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Pitts: Condoleezza Rice wants to move on

Photo by Craig Ruttle of The Associated Press / Keynote speaker former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice addresses attendees at the 76th Annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner on Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021, in New York.
Photo by Craig Ruttle of The Associated Press / Keynote speaker former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice addresses attendees at the 76th Annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner on Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021, in New York. Photo by Craig Ruttle of The Associated Press / Keynote speaker former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice addresses attendees at the 76th Annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner on Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021, in New York.

Condoleezza Rice wants to move on.

She concedes that what happened on Jan. 6 was “wrong.” It was, she recently told the hosts of “The View,” an “assault on law and order, and an assault on our democratic processes.” And Rice, a former national security adviser and secretary of state, thinks those who attacked and ransacked the U.S. Capitol should be punished. That day, she said, made her cry for the first time since Sept. 11.

So yes, it was a terrible day. It was a stunning day. It was a day that defiled democracy. But … “It’s time to move on,” she said.

Given Rice’s gravitas and credibility, it was a stunning pronouncement, but perhaps we ought not be surprised. After all, Republicans have been urging the rest of us to move on from Jan. 6 almost since Jan. 7. They refused to convict the former president for inciting the mob. They refused to authorize an independent bipartisan commission to investigate the insurrection. Some even questioned whether there was an insurrection to begin with.

Now comes Rice, urging us to “move on.” No more investigating. No more discussion. No more grappling with the hard questions it raises.