The Senate Democrats are holding up the confirmation of Condoleezza Rice

The Senate Democrats are holding up the confirmation of Condoleezza Rice: no, nix that — Senator Robert Byrd is holding up the confirmation vote until Thursday on the magnificently combative grounds, as explained by the Senator’s spokesman, that

“Senator Byrd and others believe that the Senate’s advice-and-consent Constitutional responsibilities are not a rubber stamp.”

This is a slap in the face to one of the core principles of red-state fascism: unanimity. The lies that sustain this regime — the lies that led us into war, and are leading us into another — are so fragile that a loud defiant voice could shatter them. That’s why the neocons defame all dissenters as “anti-American.”

Speaking of loud dissent, Senator Barbara Boxer made me proud to be a Californian when she pretty much called Condi a liar at the Senate hearing:

“And I personally believe — this is my personal view — that your loyalty to the mission you were given, to sell this war, overwhelmed your respect for the truth. And I don’t say it lightly, and I’m going to go into the documents that show your statements and the facts at the time.”