When Rice spluttered her petulant denial

When Rice spluttered her petulant denial, for the first time a note of whininess crept into her voice:

“Senator, I have to say that I have never,ever lost respect for the truth in the service of anything. It is not my nature. It is not my character. And I would hope that we can have this conversation and discuss what happened before and what went on before and what I said without impugning my credibility or my integrity.”

As with any skilled liar, it is necessary to look at Rice’s exact wording to get the gist of what she’s really saying. Given that, one notices at once the odd formulation: after all, isn’t it possible to respect the truth without necessarily telling the truth? It is like having great respect for, say, the Roman Catholic Church, without actually becoming a priest, or even a practicing Catholic. Every liar respects the truth in the sense that he or she fears it greatly. One can also have great respect for one’s enemies, without going over to their side.

As for Dr. Rice’s credibility, she impugned it herself — as Boxer showed to devastating effect in simply quoting her own contradictory statements back to her.

The undoubtedly partisan cast of these hearings is beside the point: I would only note that not one Republican came to Condi’s rescue. What’s important is that somebody is finally speaking up. That it happens to be Barbara Boxer, a politician with whom I agree on little else, is also beside the point.