Friday, January 12, 2007

Condi and Chuck

There is a frightening AP photo of Condoleeza Rice on the cover of today's paper. She's standing with Robert Gates and General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Her arms are folded, her head is slightly tipped down, her mouth is utterly expresionless, and she's staring intently at someone in front of her to her right, presumably a reporter asking a question. But that doesn't begin to describe how scary she looks. I said to S that she looked like the devil's spawn and sparks were going to start shooting out of her eyesockets any minute. S said that she looked like an android and she was about to peel off her face and reveal the hard steel beneath.

What's really scary, of course, is not Rice's face, but the idea of sending more soldiers to Iraq (surge? a surge is a sudden momentary burst of energy that burns out your computer, or a high tide that goes back down; this is not a surge, this is an increase), or refusing to "rule out military actions in Iran" (I'm quoting the article beneath the picture). But somehow Rice's face seems relevant, to me, given my interest in why people do the things they do, because I just can't fathom how Bush and his people could possibly still believe that they are on the right track. Which makes me fantasize explanations like demonic possession or robotic determination.

Meanwhile, my hero of the day is Nebraska Republican Chuck Hagel (props also to Gordon Smith and all the other Republicans who are questioning this madness). I don't know any of his other policies, and at this point I'm not really interested, but he is doing a great job of standing up and speaking out. Time for some more Democrats to join him.

No comments: