Rice’s Waning Influence: Networks Reject Secretary Of State As Sunday Show Guest
Rice’s Waning Influence: Networks Reject Secretary Of State As Sunday Show Guest
Over the past two years, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been on the Sunday talk shows 30 times, making her the most second frequent guest after Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE).
But that may be changing. In his Washington Post column, Howard Kurtz reveals that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is no longer a “prize catch” for the Sunday talk shows. She was recently turned down by both CBS and NBC:
The secretary of state has always been considered a prize catch for the Sunday talk shows. But when the White House offered Condoleezza Rice for appearances eight days ago, after a week focused on Iraq, two programs took the unusual step of turning her down.
Executives at CBS and NBC say Rice no longer seems to be a key player on the war and that her cautious style makes her a frustrating guest.
“I expected we’d just get a repetition of the administration’s talking points, which had already been well circulated,” says Bob Schieffer, host of CBS’s “Face the Nation,” who questioned two senators instead. “We’d had a whole week of that with General Petraeus and President Bush.”
Television media aren’t the only ones uninterested in Rice. A few months ago, every single major newspaper turned it down an op-ed by Rice on Lebanon. Price Floyd, formerly the State Department’s director of media affairs, recounted that the piece was filled glowing references to President Bush’s wise leadership and “read like a campaign document.”
Recent reports indicate that Rice’s influence within the White House is also waning, giving way to the more extreme policies of Cheney and his allies. A Newsweek article in June found that Cheney’s national-security team had “been actively challenging Rice’s Iran strategy in recent months.” In April, Rice advocated that five members of the Iran Revolutionary Guard be freed from captivity, but she was overruled after Cheney “made the firmest case for keeping them.”
These reports contrast when Rice first became Secretary of State. The media gushingly predicted she would succeed because she and Bush “know each other so well they have conversations based on body language” and speculated that she may even run for president in 2008.
This past Sunday, none of the five network talk shows turned down Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), who appeared on ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, and Fox.
Sort Comments By: Top Rated | Date
58 Responses to “Rice’s Waning Influence: Networks Reject Secretary Of State As Sunday Show Guest”
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
it’s because she broke up with Jack Donaghy
September 24th, 2007 at 4:22 pmOther than expertise with a shoe-buying fetish, what credibility does Condi have?
September 24th, 2007 at 4:22 pmmmmm…no more Ice Cream Sundays…
September 24th, 2007 at 4:23 pmAnd the Pope doesn’t wanna see her either! Persona non grata.
September 24th, 2007 at 4:23 pmLast week she made it to the headline segment of the grocery-store tabloids after being caught out on a “date” with Dumbya. What else has she done in terms of credible anything??
September 24th, 2007 at 4:23 pmJust like her partner in crime, Chimpy, Rice has become totally toxic.
September 24th, 2007 at 4:24 pmPssst, Amanda. You need to proofread this.
September 24th, 2007 at 4:25 pmPersonally, I have always felt that Rice was in over her head, but compared to the bellicose boy-king, she might prove to be a leveling influence. Wrong.
September 24th, 2007 at 4:28 pmShe has been marginalized by the Cheney cabal and whatever influence she had with Bush is losing steam quickly - the new dynamic is more frightening. Cheney is a lying and conniving schemer who - I don’t believe - has the best interest of the country at heart — I think he is interested in his own best interests. I don’t trust him, in fact I am suspicious of his every word and deed. Yet, he seems to be claiming even more power and influence which I think is exactly the wrong direction.
Bush needs reining in, Rice can’t do it - Cheney encourages him and in fact simultaneously goes on his own parallel path — it all bodes ill for us.
Poor, poor Condi — can’t even get a date on Sunday morning TV…
Perhaps she should try asking Iranian President Ahmadinnerjacket out sometime — I hear he’s got VERY interesting views on things close to Condi’s heart…
September 24th, 2007 at 4:28 pmDissed by the Pope … Bushco, sinking to new lows every day.
September 24th, 2007 at 4:30 pmI’m no televisions executive but I know Condi hasn’t said one thing of significance on any of these shows.
September 24th, 2007 at 4:31 pmGotta really hurt when you wake up and realize that being used as a double-down; a woman who is Black, to show everyone how “open” BushCo is to minorities, only buys you so many shoes and gets you NO street cred with anyone that matters.
Where will you go teach, Condi? Maybe doesn’t matter, as long as it is close to a Needless Markup store, right?
September 24th, 2007 at 4:32 pmCondi, meet Colin Powell.
Colin, Condoleeza Rice.
