CONDI RICE CRAPS OUT

Meanwhile, as Her Maj cleans ups with her winning soap raffle, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice gets the thumbs down from Il Papa. Seems our woman in DC asked for an audience with Pope Benedict (Latin Mass) XVI about Middle East foreign policy. However, His Holiness was taking a vacation at the Residenza Papale at Castel Gandolfo. The Vatican has been at odds with the Bush Administration over America's foreign policy by condemning the violence in the Middle East.

The official word from the Holy See was that the Pope never sees diplomatic officials during his vacation. Condi won the booby prize of speaking to the Vatican's number two official, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

Now, it should have been obvious to Ms. Rice that the Pope was en vacances, and did not want to be disturbed. But just like her boss, George Bush, Condi had to be a pushy American about the situation. The rebuff from the Vatican should be taken as a very strong hint, not only about m-a-n-n-e-r-s but also p-o-l-i-c-y. You have to spell it out for the Bushites.

Of course, Condi did not take the heave-ho from the His Holiness as a message (from God? from the Acme Sign Company?). She got a cold shoulder from the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, with both refusing to speak directly to each other at a United Nations shindig about a small incident involving private American military contractors killing eight Iraqi citizens. One would think, by now, Ms. Rice would have a clue that she is not representative of America's best interests. A graceful bow to the world stage would be the best career move for the current Secretary of State.


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