Rice: Race Still Issue Because Of U.S. "Birth Defect"

Washington Times:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that the United States still has trouble dealing with race because of a national "birth defect" that denied black Americans the opportunities given to whites at the country's very founding.

"Black Americans were a founding population," she said. "Africans and Europeans came here and founded this country together -- Europeans by choice and Africans in chains. That's not a very pretty reality of our founding."

As a result, Miss Rice told editors and reporters at The Washington Times, "descendants of slaves did not get much of a head start, and I think you continue to see some of the effects of that."

Read the whole story: Washington Times

Comments

[ebbtide]

Rice will be McCain's running mate. I will bet on it.

[asere]

So what, are you scared ?

[ebbtide]

No, not scared. LOL

She will go anywhere and lie or spin anywhere , anytime in order to further her career. I don't believe Condi Rice has a human cell in her body, at this point.. She has been an utter failure in her entire stint within the Bush administration and I think that McCain, seeing as his opponent will be Obama, may take Condi on as his running mate. Get it?

[anghiari]

And who will she bring to the election..­.republica­n women? black republican women and black republican men?...and who else? Condi has no coattails.­..There is no cross over vote for Condi. She has been George Bush in blackface and a skirt. It is so sad that she has been so rigid over the years. I frankly don't think she is jumping on Obama's bandwagaon, I think in a ironic way, his speech spoke to her isolation on so many levels. It was a brilliant speech and we will probably see how it has resonated with people forever.

[Tane]

She claims not - she said she doesn't want to be a politician and that she thought it was time for "new blood." Sounds a bit like she is endorsing Obama to me. Within the same interview she also talked about the importance of diplomacy, even with those we disagree with.

[fignozzle]

she is making an excellent point, which is true.
obama began his speech on race with the fact that the decision was made at the time of the writing of the constitution to NOT deal with slavery.
if they had chosen to deal with it at that time, to abolish slavery in our country, there would be far more black heiresses and heirs.
and a LOT more racial equality.

[Uselessboy]

Clearly her pastor should stop admitting her to services!! Typical Blame America First Republicans.

[GarsLuber]

Uh oh....

Now the Swift Klan for Truth are going to be after Condi AND Barack.

[Semper]

This country has more problems than birth defects. We also have a nation of uninformed, slightly literate people who don't seem to have the capacity to live up to the American hipe. America is suppose to be a beacon of light in the modern world. But many of us feel more comfortible taking the low road on almost anything when it comes to human kindness and honesty. We don't look at the world as an extention of our American family. its always us versus them. We want to compete with everyone, and winning at any cost. And winning means defeating. No there is nothing wrong with our superior attitude. But my definition of winning, is loving, compassion, concern, tenacity, understanding, serving, supporting, inspiring, and just think. I am just an accountant. Hannity, O'neii and Mathews are poor examples of Americas best. I look up to King, Kennedy, Carter, Roosevelt, Marshall, Washington, to name a few. You see its not how much money you have in your bank account that matters, its what you have in you gut, heart and head that counts. And America needs to discuss the issue of race everyday so that we can get it right.

[BlueBoomer]

OK, I've just given kudo's to Loretta for her common sense attitude despite the fact that I cannot actively support Barak Obama or ANY of the candidates (altho' I WILL vote Democratic to keep the AG's office and SCOTUS out of the control of the republican­s.)

BUT, to Condoleeza Rice and Rev.Wright et al, I say: ENOUGH ALREADY.

The African American people were absolutely treated disgracefully in the past... but so were other peoples: Jews by Germans, Armenians by Turks, etc...and in those cases they were SLAUGHTERED.

But as an Armenian, it doesn't mean that I should feel entitled to rape, rob and generally destroy what belongs to Turkish people... the past transgressions are NOT THEIR FAULT, after all...And I don't see a movement among Jewish people to create havoc with people of German decent... The rest of us have gotten PAST the hurts... Of course, we don't have "preachers" feeding and fomenting those old resentments, either.

So, to those who are hell-bent on continuing the "battle", I say ENOUGH... And to the members of the black community who can manage to see the damage that the words of people like Rev. Wright do to the fabric of what should be a civilized society, I say STAND UP AND SAY "ENOUGH"..­.Stop looking backward and look forward... You'll make more progress, faster..We all will.

[Tane]

I suggest reading this article if you can manage to be open minded enough. Rev. Wright utilizes the 5 steps of this theology in order to emotionally rouse his audience to be willing to rise and fight (not physically - he is a pacifist) to improve their lives and their community's.

A Black Theology of Liberation
http://www.wfu.edu/~matthetl/perspectives/twentyseven.html

[S1m0n]

Lets all wait for Fox to accuse her of hate, or treason.

