Condi and the mysterious "we"...

[judy]

Did you all notice that she uses "we" constantly instead of "I"?
Who is being confirmed here? Is it her, or a group of unknown people that she refers to as "we"?
First I thought she was referring to her husb..I mean the pResident and herself. But then, she'll say things like "we" said to the pResident yadi yada...

Just like her refusal to express a personal opinion about torture, akin to the attitude of Gonzales, indicates that "we" is a way to toe the line without admitting that a confirmation hearing is supposed to supply information about the PERSON, not about the Administration, or any group of people.

What I got from the torture answers, is this:
1 - The pResident can decide who is unlawful and who is not
2 - Once people are declared unlawful, they are outside Geneva
3 - Our troops are never outside Geneva, because they are us!
4 - Abu Ghraib is an isolated incident even though 1, 2 and 3 seem to say that torture is OK at the pResident's discretion.
5 - Guantanamo Bay was not mentioned.

It makes no sense whatsoever!

[riverwalker]

1. We: my husb....and I

For the New DU'rs:


http://nymetro.com/nymetro/news/people/columns/intelligencer/n_10245/

Political Conversation: Condi’s Slip
A pressing issue of dinner-party etiquette is vexing Washington, according to a story now making the D.C. rounds: How should you react when your guest, in this case national-security adviser Condoleezza Rice, makes a poignant faux pas? At a recent dinner party hosted by New York Times D.C. bureau chief Philip Taubman and his wife, Times reporter Felicity Barringer, and attended by Arthur Sulzberger Jr., Maureen Dowd, Steven Weisman, and Elisabeth Bumiller, Rice was reportedly overheard saying, “As I was telling my husb—” and then stopping herself abruptly, before saying, “As I was telling President Bush.” Jaws dropped, but a guest says the slip by the unmarried politician, who spends weekends with the president and his wife, seemed more psychologically telling than incriminating. Nobody thinks Bush and Rice are actually an item. A National Security Council spokesman laughed and said, “No comment.”

[Cleita]

2. The royal "we" like the Queen of England uses?

When Maggie Thatcher started using the royal "we", it was said the Queen was annoyed. It's kind of a privilege for the Queen alone to use, like saying, "We are not amused".

Perhaps we do have a King George after all.

[Malva Zebrina]

3. Yes, this is a woman whotakes refuge in the crowd

She has perfected the speak--and is why she got where she is, but continually refers to "we" or "our" as if she were Scott McClellan and not the National Security Advisor being confirmed for the serious job of the SOS position

I noticed it right away,. She knows how to speak the babble,is well practiced in it, and is quite skilled at it---it is a learned babble and it is rote.

She does not have confidence in herself and it shows, and really probably knows little at all if it were not for the "we" shelter to which she constantly retreats.

She is spouting the talk she has learned over time, which gives her the appearance of a well grounded, well informed woman who is in control. Obviously the "we" are controlling her.

[Cleita]

5. Babble is a good word for it.

I always thought that no matter what she saya, she really says nothing tangible. It is just babble.

[Spinzonner]

4. More like the "Bureaucratic We"

And id we can declare people outside of the Geneva Cnvention, then so can anyone else.

Except for the fact that George is annointed by God.

[vixengrl]

6. Sometimes, in a position of responsibility, a person *has* to

speak for herself. If she can't frankly say something like, "Mr. President, I think this is completely wrong and I wouldn't be doing my job if I let you....(insert dumb but probably inevitable Bush decision)" then she doesn't belong there, because that's what she is supposed to do--advise. Even if it means disagreeing with a bunch of people, so long as it means doing things morally, legally right.