John Kerry

this is not surprising and this may well be a logical choice for them, as they may not like Kerry's attempts to talk with people who do not like us and favor Rice's tougher approach. All these leaks have had only one role, shape the discussion so that Ambassador Rice looks like the unavoidable choice and the choice of Obama. Very little else has transpired.

There are so many camps in this story that we probably would need a decoder to follow, but basically, DU has been taken, like most places by the defense of ambassador (OOPS, not Secretary) Rice against these ludicrous attacks. Any serious discussion of policies has disappeared behind that. For most people, it would seem unseemly. However, if you follow threads that stop talking about that to start focusing on policy, she is not exactly a favorite from the "left" on DU (look at the threads about her statement concerning the Palestinian proposition).

Depending of what the right wanted, they have magisterially maneuvered (if their goal was to avoid Kerry) or their maneuvers have totally backfired (in the event they wanted Kerry, which is hard for me to believe as it would be a stronger voice for peace to support the Vice President). So, who knows.

This said, the point is still the same. We are not gaining anything by letting this drag, so I would hope that next week will tell us what the choice is.