Painful Video: W.H. Unable To Explain Campaign Bundler’s Qualifications For Ambassadorship

Popcorn anyone?

Amusing: ABC's Jon Karl Asks State Dept: What Does It Cost To Be Ambassador?

A whole lot of bundled campaign money apparently...

Obamacare payoff: WH picks Max Baucus as ambassador to China...

Sen. Max Baucus was key to getting Obamacare passed through the Senate. He would have faced a tough challenge if he ran for re-election.

Via WaPo:

The White House is set to select outgoing Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) as its pick for ambassador to China, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and a Baucus ally confirmed Wednesday.
Baucus, 72, previously announced that he won't seek reelection to the Senate in 2014.
Senate aides familiar with the plans said that the move has been in the works for several days.
The news was first reported by Politico. Baucus aides declined to comment Wednesday evening when asked about it outside the Senate Chamber.
As chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, Baucus played a key role in crafting President Obama's health-care law and was among the first Democrats to publicly fret about the law's implementation -- worries that later turned out to be well-founded.

Dominicans Pretty Unhappy Over Obama's Gay Ambassador Pick

There is alot to be said for don't ask, don't tell in diplomatic circles...

 Via The Cable at FP:

Opposition to President Obama's nominee for U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic reached a fever pitch this week as religious organizers stage a "Lunes Negro" or Black Monday protest against James "Wally" Brewster.

If confirmed, Brewster will be the first openly gay ambassador to the country, a prospect that is not going over well with some segments of this conservative Christian country of 9 million people. Local reports indicate that church leaders are pressuring the government to reject Brewster's nomination and calling on the faithful to dress in black on Monday in solidarity against him.

Praise Christian Church Pastor Sauford Medrano is quoted in Diario Libre as saying that Brewster could cause "the U.S. promotion of gender beliefs in the country." That supposedly violates a general education law in the country that "all the Dominican education system is based on Christian principles."

It's time to throw U.S. ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson under the bus...

 U.S. ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson is a friend of the Muslim Brotherhood and missed the coming 2nd revolution. She should be fired. Sadly, Obama will likely promote her.

As the violent standoff over the future of Egypt continues, U.S. ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson has become a lightning rod for critics of U.S. policy in the country.

The tip of the spear for U.S.-Egypt diplomacy, Patterson's June 18 speech discouraging street protests has come to symbolize the administration's inability to recognize the potency of Egypt's liberal opposition. "Some say that street action will produce better results than elections," Patterson said. "To be honest, my government and I are deeply skeptical."

Now, with the Egyptian military's take over of the country, observers fear the outbreak of widespread violence between Morsy's Islamist supporters and moderate critics, and many wonder if the U.S. could've taken a harder line on the Brotherhood during its 10-month rule.

Patterson in particular resisted opportunities to criticize the Morsy government as it implemented increasingly authoritarian policies. In a memorable May interview with the Egyptian English-language news sit Ahram Online, she repeatedly dodged pointed questions about Morsy's leadership. "The fact is they ran in a legitimate election and won," she said. "Of course it is challenging to be dealing with any new government. However, at the state institutional level, we are for instance still liaising with the same military and civil service personnel, and thus have retained the same long-established relations." Read more here...

Interesting: 10 reasons Upcoming U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power is the most dangerous woman in the world...

Read them all...

1. She hates Israel, passionately. (For sources and links, simply Google or Bing-search her name…)

2. She is soon to be our next U.N. Ambassador

3. She is the wife of Cass Sunstein, Obama’s favorite regulatory czar

4. She used to work George Soros’ ‘think tank’ ICG (International Crisis Group)

5. She was re-hired in 2009 as Obama’s Special Assistant to President Barack Obama and Senior Director of Multilateral Affairs on the Staff of the National Security Council.


Read all 10 reasons here...

Rewarding Bad Behavior

President Obama has bypassed the Senate and mad a recess appointment of an ambassador to Syria. Syria hasn't had an ambassador for five years because of their support for Hezbollah and terrorism.

Washington (AP) – President Barack Obama has bypassed the Senate and directly appointed four new U.S. ambassadors whose nominations had been stalled or blocked by lawmakers for months.

The White House announced Wednesday that Obama would use his power to make recess appointments to fill envoy posts to Azerbaijan, Syria and NATO allies Turkey and the Czech Republic. Recess appointments are made when the Senate is not in session and last only until the end of the next session of Congress. They are frequently used when Senate confirmation is not possible.

Obama Appoints Fund Raising Cronies to Key Ambassadorships

Many Presidents have named political supporters as ambassadorial nominees. Most were wise enough to keep career diplomats or persons experienced in foreign policy in key posts like Japan. President Obama is not that wise.

The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo has seen its share of luminaries in the ambassador's suite. Former Vice President Walter Mondale, former Senate Majority Leaders Mike Mansfield and Howard Baker and former House Speaker Tom Foley are among those who have brokered relations with a complex and critical ally in a region bristling with military and trade tensions

President Barack Obama's pick for the post is from a different mold: John Roos, a San Francisco Bay area lawyer, was the president's chief Silicon Valley fundraiser and contributions "bundler." He has no diplomatic experience.

Mr. Obama's choice of Mr. Roos, along with other political boosters -- from former investment banker Louis B. Susman, known as the "vacuum cleaner" for his fundraising prowess, to Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney -- has raised eyebrows among some who thought the president would extend his mantra of change to the diplomatic corps.

"We're not only insulting nations [that] we're appointing these bundlers to, we're risking U.S. diplomatic efforts in these key countries," said Craig Holman, a government-affairs lobbyist at watchdog group Public Citizen.

Obama is having a hard time finding pro-life supporter to be US ambassador to the Holy See

Reportedly, all three candidates president Obama has proposed to the Vatican have been rejected by Pope Benedict XVI because of their pro-abortion stance. Has the Democratic party become so intolerant and bigoted on the issue of abortion they can not find one prominent pro-life supporter to appoint ambassador to the Holy See? By tradition, the post of US ambassador has always been held by pro-life Catholics under both Republican and Democrat administrations. According to BBC NEWS,

The Vatican has rejected at least three possible candidates proposed by Barack Obama to serve as US ambassador to the Holy See, say reliable sources in Rome.

None of the three candidates informally proposed by the Obama administration so far is acceptable to the Pope because of their support for abortion rights.

One of the potential nominees vetoed by the Vatican is Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the former US president.

Conservative Catholics in the US had already criticised her candidacy.

They say her outspoken pro-choice views on abortion made her an unsuitable choice.

The Vatican is unhappy about President Obama's support of abortion rights and his lifting of a previous ban on embryonic stem cell research in the US.