Comments (26)

bordersmuggler wrote on April 25, 2007 1:35 PM:

Take away her passport before she slips away into the wilderness in Paraguay.

roger wrote on April 25, 2007 1:39 PM:

The s**t is moving and the fan is spinning. What exciting times!

Will Condi Continue Lying? Did the sun rise. wrote on April 25, 2007 1:48 PM:

Oh Condi, she of the sterling intellect and prodigious charm. Can't wait to watch this loyal Bushie go down like a complete buffoon. King George has got to be thinking "What happened? Karl and Cheney said we managed to do away with this thing called democracy."

neil wrote on April 25, 2007 1:55 PM:

That many Republican defectors? Wow.

Anonymous wrote on April 25, 2007 1:55 PM:

Ow that's so sweet! The committee really LIKES her!

Perhaps they can have some tea!

Or perhaps they can grill her until she crisps up and blows away in the wind.

FlyOnTheWall wrote on April 25, 2007 1:57 PM:

Ah, the AP. Predictably wrong.

There are three things to bear in mind about this vote:
1) Waxman is legally entitled, under committee rules, to issue subpoenas whenever it suits his fancy. He chose, for political reasons, to ask the committee to vote on this one. I suppose it's of some interest that they did so, but this is really symbolic.

2) As I understand it, committees don't vote to issue subpoenas. They vote to *authorize* the issuance of the subpoena. With that in hand, Waxman will doubtless draft another letter to Rice, again asking her to testify voluntarily, holding the subpoena in abeyance until she declines. The kabuki continues.

3) Rice will refuse to honor the subpoena. She more or less has to - she can't afford to get called before Congress on this issue. Waxman will then face two unpalatable alternatives. He can back down or negotiate a compromise - say an off the record session without a transcript. Or, he can take his case to court. But I don't think he wants to do that. There are a bunch of cases involving executive privilege cropping up at the moment, and the courts have left a great deal of ambiguity in their past rulings. Here, Rice's claim is relatively strong. I suspect that the Dems will want to choose the weakest of all the claims as their test case. (The RNC emails, for example, are a better candidate.) Besides, Waxman's no fool. Rice is telegenic and, as senior administration officials go, relatively popular. He has no desire to make a martyr of her.

Best guess - we never hear from Ms. Rice on this topic.

B W wrote on April 25, 2007 1:59 PM:

Iraq on the Record
Presented by Rep. Henry A. Waxman

"The Iraq on the Record database contains 237 misleading statements about the threat posed by Iraq that were made by President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary Rumsfeld, Secretary Powell, and National Security Advisor Rice. These statements were made in 125 separate appearances, consisting of 40 speeches, 26 press conferences and briefings, 53 interviews, 4 written statements, and 2 congressional testimonies. ..."

http://oversight.house.gov/IraqOnTheRecord/

Statements by National Security Advisor Rice.

"Between September 8, 2002, and September 28, 2003, National Security Advisor Rice made 29 misleading statements about the threat posed by Iraq in 16 separate public appearances."

"Although Ms. Rice had the fewest public appearances and the fewest misleading statements, she had the highest number of statements that were false. ..."
http://oversight.house.gov/IraqOnTheRecord/pdf_admin_iraq_on_the_record_rep.pdf

FlyOnTheWall wrote on April 25, 2007 2:01 PM:

Who said anything about defectors, neil? There are 23 Dems on the committee, and 21 votes in favor. I haven't seen a breakdown yet, but it seems unlikely that many (if any) crossed party lines.
Yet another reason why this won't be our test case - the Dems would rather litigate a subpoena issued with bipartisan support, to underline that this is a struggle between coequal branches, not between two parties.

TSUMBRA wrote on April 25, 2007 2:05 PM:

"FaLSIFIED ArMY KiLLINGS ExPOSED"
WWW.ILOVEPOETRY.COM/VIEWPOEM.ASP?ID=91947
Let's not forget about other falsehoods!
Google: "SECRETs SPOKEn, Secrets Broken" and just follow the trail. There is NO statute of limitations on desertion from the American military! His 'alleged' discharge is a poor fake!

peterfinch wrote on April 25, 2007 2:19 PM:

this story needs to get some traction
http://www.madcowprod.com/04242007.html

read it NOW!

enough wrote on April 25, 2007 2:27 PM:

Will the testimony be public?

Poppy poppy poppy pop pop pop pop
Don't you just love the sound of corn popping.