You guys really thought they respected you?
September 24th, 2007 at 4:32 pmPoor Condi is passe. I guess the non-stop “Bush is my hero” finally got old.
September 24th, 2007 at 4:32 pmHet they named an oil tanker after her ,how bad can she be ?
September 24th, 2007 at 4:33 pmTP: Please do a better job of editing your pieces; this one is an embarrassment of errors that could have been caught by simply reading through carefully, once, before posting it before the world…
September 24th, 2007 at 4:33 pmIt was only a couple of years ago that people were thinking “Condi 2008.” She pretty much shot that chance down with association, for the better.
September 24th, 2007 at 4:37 pmNow Girlfriday can go back to filing her nails. The Networks have no use for Condi. She will be yesterday’s news.
September 24th, 2007 at 4:40 pmI wonder what her plans will be post-bush; she’s done the academic thing, at Stanford, and now that rummy is there (Hoover Institution), she no doubt won’t want to go back.
Somehow, I doubt academia will hold much interest for her. And there would no doubt be howling protests at any institution of any legitimate quality where she would want to go.
I’m sure the Carlyle Group would welcome her with open arms, and she could make some serious coin and still be as hated by the rest of the world as she is now.
My fear, though, is that she actually somehow finagles her “dream job” of NFL commissioner and succeeds in wrecking yet another American institution.
September 24th, 2007 at 4:42 pmWhat a surprise Condi isn’t taken seriously around the world, who would have thunk it?
September 24th, 2007 at 4:42 pmDon’t worry Condi, at least you can’t get any LESS significant than you are now. Nowhere to fall. Cheer up, girlfriend.
September 24th, 2007 at 4:44 pmYou mean we won’t get to hear anymore, her dire warnings about “smoking guns in the form of mushroom clouds”?
September 24th, 2007 at 4:45 pmI have a feeling Condi may be resigning soon, even the Pope didn’t meet with her.
September 24th, 2007 at 4:46 pmCondi was used and abused by the Bush Cabal - just like everyone else. She was their token female black and her job description was to be present in name only.
September 24th, 2007 at 4:50 pmThe lasting image of Condi will be her Howdy-Doody grin (complete with freckles) as she pimped for her bedfellow and spread his fear agenda of mushroom clouds.
September 24th, 2007 at 4:51 pmso she’s gone from having no influence to having what?
if you’re already at zero, I don’t think you can “wane”
September 24th, 2007 at 4:52 pmI’m no televisions executive but I know Condi hasn’t said one thing of significance on any of these shows.
Comment by Shayne
But that doesnt get you out of TV. Just look at Kryston, Kouric and Beck.
September 24th, 2007 at 4:59 pmKryston s/b Krystol…
Chinese food, greasy fingers… :)
September 24th, 2007 at 5:00 pmHey, at least she can still picnic with the Freepers.
It’s getting late in the term, but I don’t think she’ll last much longer. She’s been marginalized by the administration and she knows it. Maybe, like the number two at Homeland Security and Tony Snow, she’ll leave for financial reasons.
September 24th, 2007 at 5:00 pmWatching Condi Rice on FTN was the most frustrating thing in the world. My husband had to buy me foam balls to throw at the TV every time she was on ’cause I’d always end up screaming, “Just answer the damn question.” I don’t think I ever heard her give a straight answer to any of Bob’s questions. Or anyone else’s for that matter.
September 24th, 2007 at 5:04 pmScreaming and throwing things at the TV whenever Condi comes on? hmm?
September 24th, 2007 at 5:07 pmSounds like an idea. Maybe I’ll try it. Did it help?
Hey, Condi, this must hurt worse than
September 24th, 2007 at 5:10 pma pair of undersized jackboots, huh?!
SHOE shopping is more important to this witch….. NOW - Everyone has told her - OK!! See ya!
September 24th, 2007 at 5:14 pmMaybe they’ll let her on American Idle, or Dancing with the Czars
September 24th, 2007 at 5:17 pmWhy stop with Rice? Time to start rejecting the entire Bush crime family.
September 24th, 2007 at 5:26 pmNope, no credibility under this table, maybe over here.
Nope, not a shred of credibility left for the SOS.
Sorry, Ms Rice, your talkingpoints, er, viewpoints, er, shilling…Oh whatever, nobodys buying anymore.
September 24th, 2007 at 5:26 pmWhy do you keep trying to sell?