[Star123]

Condi! Forgot all about you. Where have you been? The birth defect to which you refer may in part have allowed you, a Russian specialist, to have an army to attack a middle eastern country. Is this a great country or what?

[MadeinAmericaProud]

No, we are waiting on a welfare check from china for our stimulus packet. We cannot, i repeat cannot be a super power and we broke. In the words of Hillary "Let get real" In the words of Bill "fairy tale"

[ME08]

My, that birth defect allowed you to have your name put on an oil carrier...­isn't that terrible? It gave you the chance to teach at Stanford. It allowed you to become a pianist. And it allowed you to show where you truly are defective: in being one of the champion liars for a criminal enterprise that has ruined a nation and ruined America's standing in the world.

[hoodrat]

Thats called 3 pieces of silver - and you can skew it anyway you want. Personally, would've liked her to step to the Prez., and puppetmaster Cheney, and publicly say "fuck you", you hired me - but you don't own me. Then it would've put light where it belonged, on the idiot dancing on the front porch. Yeah, let her run with McOldwarsneverdie, then HE can also say - look, I got Black friends too. What does her "excelling" in academics/music, have to do with shit?

[suntzu]

I should be the last person to defend Rice whom I hold at least partly responsible for Iraq, but I think the "birth defect" she is talking about is a metaphor for the fact that African-Americans are born with the legacy of slavery that still has residues today, long after the freeing of the slaves, in terms of lingering discrimination. She is saying that the heritage of slavery still affects African-Americans because they are born with it.
Having said that, I think Rice will forever be associated with another defect, which is the stain of having aided and abetted George Bush's march to an illegal war. She has yet to explain that.

[Tane]

It is not African Americans who are born with the defect, but America itself. The birth of the nation included the "original sin" of slavery. A part of the reason that many foreign countries think that we are hypocrites is because of this. We tout our democracy and our country as the moral authority but we have yet to live up to promise that our nation was founded on.

I was listening to a program on c-span the other night where journalists from around the world were talking about our election and they said that they would be shocked if we elected an African American - that they thought we were still too racist of a nation to do that. Let's prove them wrong!

[Nikelaus]

This article awakens in me a conflict I've had for a long time. Condi is so smart. She gets it so well. She understands that, yes, we still have a problem with race in this country. For whatever reason, though, she sticks with the party that's least likely to resolve any of the remaining issues. I think she's a bit disingenuous with the whole "no child left behind works for blacks and whites and that's why I fell in love with w" thing. I think she fell in love with W because he offered her immense power. I just wish she hadn't sold her soul to the devil, because I have immense respect for her outside of her lying and ethical missteps (e.g. Nobody could have anticipated, etc. ad infinitum).

[moderationsmuse]

What a crock. You should have ended your comment with she "is so smart." She is smart enough to make her own brilliant choices. She doesn't have to fit her life to your narrow idea of a black person. Meanwhile, W didn't offer her "immense power." President Bush evidently admired her rather stunning resume. She was Provost at Stanford, you know. And a Soviet expert. And a classical pianist.

[transendentilist]

Too bad she hasn't been right about anything yet. She is the worst Secretary of State in my lifetime. Talk about ineffectual!

[Lostskeleton]

Look, I am a critic of this administration but Dr. Rice had some valid points on race and the olympic boycott. She was talking about the fact that both African-Americans and whites had a part inthe founding of this country. I strongly disagree with her politics but I appreciate the points she raised. If anyone can talk about these issues in the conservative community, it would be Dr. Rice. I am still voting Democrat, by the way.

[cowman]

Uh, this is a metaphor, right?

[research]

Why isn't the Don Siegelman story front page?

He has been released from prison pending an appeal, due to indications that the conviction may have been politically driven by Rove!

This is big news!

[DrSithMirth]

I honestly cannot believe that Condi said something, anything, that supports the social stratification argument as opposed to the "if-you-wo­rk-hard-yo­u-will-suc­ceed-and-B­lack-Peopl­e-don't-wo­rk-hard" argument.. I mean, really! She has spent at least 8 years of her life contributing to the *maintenance* of that stratification, trying to divorce herself from the group with less power by marrying (or at least having an affair with ;-)...) the wealthy/powerful and their power-maintenance interests. I wrote her off a LONG time ago. So what's all this about then?

Man, she better stay away from that dude in the white house, man, he might try to give her a spanking tonight!

[StillAmused]

Speaking of birth defects...

Nahh, just let this one slide.

[ylpatriot]

(sigh) have we noticed everything is not about racism ...???? get ready America we will be drowned in this rhetoric not for some time to come ..... tsk tsk tsk ... time to move on ... work for what you want make something of yourself..­. quit your waaaaaa waaaaaa waaaaa

[lindaqqq]

care for a piece of gum anyone?
I know where i'm hiding when the mushroom cloud hits