They refer to themselves as “Condistas” – and who are they? Well, they are the Americans for Dr. Rice. There is actually an office in Washington, D.C. And, there is more. There are bumper stickers, campaign buttons, apparel, lapel pins and magnetic bumper stickers.
But, hold on to you seat. There is also the Think Condi ’08 organization of Ohio.
The Daily News noted on April 13 that a “recent poll included Rice among GOP candidates and she scored in the double-digits.”
“We’re convinced that Dr. Rice is the clear choice for 2008, but ultimately the majority of the electorate must be convinced,” write the Americans for Dr. Rice group.
And then they ask: “What are the top three reasons that Secretary of State Rice should be president?”
“The Global War on Terror,” they write three times.
According to Illona Thomas, a Republican Party activist on Staten Island, that is the very reason why the idea won’t get past home plate. “People are going to associate her with President George W. Bush, just as people are identifying Hillary (Clinton) with the policies of her husband, former President Bill Clinton,” Thomas told the AmNews.
“I will say this, though: It is about time the Republican Party looked to a woman as their top-of-the-ticket candidate. I don’t see any of the men blowing any of the Democrats away at this time,” she added.
According to the “Think Condi ‘08” crowd, Rice has the following qualities that would make her the best pick: diplomat, scholar, athlete and musician, and it doesn’t hurt that she is a Black woman.
Every American has the right to run for president, notes Claude Sharieff, owner of Windows Over Harlem Restaurant, located in the Harlem State Office Building.
Sharieff, who is a longtime Harlem Republican, told the AmNews that right now it is too “far fetched” to even bring her name into the mix, while acknowledging that there is no GOP front-runner at this time. “She is a brilliant woman. She is quite qualified. But the drawback to her candidacy is that she works for the president,” he said. Sharieff also said it is just too early to say who he would support for the GOP nomination.
According to Mark Goldblatt of the American Spectator, “She’s said that she has no plans to run, that she won’t run, that her real ambition is to become commissioner of the National Football League. But I believe that Rice is first a patriot, and if a case were put forward, that her campaign for president were an act of service to her country, rather than service to her ego, she might consider.”
“She’s certainly flattered by all this, but she said that after this she’s going back to Stanford University, where she is still a tenured professor,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told the Daily News.
And, did anyone read the Reuters news service story that was in circulation on April 13?
The Title was: “I’m glad Imus was fired.”
“I’m very glad that there was, in fact, a consequence. I think that this kind of coarse language doesn’t belong anywhere in reasonable dialogue between reasonable people,” Rice stated.