I’d like to see her on dancing with the stars…
Special Edition From Alpha Centauri
September 24th, 2007 at 5:27 pmIsn’t Rice the one who stood by with glee while Israeli was bombing their neigbor Lebanon to smithereens. She is just as twisted and sick-in-the-head as any of those zionist freaks over there.
September 24th, 2007 at 5:34 pmI would settle for Mars, as long as she took her husband, I mean Bush with her.
September 24th, 2007 at 5:34 pmPoor poor pitiful Condi, nobody has time for Conda-liar Rice… even the Pope ‘dissed her!
Exactly what is it she has accomplished?
Clearly she is nothing more than a Bush cheerleader, and a liar.
September 24th, 2007 at 5:39 pmShe can be on the cast of “Survivor: Baghdad”
September 24th, 2007 at 5:40 pmJust one more crony! I could not see what everyone was so impressed about when she first came into this administration as the National Security Adviser.
September 24th, 2007 at 5:54 pmI’ve just read every comment to date and am struck by the fact that no one is defending this sham of a Secretary of State. She doesn’t deserve to be defended.
Did you know that Madeleine Albright’s father was her professorial mentor? He must be turning in his grave. Poor Madeleine, whom I respect and like immensely, must be horrified at the deadly irony.
September 24th, 2007 at 5:54 pmI don’t think anyone ever took her seriously. Her impact on the world and the policies of the Bush administration has been zero/zilch/zippo - well, except for those dominatrix boots.
*eyeroll*
September 24th, 2007 at 6:03 pmEven Bush can’t refrain from dissing poor Condi. Last week, while she was negotiating an Arab-Israeli peace conference, Bush gave her this rousing vote of confidence:
Aren’t we lucky.
September 24th, 2007 at 6:17 pm*
Rice’s influence within the White House is also waning, giving way to the more extreme policies of Cheney and his allies…
condi - if it’s the last thing you do, girl,
STOP GIVING IT AWAY.
HELP SAVE YOUR COUNTRY.
(talkin’ to a brick wall?)
September 24th, 2007 at 6:37 pm.
Since when has “Face the Nation” or any other mainstream media gabfest been averse to “a repetition of the administration’s talking points?”
The MSM’s posture during The Reign of Bubble Boy has been to embrace and promote The Idiot King’s talking points. If Mr. Schieffer, for whatever reason, didn’t want to hear them again this past Sunday, pardon me if I do not applaud his bold gesture. He could have invited Condie on to deliver her talking points for the purpose of refuting each and every one of them.
Of course, I could go searching for leprechauns and unicorns, too.
September 24th, 2007 at 7:40 pmJust keep in mind the old Peter Principle, the one which states,
September 24th, 2007 at 7:51 pmEveryone is promoted to his(her) highest level of inefficiency. And, personally, I take much comfort from, “What goes around come around!”
Condolezza vs. cheney? She should use her spending account and hit NY for the shoe fair. She got dicked.
September 24th, 2007 at 7:55 pmExecutives at CBS and NBC say Rice no longer seems to be a key player on the war and that her cautious style makes her a frustrating guest.
And she lies a lot.
September 24th, 2007 at 8:07 pmCan anybody name ONE person who will come away from Bush and this administration with his/her reputation in tact?
September 24th, 2007 at 10:13 pmEven our country has lost its reputation in the eyes of the world.
It sure took them long enough, I dropped her years ago. To call her incompetent would be redundant!
September 25th, 2007 at 12:27 amRice for president ‘08 - Because sometimes the biggest whitey is a black woman…
September 25th, 2007 at 7:04 amPoor Condi- once was BUSHY’s main entree’;
Now, ……..ONLY a CONDI-MINT!
could not resist……
Condi meet a real Black leader: Roland Martin, Tavis Smiley, Barack Obama,
September 25th, 2007 at 9:49 amthe ‘Little Rock Nine’ of 1957, Gwen Ifil….
Shoo, Condi…
September 25th, 2007 at 11:03 am15 - Freeman - yep, they did, but now, they have RE-RENAMED it:
http://sfgate.com/ cgi-bin/ article.cgi?file=/ c/ a/ 2001/ 05/ 05/ MN223743.DTL&type=printable
Heheheh! Poor widdle Condi.
Not.
September 25th, 2007 at 2:54 pmTTTT
October 1st, 2007 at 9:36 pmMaybe, like the number two at Homeland Security and Tony Snow, she’ll leave for financial reasons.
Comment by Candyce — September 24, 2007 @ 5:00 pm
hehe
Lets hope she leaves for tony snow reasons.
Wow… you sir are an asshat!!
October 1st, 2007 at 9:37 pm