It aggravates me to no end when I see Democrats engaging in open conflict over a matter that direly requires the party to hold the line. In this case, it's with the nomination of Condoleezza Rice for the position of secretary of state. According to this article, Dianne Feinstein
enthusiastically supports Rice for the position:
By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The two high-profile Democrats who represent California in the Senate are squaring off over Condoleezza Rice, the president's nominee to be secretary of state.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the senior and more moderate of the two, supports Rice and plans to introduce her at her confirmation hearing Tuesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
That's where Sen. Barbara Boxer, a member of the committee, will be waiting to grill Rice over the war in Iraq. Boxer maintains that Rice misled the public over the war.
It's nice to see Boxer being so willing to stand up and be a voice for the Democratic Party. What's not helpful is to have politicians like Dianne Feinstein be eager to be Bush's lapdog.
Another excerpt from the story:
Feinstein accepted Rice's invitation to introduce her to the committee, and praised her in a statement Friday as "the natural choice to be our country's next secretary of state."
Boxer gave a hint Friday on how she is expected to greet Rice at the Tuesday hearing.
"I personally believe that your loyalty to the mission you were given overwhelmed your respect for the truth," Boxer plans to tell Rice, according to prepared remarks she released Friday.
Yeah, Rice is the natural choice...to get fired for her failures relating to 9/11, that is. And yet, Feinstein calls her the 'natural choice'. No one will ever take us seriously when we have leading politicians from our party, such as Dianne Feinstein, make statements worthy of Bush administration officials. We need more people like Barbara Boxer and Howard Dean willing to speak out against this administration. And when it comes to the votes, we need our leaders to hold the party line. The Democratic Party is in serious trouble, and it will continue to sink further down unless we don't evict those from the party who don't get with the program, starting now.