I always thought Condi was dating Gene Upshaw (RIP)
This piece is going throughout the Internet. According to Ianundercover.com, a website by investigative journalist Ian Halperin, Sen. John McCain passed up Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as his running mate - a job for which Secretary Rice was reportedly seeking behind the scenes while publicly stating that she had no interest in it - because of questions surrounding her sexual orientation (hat tip: Sandra Rose). "But ianundercover.com has learned that Palin was not in fact the first female on McCain’s VP shortlist. According to a prominent member of the Republican National Committee privy to the search process, many in McCain’s inner circle argued furiously for the selection of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice over the other top contenders, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Tim Pawlenty. 'Once Obama selected Biden instead of Hillary,' said the source, 'they had this theory that Condi was the perfect candidate to put up against him. She’s tough, conservative and a hawk, not to mention a football fanatic, which would be more than enough for white men. They never expected traditionally Democratic Blacks and women to vote for her in large numbers, but argued that if she could just sway 5-10% of Blacks and 10% of women to defect, it could be enough to tilt the election towards McCain in a number of crucial swing states. At this point, Palin still wasn’t on anybody’s radar screen.'"
So what went wrong? "'It was the persistent rumors about her sexuality that ultimately killed her chances and removed her from the list,' says the mid-level RNC official. 'In Washington circles, it’s just assumed Rice is gay and nobody really cares. But in the glare of the media spotlight, those rumors were bound to get magnified a thousandfold and the mainstream media would have had an excuse to reveal the facts that would have caused conniption fits among the Republican base.' The facts he’s referring to go back to her pre-Washington days when Rice was Provost of Stanford University. According to her biographer, Washington Post diplomatic correspondent Glenn Kessler, the never married Rice shares ownership of a house as well as a line of credit with a female documentary filmmaker, a liberal Democrat named Randy Bean. Digging through real estate records, Kessler discovered the pair’s co-ownership of a property in Palo Alto, California as well as a joint line of credit with a bank, an arrangement Bean has explained unconvincingly as relating to medical bills that left her financially drained."
“Whether or not her relationship with Bean means Condi is light in the loafers is not the point,” added the RNC source. “It’s hard to prove one way or another. The fact is that by the time the media finished dissecting it, not a Christian conservative in the country would have gone to the polls in November and that’s ultimately what nixed the Rice candidacy.” The VP shortlist was given to the RNC for their input and it was the RNC that rejected Secretary Rice as “unelectable.”
My response: It should be pointed out that Secretary Rice, Ms. Bean (who has been friends with Secretary Rice for 25 years), and mutual friend Coit Blacker, originally co-owned the home but Mr. Blacker eventually sold his share. However, if this story regarding the McCain campaign's decision to X her is true, the issue would be not Secretary Rice's for sexuality but her poor taste. She is one of the world's most powerful women, rich, and could easily bang beauties half her age, and yet a mousy-looking Plain Jane is the best that she can do?! SMH. However, it should be pointed out that there are two other reasons why Sen. McCain may have passed on Secretary Rice: (1) she is obviously linked to the Bush administration, from which he seeks to distance himself; and (2) is pro-choice on abortion and on gay rights, which would not fly with the GOP base.
This piece is going throughout the Internet. According to Ianundercover.com, a website by investigative journalist Ian Halperin, Sen. John McCain passed up Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as his running mate - a job for which Secretary Rice was reportedly seeking behind the scenes while publicly stating that she had no interest in it - because of questions surrounding her sexual orientation (hat tip: Sandra Rose). "But ianundercover.com has learned that Palin was not in fact the first female on McCain’s VP shortlist. According to a prominent member of the Republican National Committee privy to the search process, many in McCain’s inner circle argued furiously for the selection of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice over the other top contenders, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Tim Pawlenty. 'Once Obama selected Biden instead of Hillary,' said the source, 'they had this theory that Condi was the perfect candidate to put up against him. She’s tough, conservative and a hawk, not to mention a football fanatic, which would be more than enough for white men. They never expected traditionally Democratic Blacks and women to vote for her in large numbers, but argued that if she could just sway 5-10% of Blacks and 10% of women to defect, it could be enough to tilt the election towards McCain in a number of crucial swing states. At this point, Palin still wasn’t on anybody’s radar screen.'"
So what went wrong? "'It was the persistent rumors about her sexuality that ultimately killed her chances and removed her from the list,' says the mid-level RNC official. 'In Washington circles, it’s just assumed Rice is gay and nobody really cares. But in the glare of the media spotlight, those rumors were bound to get magnified a thousandfold and the mainstream media would have had an excuse to reveal the facts that would have caused conniption fits among the Republican base.' The facts he’s referring to go back to her pre-Washington days when Rice was Provost of Stanford University. According to her biographer, Washington Post diplomatic correspondent Glenn Kessler, the never married Rice shares ownership of a house as well as a line of credit with a female documentary filmmaker, a liberal Democrat named Randy Bean. Digging through real estate records, Kessler discovered the pair’s co-ownership of a property in Palo Alto, California as well as a joint line of credit with a bank, an arrangement Bean has explained unconvincingly as relating to medical bills that left her financially drained."
“Whether or not her relationship with Bean means Condi is light in the loafers is not the point,” added the RNC source. “It’s hard to prove one way or another. The fact is that by the time the media finished dissecting it, not a Christian conservative in the country would have gone to the polls in November and that’s ultimately what nixed the Rice candidacy.” The VP shortlist was given to the RNC for their input and it was the RNC that rejected Secretary Rice as “unelectable.”
My response: It should be pointed out that Secretary Rice, Ms. Bean (who has been friends with Secretary Rice for 25 years), and mutual friend Coit Blacker, originally co-owned the home but Mr. Blacker eventually sold his share. However, if this story regarding the McCain campaign's decision to X her is true, the issue would be not Secretary Rice's for sexuality but her poor taste. She is one of the world's most powerful women, rich, and could easily bang beauties half her age, and yet a mousy-looking Plain Jane is the best that she can do?! SMH. However, it should be pointed out that there are two other reasons why Sen. McCain may have passed on Secretary Rice: (1) she is obviously linked to the Bush administration, from which he seeks to distance himself; and (2) is pro-choice on abortion and on gay rights, which would not fly with the GOP base.
