Rice Calls Idea Iraq War Contributed To Regional Instability ‘Grotesque'

[kpete]

Rice Calls Idea That Iraq War Contributed To Regional Instability ‘Grotesque’

Today on ABC’s This Week, George Stephanopoulos pointed out that the Bush administration repeatedly promised that war in Iraq would bring peace and stability to the Middle East. But as the recent violence in the Middle East has shown, the region has actually fallen deeper into instability and unrest since the war began. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Stephanopoulos it was “grotesque” to suggest that the Iraq war contributed to that instability.



STEPHANOPOULOS: Extremists now appear to have been emboldened. The moderates appear to be in retreat. There is no peace process. There is war. How do you answer administration critics who say that the administration’s actions have unleashed, have helped unleash the very hostilities you hoped to contain?

RICE: Well, first of all, those hostilities were not very well contained as we found out on September 11th, so the notion that policies that finally confront extremism are actually causing extremism, I find grotesque.

VIDEO and Full transcript:
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/07/16/rice-grotesque/

[Warpy]

1. That gap toothed harpy is still fighting the USSR

It's her area of expertise, although she never published much of anything about her area of expertise, so we have to question even that.

Like the rest of this bunch, she has no fucking idea what she's talking about.

[Kagemusha]

2. I somehow think that's not a word women should use on TV.

I think for obvious reasons...

[kittenpants]

6. I'm a woman and I haven't heard this rule... can you explain?

[Demit]

11. Not so obvious to me. What are you talking about?

[Kagemusha]

13. ...Read down a couple of posts please.

Women should not want to be associated with the word 'grotesque' because it immediately makes the listener look at the person's face, and if that face is wanting, then the moral outrage the word is intended to convey becomes drowned out.

I wasn't trying to make it into some tyrannical male rule, damnit. Sorry.

[kittenpants]

15. I'm not trying to pick on what you said,

but I think that's the listener's problem, not the woman's. I'm NOT a fan of Condi, but I find her character a lot more grotesque than her face.

Like I said, I'm not trying to pick on YOUR post because a lot of people DID immediately react that way, so you're not wrong. I guess it's just a pet peeve of mine.

[Kagemusha]

16. She's SecState, a professional diplomat, and she walked into it.

Seems to me that says a lot about how she conducts her job. I couldn't care less how she looks as an individual. As you said, the character's a lot more important. But the word she used is hard to justify even without the negative personal impression she makes. She just somehow makes it even worse.

[Demit]

21. No need to single out women here. Cheney & grotesque would apply.

Unless you are letting it slip that you think of course women are judged on their appearance and it is up to them to be consciously aware at all times & avoid anything, even the words they use, that might give them a negative review in the looks department. Oy.

[Kagemusha]

22. That's the impression I feared people like you would take.

What I'm saying is that it's unnecessary for a supposed diplomat to go OUT OF HER WAY to compel people to make negative impressions whether they have such intent or not. And yes, there are things that men would be WISE not to say too, especially in a diplomacy position... like referring to pigs while standing next to a female government leader like Bush did last week, for one example.

At any rate it's not really all that important. I'd love to argue why Condi's comment is itself ugly and unsightly for its own intellectual sake but, I'll save my powder. I'd be preaching to the choir about it.

[Demit]

24. "People like me"? Who read words as they are written?

You said "women" in your first post, not "supposed diplomat". Look, I'm not going to beat a dead horse here, you made a slip and it's not the first time that somebody of otherwise good will lets show that they hold an unattractive point of view on something. I don't care if you think Condi Rice is ugly, I do too, when she makes certain expressions; she is breathtakingly ugly then, and I think it comes from her temperament if not her very soul. Just watch it with the "women should" statements, please.

[Kagemusha]

25. Thank you for calling me a vile sexist bigoted scumbag by other words.

That really made my day, thank you very much. The only reason I mentioned the word "woman" is that, based on the picture in the original post, she appears to be one. That was my only consideration, but I don't think anything I say now will convince you I'm anything but vile sexist bigoted scum so, have a nice day.

[Demit]

26. LOL! But I didn't, by any stretch. And why do you insist on mischaracter-

izing what you said in your first post when it's there for anybody to see? You referred to women, plural--women in general. That's the whole point.

You poor man. You wouldn't have had to paraphrase what I said if, indeed, that was what I meant to convey. I can string my own nasty words together pretty well. I said what I meant, in the tone that I said it, and I hope that when you calm down a bit you will be able to see that.

[Kagemusha]

30. Just to put this thing to rest...

What I wrote in the original post was not some Freudian slip exposing some deep hatred and resentment of women. I wasn't attacking an entire gender. I wasn't trying to stuff women back into a dark hole and trying to turn the clock back a few centuries.

I was stating that women using a grotesque word like "grotesque" is unhelpful to them and they shouldn't employ the term - for shock value, as it was here - because it reflects badly on the person who's speaking. I'm sorry you're offended that somehow what I said sounds excessively gender specific. As I said, I find it in equally poor taste for men to loudly refer to pigs in the presence of women, such as Chancellor Merkel of Germany, because of a simple problem: it leads the listener to look for negative points of reference. In the case of pigs, to wonder if Bush could have possibly meant the woman standing next to him. (No, he meant pot roast, but it's in poor taste to make me even have to think of it at what was supposed to be a diplomatic photo-op.) As for grotesque, it's dragging a conversation into the mud and making "looks" an issue for no good reason. Miss Rice could have said wrong, distasteful, ugly, perverse, etc, all strong language but without the excessive... undiplomatic behavior. And undignified behavior. I think my assuming a woman in her position ought to have dignity is being read as an assumption too far. I find that unfortunate.

