Playing the "dum-dum" card

It was Rice's job to counter these impressions, and to explain what Bush had meant when, in response to a question during the debate, he was asked what action the U.S. should take if, as was a possibility at the time, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic refused to accept the election of his rival, Vojislav Kostunica, and leave office.

"This would be an interesting moments for the Russians to step up and lead as well," Bush said, according to transcrips. "It would be a wonderful time for the president of Russia to step into the Balkans and convince Mr. Milosevic it's in his best interest and his country's best interest to leave office. The Russians have got a lot of sway in that part of the world and we'd like to see them use that sway to encourage democracy to take hold."

Rice said that Bush was merely arguing that Russian president Vladimir Putin needed to try to convince Milosevic that it was time to go.

But at the time, Putin, unlike dozens of world leaders, hadn't even accepted that Kostunica had won. "Now I understand what the governor has said about asking the Russians to be involved and under some circumstances that might be a good idea," Gore said. "But being as they have not yet been willing to recognize Kostunica as the lawful winner of the election, I'm not sure that it's right for us to invite the president of Russia to mediate this dispute there because we might not like the result that comes out of that. They currently favor going forward with a runoff election. I think that's the wrong thing."

Rice says Gore "misrepresented" Bush's position, since Bush had not actually called for Russia to mediate. "Clearly he did not mean that Putin should mediate this conflict," Rice clarified. "He knew that the Russians were not at that point in time in agreement."

But that's not what Bush seemed to indicate in his offended reply to Gore's dismissal of his suggestion. "Well, obviously we wouldn't use the Russians if they didn't agree with our answer, Mr. Vice President," Bush said.

Gore responded with cold condescension: "Well, they don't."

Rice didn't just argue that Bush's comments were actually, in retrospect, right. (Which, it should be noted, she didn't do until three days after the debate, and one day after Putin finally accepted Kostunica's election.) Rice took it one step further. She tried to tar Gore as sinister.

Since President Clinton, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and U.S. national security advisor Sandy Berger had been working behind the scenes to lobby Putin, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and national security advisor Sergei Ivanov to join the rest of the world in backing Kostunica's election, Rice said that Gore was dissing Bush's idea -- even while his own administration was in the midst of carrying it out.

"Either he didn't know that the administration was heavily involved in working with the Russians," Rice concluded, "or he deliberately said something for political purposes to mock Governor Bush when he knew that Governor Bush was right." Rice's logic: Either Gore was out of the loop, or just a liar.

Rice's word choice when discussing when she complained about Gore's action -- "mock" - seemed instructive. One mocks someone one feels is inferior. Which Bush seemed to be, which is the real issue here, after all, isn't it? The overall problem is that Bush seemed clearly in over his head only a few minutes into a discussion of a very significant current event.

If Bush wasn't proposing that Putin mediate between Milosevic and Kostunica, Bush could have corrected Gore's assessment of his remarks.

Like, perhaps, by saying, "I was by no means suggesting that Putin mediate, Mr. Gore, I was saying that they need to lean on Milosevic to show that they indeed support democracy as they say they do."

Bush could have said that -- he could have corrected Gore -- but he didn't.

Rice said that the format hadn't allowed for it, since the answer period for that subject was almost over. But instead, Bush added to the fire by saying that "obviously we wouldn't use the Russians if they didn't agree with our answer."

Since at the time, the Russians didn't seem to agree with "our answer," Bush's second statement revealed an even deeper lack of understanding than did his earlier statement.

Rice also said she was offended that Gore had said that "the governor's instinct is not necessarily bad because we have worked with the Russians in a constructive way in Kosovo, for example."

"Saying 'the governor's instinct is not necessarily bad' is something of a putdown," she said. "It's a more clever way of trying to challenge the governor's experience."

Reporter after reporter read the transcript of the exchange back to Rice to see where exactly Gore had offended her so. "You really have to go back into Tuesday night and watch this rather than read the transcript," Rice said.

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