[The following is a fantasy response from Condolezza Rice, nominee for Secretary of State, to Barbara Boxer (D—Outer Space ).а We join the response in progress.]

SEN. LUGAR: ... you ought to have the right to respond. Then, at that point, we're going to have a recess. But will you please give your response?

DR. RICE: Thank you Senator.а Over these last several years I have noted that the Left in this country has been laboring under a broad series of unassailable assumptions.а No blood for oil, give peace a chance, invest in people, not in war — these are the slogans of people for whom the regrettable decision to go to war is never acceptable.а

Further, those who subscribe to these unassailable assumptions have the absolute right to utterly and completely refuse to accept any rationale that runs counter to their faith.а Such can be the nature ofа faith, as it is the substance of things hoped for.а The enormous body of evidence that Saddam Hussein was an extraordinary hazard to the world does not have to be absorbed by anybody.а The Left and their representatives in Congress cannot be made to believe anything, nor should they in any way be compelled to even consider facts, let alone accept them.а This is, after all, a free country.

Along with unassailable assumptions, the Left has an unassailable right to remove any few words from a several hundred word statement and contemplate it without context.а They have every right to misjudge and misunderstand an entire series of excised statements bereft of context.а Without question they may be as naяve as they wish about the capabilities of the intelligence community, the military as well as the motivation of our critics in other nations.а Their right to presume the failures of our own government and presume the innocence of our sworn enemies is secured by the constitution I swore to uphold.

The Left in the public and in Congress are welcome to whatever unfalsifiable premise they care to hold in service to whatever partisan end they wish to meet.а I presume that any American has the long—term best interests of the nation in mind, no matter how misinformed, misguided or illogical they might be.

Still yet, as the Left in the public and in Congress sift through the vast body of statements made by this Administration in general, and by me in particular, for nuggets and dollops to stretch over the framework of your presumptions, could you do so without calling us liars?а It is unnecessary to portray the errors you believe we have made as attempts to deceive the American people.а This work before us is hard enough as it is without assaulting the people's confidence in the people's representatives.а You are welcome to ignore history, context and responsible analysis in order to cobble together whatever collection of facts you wish in order to support your core beliefs, but I simply ask that you not do so on the back of my integrity.а

Tim McNabb is a web developer in St. Louis MO, and writes a 500 words essay every day on his blog fivehundredwords.com