His active bitch face is no prize either

Let's get something straight, OK? Donald Trump didn't call then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice a "bitch" in 1996, not at all. He actually said he wished she would be a bitch, because that's how diplomacy works, through bitchiness. Glad we could clear that up for everyone! Let's let CNN make sense of this for us:

The New York Daily News had reported in 2006 that Trump had told an audience at a Learning Annex convention speech, "Condoleezza Rice, she's a lovely woman, but I think she's a bitch. She goes around to other countries and other nations, negotiates with their leaders, comes back and nothing ever happens."

Deadspin first resurfaced the New York Daily News story on Tuesday. When asked if she had any response to the New York Daily News report of Trump's remarks, Rice simply wrote back, "Exactly. Can't wait until November 9!"

Now, now, CNN, you want to include linkies to Deadspin and the Daily News, don't you? Do we have to do all the work around here?

Anyway, it looks like the Daily News got it wrong back in 2006. CNN dug up (but doesn't seem to have put online) archived video showing Trump complained Condi Rice wasn't nearly enough of a bitch for his tastes:

Video from CNN's archives located after initial publication of this story shows Trump saying the following: "I wish she was a bitch. I don't care if she's a lovely woman. I want somebody that can go and make deals. She goes to countries, nothing ever happens. Except sound bytes [sic]." The archived video only shows a small part of Trump's speech.

So either Trump thought Rice was a bitch or should have been a bitch, but either way, that seems rather a rude thing to say, no?

Turns out Rice is no fan of Donald Trump, either; after the Access Hollywood tape surfaced all of a week and a half ago, Rice took to her Facebook to say "Enough! Donald Trump should not be president. He should withdraw," although she refrained from calling him a bitch, somehow.

Just for the sake of confirmation, CNN tracked down Steve Felt, one of the people who attended the 2006 speech and was quoted in the Daily News piece, and yes, he also remembers Trump calling Rice a bitch:

"He went on a tirade about politics, probably 15 minutes into his talk about real estate," Felt said. "Most people weren't there to hear about politics and most people left. I left after about 45 minutes."

By spring 2007, Trump, as is his wont, was apparently shifting his emphasis from what he thought of Rice to his complaints about how what he said was reported. Unfortunately, another partial video CNN found is missing some context:

A partial video, from a March 2007 speech in Toronto, starts with Trump mid-sentence, saying, "bitch, do you believe this? So I took heat," before he goes onto explain what he had said about Rice.

"But what I said was this, she gets out an airplane cameras all over the place and she waves, 'hi.' She then goes and sits down with some dictator, they put the chairs at 45 degree angle and they have a photo shoot and she waves, 'hi, hi everybody.' She then gets back on the plane and she waves again and nothing happens," he said. "Has she made any deals? Honestly, has this woman made one deal that anybody knows, even if it was a bad deal. I'd even take a bad deal. She doesn't make any deals."

If nothing else, we can be reassured that Trump made no more sense in 2006-07 than he does a decade later: We need a president who's willing to be a bitch and get bad deals, because at least it's a deal, and getting a deal is an art, and what exactly is it that you would want to make a deal for? Never mind. The deal is the thing. Now buy this book and this hat, bitch, and remember, Donald Trump cherishes women.

[CNN / Deadspin / NYDN]