I don't think Madeline Albright would've stooped that low, that's all.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Grotesque? Condi, you're grotesque.

You and your squinty-eyed, knuckle-dragging sweetie and the Thing from the Crypt Cheney and all the other deranged PNACers responsible for this disaster. And STFU about 9/11. That's especially grotesque.

[CountAllVotes]

9. that is what I was going to say!

Like the poster below - look in the mirror you ugly b*tch!

What a damn idiot! :dunce:

duh!

:kick:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. I don't think CondorLizard is physically ugly

(though she could use a little dental work). I think her ideas and statements and politics and the pinheads she hangs out with are grotesque.

[tbyg52]

28. How I heard the exchange quoted here

I heard Stephanopoulos say "What do you say to people who say that the conflict in Iraq has made us less safe?" and I heard Condi say "911! 911! 911!" Now, I realize they do say that a lot, but this particular one got my attention as being particularly blatant, particularly unrelated, and particularly early in the sentence.

Call me easily excited, but I screamed, frightening the dogs, and shot out of bed (which I *never* do) with my blood pumping (which seldom happens before noon). I'd hire Condi as an alarm clock. :silly:

[blogslut]

36. That poor dead horse

How many more times can they beat it until it's nothing but a mass of unrecognizable goo?

[panader0]

4. "grotesque"? She should look in the mirror.

[opihimoimoi]

5. I find her, the Sec of State, to be GROTESQUE and APPALLING

INEPT AND OVER HER HEAD...she blunders on acting like she knows something....

"we never expected them to use airplanes...."

[Spazito]

7. Again with the projection, using the word grotesque to describe

something other than what she and the cabal are and that is extremely grotesque. I am surprised, however, that she did not say "No one could have known this would happen....", I guess they have finally realized that dog don't hunt anymore.

[Botany]

8. Lying Bitch!

We are now powerless to respond ......

Way to go gang .... BTW quit linking Iran to everything too.

[stepnw1f]

10. Your Mentality, Condi, is What is Grotesque

Nobody is buying your bullshit anymore. All the PR GOP hackery can't hide your ugliness anymore.

[susu369]

12. Why so gloomy looking, Condi?

[Eric J in MN]

14. On the one hand, what is going on in Lebanaon now might

...be happening if the US hadn't invaded Iraq.

On the other hand, supporters of the Iraq War promised before it started that it would bring peace between Israel and her neighbors.

http://thismodernworld.com/3001

One excellent example from a September, 2002 issue of the New Republic can be found here. As you’d expect, it’s written by Martin “I Have Literally Never Been Correct About Anything In My Entire Life” Peretz:

"The road to Jerusalem more likely leads through Baghdad than the reverse. Once the Palestinians see that the United States will no longer tolerate their hero Saddam Hussein, depressed though they may be, they may also come finally to grasp that Israel is here to stay and that accommodating to this reality is the one thing that can bring them the generous peace they require..."

[malaise]

18. Rice is Grotesque n/t

[ProgressiveEconomist]

42. Kick

[SammyBlue]

19. You stupid, miserable, unhappy, gap toothed litte media whore.

Your policies have turned the arabs into America and Israel hating murderers. Your policies were short sighted and lacked a basic knowledge of the conflict and the region.

All this blood is on your hands, you fucking witch!!! Jews don't believe in hell, but for you, I'll make an exception! I hope you rot you war criminal!

[jberryhill]

20. She's right

Bush's policies have contributed to instability, and the results are grotesque.

She's well on the way to a cognitive break.

[smoogatz]

23. They actually believe Reagan won the Cold War

by talking the Soviet Union to death, and murdering a few Cuban engineers in Grenada. That's where this rhetoric about confronting extremism comes from. The obvious follow-up question is: Y'know, Condi, if "confronting extremism" (i.e., invading countries that talk tough but pose no threat to us) is such a recipe for success, why didn't y'all undertake it as soon as you took office, instead of waiting for the terrorists to attack us?

[Clarkie1]

34. I'd like to know what you think of this article

if you have the inclination to read it. Your question is an excellent one, by the way.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0405.clark.html

[smoogatz]

40. Skimmed it--

Basically, I think Clark is exactly right. He's a very astute guy, well-schooled in history (among other things). He'd make a fine running mate for Al Gore, IMO.

[symbolman]

39. Hear Hear!!

"Condi, if "confronting extremism" (i.e., invading countries that talk tough but pose no threat to us) is such a recipe for success, why didn't y'all undertake it as soon as you took office, instead of waiting for the terrorists to attack us? "

THIS NEEDS to be SHOUTED from the ROOFTOPS, over and over, ceaselessly, on every blog, on every tv and radio show - rinse, repeat until the Media HAS to confront it.

Enough blogs and sites keep saying this they WILL have to deal with it - we've made that happen before.

GREAT CALL, simple, effective, elegant, unstoppable logic. Love it.

[ContraBass Black]

27. The truth is often grotesque nowadays.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

29. I note that she said "grotesque" rather than "untrue"...

NT

[Jacobin]

31. That pretty much sums it up

Whenever someone points out the failures of this administration, they don't deny it. They simply call the fact that you are pointing out the truth a bad name.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

32. Exactly - the fact the Iraq war has caused instability is grotesque

Condi is saying 'I don't like the sound of what you said, even though it's true'.

[gulliver]

38. Slam!! That ought to be the official Dem response! n/t

[Clarkie1]

33. She is such a fucking idiot. nt

[yellowcanine]

35. I find Condi's enabling of premptive warmaking grotesque.

[bridgit]

37. Dr. Rice has lost her marbles...

[AnOhioan]

41. Unbelievable the crap that comes out of neocon mouths n/t