• That’s twice in one day, Tyra. []

• Lupe Fiasco continues to “Dumb It Down.” []

• So the marketing people just want this album to fail? [C&D]

• Melyssa Ford celebrates her birthday, another chance to wear something skin-tight. [CL]

• Condoleezza Rice says, “Ask not what your country can do for you…” [CNN]

Condoleezza Rice, being inarguably black and arguably gay, has really sold a part of her soul to become part of the Bush administration. But really, you can say the same about all of them, even the whitest and straightest. Still, her highly suspicious best friend/roommate situation aside, she won’t be pulling a Larry Craig any time soon. Her not-so-secret secret is safe with moi.

Let me get this straight: I am no fan of Condoleezza Rice. At all. But an item in the New York Daily News about a new biography of the Secretary of State has me annoyed on her behalf. An exerpt:

Coit Blacker, a Stanford professor who is one of the secretary of state’s closest friends, recalls going into a shop where Rice asked to see earrings. The clerk showed her costume jewelry. Rice asked to see something nicer, prompting the clerk to whisper some sass under her breath.

Blacker remembers Rice tearing the woman to shreds.

“Let’s get one thing straight,” he recalls her saying. “You are behind the counter because you have to work for minimum wage. I’m on this side asking to see the good jewelry because I make considerably more.”

A manager quickly brought Rice better baubles.

Kudos (not) to Blacker, the author of the book, and even Rush & Molloy for not being able to infer some sort of racial subtext from that exchange — it seems obvious to me. Later, there’s some stuff about her being flattered when someone bounced a quarter off of her ass at a party, and about George Bush shying away from discussing the gorier aspects of Saddam Hussein’s reign “in front of Condi,” the U.S. Secretary of State. And there are people out there who actually still support this administration?

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