and Israel and needed to be removed given the new U.S. threat perception after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Rice was visibly irked when Boxer said, "I personally believe — this is my personal belief — that your loyalty to this mission to sell this war overwhelmed your respect for the truth."

"We can have this discussion in any way that you would like, but I really hope you will refrain from impugning my integrity," Rice replied. "I really hope that you will not imply that I take the truth lightly."

The best rejoinder to Rice's "integrity" remark comes from Mark Twain who, recalling a dinner party conversation, once said:

"The more he spoke of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons."