Condi Warms Up, Body Temp. Reaches 30 Below

WP article on how Condi is on the offensive with her newfound charm:

When Rice stepped out on the world stage this week as America's new secretary of state, though, she seemed like a different woman -- engaging, self-confident, even commanding in daily on-the-record interviews.

Rice even showed moments of openness and humor. Shortly after takeoff on Air Force Two from Washington to London last Thursday, she ventured from her spacious cabin-office to the back of the plane where the press sits -- in the only cramped economy seats on the modified Boeing 757. (Eight staffers had been displaced from the plane to make room for what was billed as the largest press corps ever taken on a State Department trip -- 19 American and foreign journalists.)

"We're going to travel a lot and I wouldn't want anyone to feel lost," she said with a grin. "Therefore I have for each of you the pocket world atlas as a little memento of our first trip together." Each copy was inscribed inside with her signature and the date.

It was the beginning of a charm offensive orchestrated by a team imported from the White House, including James Wilkinson, the administration's fast-talking equivalent of a whirling dervish who once studied to be a mortician and last year was featured in People magazine.

I don't care, I still think she's a bitch. A smart one, I'll give her that, but a bitch nonetheless.