Petrelis Files

State Dept Transcript: Condi Speaks

Let the record show that at 5:05 p.m. EDT on September 2, 2005, Condoleezza Rice finally pried open her powerful lips about the suffering that's struck the Gulf Coast, where she was raised.

Rice, the highest ranking African American official in the Bush White House, played her race and Alabama cards in her talk, five full freaking days after Katrina beat her deadly path through the region.

If you can stomach it, read the full State Department transcript at the agency's press and public affairs page.

^^^

International Relief Activities Related to Hurricane Katrina

Secretary Condoleezza Rice
On-The-Record Briefing
Washington, DC
September 2, 2005
(5:05 p.m. EDT)

QUESTION: You said you are going down to the region on Sunday. I'm wondering, it's a very unusual thing for a sitting Secretary of State to do. This is not a traditional duty of a Secretary of State to go on a disaster relief mission like this. Why are you doing it and what do you hope to accomplish down there?

SECRETARY RICE: John, I'm an American and I'm a southern American. I'm an Alabamian by birth. And I just hope that I can be a little bit of an extension for a President who cares deeply about what is going on in the Gulf region but can't be everywhere. And you know, those conditions in New Orleans are so horrific and are requiring so much attention; Mississippi obviously; Alabama has been hard hit and at any other time, might have been the center, really, of this. So I thought that it would be a good thing to go there. The Governor was pleased to have the offer. And so yes, it's a little bit unusual. But as I said, when I talked to the President, I said that, obviously, I would perform my duties as Secretary of State in trying to coordinate the international relief effort, helping Homeland Security in any way that I could, but that I also wanted to do whatever I could that was outside those responsibilities. So that's what I'll do.


Okay. Thank you.