Because it’s more interesting than Magellan01.
Yes. Apparantly to Fascistlandia which is one o fthose island states over in one of those other oceans.
No of course not but its effectively purchased.
For example, judicial positions in some jurisdictions pretty much go to whoever is on the Republican or Democratic ticket. The endorsement may be given to a qualified candidate but there is a cost of admission because there are more qualified candidates than there are judicial positions. With Ambassadorships, qualification the qualification bar isn’t quite as high.
If it is “effectively purchased,” then surely there have been investigations into violations of the law I cited earlier. Why don’t you cough up with the cites for illegal behavior rather than reciting your questionable understanding of the appointment process?
Are you asking for proof that ambassador positions are given out as political awards for lots and lots of political donations?
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=adfv4RHV3Kmk
There’s plenty of examples from every adminsitration. Of course noone is going to come out and say that its quid pro quo but the evidence is tehre and career diplomats seem to think its a real phenomenon.
They’re not ALL sold for cash on the barrel and not all of them are unqualified but some seem to be.
Is the bloomberg article enough or should I google it again?
gonzo, I don’t think it is possible to make your posts any dumber than they already are.
Regards,
Shodan
Some sort of silly complimentary close couldn’t hurt…
I think it’s Mr. Barada Nikto.
(Or is that the wrong movie?)
If this is all consular shit, where is the ambassador?
I think he’s asking for a cite to support that it is legitimate to characterize those as “purchases.”
If you mean Gordon Gray, U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia, news about him is relatively scant. It looks like the outgoing Tunisian government tried to blame the U.S. for the unrest (it’s an Iranian news source, though, who I assume would cheerfully report on anyone willing to blame the U.S. for something), but Gray’s otherwise lying low - which strikes as a good idea - waiting and seeing how this shakes out.
What you are lacking is any evidence that campaign contributions has anything to do with actually getting an appointment.
For example, Michele Flournoy is an Under Secretary of Defense. She contributed $1,000 to Obama’s campaign. Did she buy the number 3 post in the Pentagon for a measly grand?
On the other hand, Jon Huntsman donated the maximum to McCain’s campaign. He was tapped to be US Ambassador to China for Obama.
What you are saying is that if someone contributes to a political candidate, they are “buying” an office. Are you suggesting that a President should not be allowed to appoint influential and important allies to important posts? That he should only be allowed to appoint people who are not his supporters, such as Huntsman?
I have a list (temporary website) of 600 people who raised more than $50,000 for Obama. How many of those people do you think got government jobs? The mere contribution of funds, by and of itself, to a candidate isn’t sufficient grounds to accuse them of bribery. You have, at best, a half-baked case that would mainly appeal to conspiracy theorists and Tea Party members.
Obviously I have to drop a few more levels to reach you.
Regardless,
Gonzomax
I was actually referring to the eponymous subject of this thread, but that’s interesting.
I dunno, sounds to me like a lot of them might acquire a somewhat jaded attitude going through all that instead of being inspired to find creative solutions to little problems like practically the whole world hating us.
Well, I figure the OP of this thread has an obligation to post a link in the source thread (i.e. “hey, magellan, you’re wanted in the Pit”), otherwise the subject of the pitting might not learn about it in a timely fashion.
Of course, this thread’s only 14 hours old, so let’s not jump the gun. Heck, I was pitted once and didn’t even know about it until the thread was closed and the OP banned, which was a fairly rapid process because he was an obvious loon.
Their job is not really to find solutions, but to carry out policy as defined by SecState and POTUS. Where some of them fall down is to fail to recognize the fact that everything is turning to shit around them, despite all evidence to the contrary, e.g., Rwanda.
Yeah; it’s really tough to tell your boss to pull his head out of his ass; I know it’s more about the bosses than the workers…I would imagine that idealism gets crushed fairly early in the career there…
Well, what would you call it? An organization that represents the diplomatic corps calls it “the spoils system and the de facto ‘three-year-rental’ of ambassadorships”
I’m not singling out Obama, everyone does it.