Crust wrote on April 25, 2007 2:28 PM:

Great analysis, FlyOnTheWall.

FlyOnTheWall wrote on April 25, 2007 2:41 PM:

Thanks, Crust.

Let me just add that, based on more recent media reports, we now know that the vote followed strict party lines: 21 Dems, 10 GOPers. It was, in fact, a vote to authorize, not an issuance. And Waxman's still saying that all Rice has to do is name a date when she'll testify voluntarily.

I understand why this makes people giddy. We've spent our years in the desert, and we're coming into the promised land. And I, for one, consider Waxman to be one of the most effective advocates of congressional oversight that the institution has ever had. I particularly applaud his relative restraint and caution - there were two subpoenas that were on the docket that were *not* issued today, because there's been some modicum of cooperation from the White House.

Waxman can be as tenacious as a pitbull when he's so inclined. But what makes him effective is his judiciousness - he knows which battles to fight. He will ratchet up the pressure on Rice as far as he can. He'll carefully stage-manage this to ensure as many negative headlines as possible. But the only way Rice appears before that committee is voluntarily.

jimbo92107 wrote on April 25, 2007 2:43 PM:

Under oath this time, Condoleeza. Just like Scooter. Tell us about Saddam's nukes again!

Anonymous wrote on April 25, 2007 2:52 PM:

HOOORAH!! Death by a thousand cuts.....YOU GO..DEMS!!! We are firmly on your side..we WANT answers and accountability..truth to their lies..the whole world needs to know, that Americans are a Democracy personified..we will fight for our country and our way of life, against foriegn and DOMESTIC terrorists..we will not give up 200 years of Democracy to a bunch of Fascist Despots (and that means CORPORATISM, too)...let the rest of the world take notice....this IS Democracy in ACTION....and YOU can do it too!

mayan wrote on April 25, 2007 2:54 PM:

Issue? or authorize?

security word = "school" as in where I hope the Congressionals take Condi

Commander Ogg wrote on April 25, 2007 3:04 PM:

Condoleezza who? You're saying that this lady is the Secretary of State. I did not even know we still had one. I thought they abolished that cabinet position and handed over all the responsibilities to The OVP</a.

Commander Ogg wrote on April 25, 2007 3:06 PM:

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=11401

bordersmuggler wrote on April 25, 2007 3:17 PM:

A more appropriate forum for her testimony is at The Hague, and she knows it.

JuanM wrote on April 25, 2007 3:55 PM:

Yes Yes
and O God on to global warming!

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/hotpolitics/?campaign=pbshomefeatures_3_frontlinebrhotpolitics_2007-04-25

and the Bush admin!

mary wrote on April 25, 2007 7:27 PM:

Does Condi still have job?

She sure isn't doing much to make the world a better place.
Almost forgot, all she is paid to do is say "Yes" to her Master. Heckuva job Condi!

Heaven help us all.

whizkid wrote on April 26, 2007 2:34 AM:

A horse is an ass of corse, of corse, unless its the ass of a horse of corse, just like the ass of corse, of corse, like the ass of President Bush.

bellesouth wrote on April 26, 2007 9:32 AM:

Correction
Waxman's committee ISSUED a subpoena to Rice. They did not just authorize or approve of one -- they issued it. There's a difference. Other committees in the house and senate authorized a subpoena but Waxman's issued it.

bellesouth wrote on April 26, 2007 9:37 AM:

Subpoena issued to Rice

The subpoena issued to Rice seeks to force her testimony about the claim that Iraq sought to import uranium from Niger for its nuclear weapons program. President Bush offered that as a key rationale for the war in his 2003 State of the Union address. The subpoena was approved by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee along party lines, 21 to 10.

ImpeachCheney wrote on April 27, 2007 1:49 AM:

Update/Correction: This post originally incorrectly stated that the panel had issued the subpoena.

This is very disappointing - I would like to see Condi in handcuffs.

Codeword - nation

phil james wrote on April 27, 2007 1:07 PM:

This seems a waste of Waxman's time and everyone else's. First, it's pretty much been established that the WMD case for the Iraq war was a fraud (see book by Tenet as latest evidence) perpetrated by the WH. Second, Rice is doing about as much of consequence at this juncture as Bill Frist since the WH does not have a foreign policy apart from Cheney's belligerence. Third, there are many other fish to fry at the WH.