Yes, It Can Always Get Worse

If you haven’t guessed by now, the Bushits have appointed the world’s biggest neocon as their new U.N. rep.

Fred Kaplan at Slate.com calls it like it is: "There could be no clearer sign that the contempt for the international organization, which was such a prominent feature of Bush's first term, will extend into his second term with still greater force and eloquence," he writes. Later in the same story, Bush to U.N.: Drop Dead, Kaplan pulls up a quote Bolton made 10 years ago, while on a panel of the World Federalist Association:

“There is no such thing as the United Nations. If the U.N. Secretariat Building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference.”

Now, I had it on good authority (psst: longtime U.N. reporter) that Negroponte was no great brain (and as for his politics, you don’t need my good authority), but Bolton is on the order of Alberto Gonzales, or worse. What kind of message is the administration sending to the world by appointing a man to the U.N. who wished the damn thing didn’t even exist?

And there's another freakin blizzard today. Crikey.