Rice and Beans: Not just a common food staple

I'm not even sure what to think of this:

In the book and on the show, Kessler described how Rice's "closest male friend" is openly gay, a man by the name of Coit D. Blacker, a Stanford professor (Rice was provost at Stanford in the late 1990s for six years) and a Democrat who served in the Clinton administration. Blacker, whose partner is also mentioned, advised Al Gore's campaign in 2000, while his close friend Rice became a chief confidante to a president who has tried to make gays into second class citizens in the U.S. Constitution. But wait, it gets better.

Rice's "closest female friend" is a woman named Randy Bean (pictured here), who is unmarried and whose sexual orientation is not stated. She is described as a "liberal progressive;" she's a documentary filmmaker who works at Stanford University and once worked for Bill Moyers. She and Rice and Blacker (again, who has a partner) are discussed as a "second family," a term Bean uses, also saying that, "on friends, [Rice] goes narrow and deep."

According to newly revealed information in the book (which Kessler found through real estate records), the two women, Rice and Bean (yes, hilarious), own a home together and have a line of credit together. Bean explains this to Kessler by saying that she had some medical bills that drained her financially years ago, and Rice and Blacker helped her out by buying the house with Bean. But over time Blacker sold his share of the house to Rice and Bean, and then Rice would later get the line of credit with Bean to do some renovations on the home. Kessler, when pressed, said he did not know if this meant there was something more to the relationship between the women beyond a friendship.

OK. Let's review: Coit Blacker, closest male friend to Condo, advised Al Gore during the 2000 presidential campaign. Condo's closest female friend is a documentary filmmaker who worked with Bill Moyers. I can't even get my mind around the incestuousness of this scenario. Whether Condo is a lesbian is beside the point.

Condo serves an administration that demonizes gays and lesbians and liberal progressives. But she parties with her best friend and his male lover, and owns a home and shares a line of credit with her other best friend, a liberal progressive, with no apparent guilt over these monumental betrayals. And no apparent guilting or rejection from the best friends, either. The disconnect here, on all sides, is worthy of a sociopath. Which brings us to Condo's bestest friend, George Bush. But that's a whole 'nother blog...

I've always thought Gore was advised by persons on the GOP payroll, but this is through-the-Looking-Glass material. Beyond Carville and Matalin, beyond Animal Farm and 1984, even.

Loyalty = treachery. Faithful = traitorous.

What I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall when these best friends get together.