You and women named Rice! ;-)

(Is Rice Condi's married name, cough cough?)

Maybe I'm wrong but I have no doubt the decision re the Sudan's offer was made up the chain, as you say. We didn't do a very good of catching him but bin Laden was a pulsing dot on the radar that was watched at the highest levels.

>The probable Obama choice for NSA is Dr. Susan Rice. Brilliant, accomplished - but as Clinton's USS for Africa she botched the Sudan's offer of Osama bin Laden (or at least was point person - the decision not to take him may have happened up the chain.) She is impressive in a very Conde way, but I am not sure where she stands on a lot of pretty key national security issues.
>
>
>>Well, in that case, you have to look at the record. Have her appointments done a bad job? I dunno.
>>
>>Almost all recent former Presidents have had some real turkeys as appointees. Bert Lantz for Carter. Haig for Reagan. Sununu for Bush Sr. Gonzales for Bush Jr. Elders for Clinton.
>>
>>Which brings up an interesting topic: Who would our current candidates nominate for Cabinet positions? I've heard McCain might appoint Lieberman for Sec. Defense. I've also heard that Obama might park Hillary into a senior ambassador slot or the Supreme Court (!!!).
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>>What do you think?
>>
>>
>>>>Hey Walter,
>>>>
>>>>>>She promoted old friends to posts and made life difficult for enemies? Gasp! Holy Moly, no one does that!
>>>>>
>>>>>Does this make it right?
>>>>
>>>>Depends on your definition of "right". Elected officials have always put friends and associates in their cabinets because they know and trust them. It's the way the world works. Again, I don't see where this is so unique to Palin that it qualifies as news.
>>>
>>>But usually, they at least pick their friends who have some qualifications for the job at hand. When they do just hand out jobs like candy, the results are often pretty bad. ("Heckuva job, Brownie" comes to mind.)
>>>
>>>It appears that for Palin, the friendship far outweighed the question of qualifications. Now you can certainly make an argument that now and then, an official knows an individual well enough to know that person can do a good job, even though the person has no relevant experience, but you'd expect one or two such appointments. Five high school classmates in high level jobs seems like a little too much patronage, and not enough concern with making sure the job gets done right.
>>>
>>>Tamar