About Tuesday's Senate debate on Condoleezza Rice

01/24/2005

Last week, more than 70,000 concerned citizens came together to sign my petition and demand the truth from Condoleezza Rice.  That support emboldened me during Dr. Rice's confirmation hearings to ask the tough questions that Americans deserve to have answered.

Perhaps even more importantly, the groundswell of support forced the Republican Senate leadership to give us what we wanted -- not a rubber stamp of Dr. Rice's nomination by voice vote last Thursday before the Republicans dashed off to Inaugural parties, but nine full hours of debate on the floor of the United States Senate.

Thanks to that kind of grassroots support, our voices are being heard -- in the halls of Congress, in the White House, and across the country. 

So today I ask you to join me:  Sign my petition to hold Condoleezza Rice accountable, so that when I stand up on the Senate floor Tuesday and Wednesday, I'm speaking with your voice and the voices of tens of thousands of other Americans behind me.

White House Chief of Staff Andy Card has attacked me as "small" for seeking the truth.  But I won't allow this Administration to try to sweep the facts about our failures in Iraq and the war on terrorism under the rug.  I'm taking the "advice and consent" role, granted to the Senate in the U.S. Constitution, seriously.

During the full Senate debate over Condoleezza Rice's nomination tomorrow, I intend to take the floor, joined by many other of my Democratic colleagues, to express my frustration about Dr. Rice's lack of candor during the confirmation hearings -- her unwillingness to level with the American people about the misleading statements she made about aluminum tubes, mushroom clouds, and connections between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda to try to justify the war in Iraq. 

Condoleezza Rice refused to come clean about the actual number of trained Iraqi forces on the ground.  And perhaps even more disturbingly, she refused to tell us why she personally intervened to kill an anti-torture provision in a recent intelligence bill.

I refuse to let these misstatements, misjudgments, and poor decisions go unanswered.  

I can't thank you enough for everything you've done to support me during my time in public life.  Now, in these final 48 hours before the vote on Dr. Rice's nomination, I ask for your help once more.  Join me as we continue to fight for what's right -- because the process of democracy is as important as the outcome.