Bush Flunkey Rice Approved by U.S. Senate as Secretary of State

The U.S. Senate confirmed President George W. Bush's choice of Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state after Democrats used the nomination to condemn Bush's pursuit of the war in Iraq. The Senate voted 85-13 in favor of Rice after more than 10 hours of debate over two days, allowing her to succeed Colin Powell. The dissenting votes came from 12 Democrats and independent James Jeffords of Vermont. It was the second-highest vote count ever against a nominee for secretary of state, a Senate historian said. Rice, 50, becomes the first black woman to hold the office of U.S. secretary of state. Powell was the first African-American to hold the job. Madeleine Albright, who served right before him under Democratic President Bill Clinton, was the first woman. "It's a proud moment for this Senate and indeed for the American people,'' said Senate Republican leader Bill Frist of Tennessee. ``I'm disappointed that Dr. Rice's nomination was caught in the maw of partisan politics,'' Frist said. ``Dr. Rice's obvious qualifications were never, ever in doubt.'' [more]

13 Voted Against the Nomination
Akaka (D-HI)
Bayh (D-IN)
Boxer (D-CA)
Byrd (D-WV)
Dayton (D-MN)
Durbin (D-IL)
Harkin (D-IA)
Jeffords (I-VT)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Levin (D-MI)
Reed (D-RI)
A group of Senate Democrats opposing the nomination of Condoleezza Rice as U.S. secretary of state on Tuesday accused her of deceiving Congress and called her an architect of blunders in the Iraq war. Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy called Rice "a key member of the national security team that developed and justified the rationale for war, and it's been a catastrophic failure, a continuing quagmire." Sen. Mark Dayton of Minnesota said Rice "misled the people of Minnesota and Americans everywhere about the situation in Iraq, before and after that war began." He added: "I really don't like being lied to repeatedly, flagrantly, intentionally." [more]