An Evening With The Honorable Condoleezza Rice

Would you pay top dollar to hear the former Secretary of State speak?

by Lauren F. Friedman

For a while there, Condoleezza Rice was one of the most powerful women in world. But paying $125 to hear her thoughts on world affairs seems almost unconscionable.

Let's review: She was a high-ranking official in one of the most failed and despised administrations in American history. In 2002, she authorized the CIA to proceed with "alternative interrogation methods" that included waterboarding. In 2007, when Wolf Blitzer confronted her with George Tenet's allegation that she essentially did everything wrong, the only response she could muster was a weak, "Look, not everything went right." (File that one away in the Annals of Obviousness.)

That's hardly a record to boast about, yet — instead of cowering under a pile of repentance the size of, say, Iraq — Rice is living large. She's now a professor at Stanford and a fellow at the university's Hoover Institution. To add insult to injury, she has the considerable gall to charge a whopping $150,000 per speech (reportedly the same fee commanded by Bush himself).

When Condoleezza Rice opens her mouth, the first thing that comes out should be an apology.

Don't hold your breath.

Mon., May 4, 7 p.m., $125, Park Hyatt Philadelphia at the Bellevue, 200 S. Broad St., 215-561-4700, wacphila.org.