Biden To Tap Cindy McCain For Ambassadorship

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#161

I’m not really sure I understand your point of view on that.

When many factors are at play, I believe we should cultivate all the positive ones we can afford to.

Do you think one factor will dominate in 2022 – so we should just forget about throwing anything else positive into the mix? Maybe, but that’s too many eggs in one basket for me.

Or do you think the “McCain effect” will be small – so we should not try to take advantage of it? Maybe but, given the margins in our last election here, small effects seem important to me.

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#162

My view is slightly different: I try to balance the gain you posit – not by any means a sure thing, I assume you agree – against the loss that comes from nominating a non-entity to this important position.

As a contrast, take a look at the two people Obama nominated (and swore in).

#163

Is this how you defended any of Trump’s nominees? That their offices would be “well-staffed” by career people and they therefore they themselves would not matter?

Or were his unqualified appointments different from anyone else’s?

#164

McCain can’t do any harm in the role and it gets her out of town. Nicely done.

#165

Leaving aside the other stuff, what’s the great benefit of getting her out of town?

#166

Yep, 1st thought was zing…

#167

No it is not different. It’s just not very important right now.

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#168

I assume you would also agree that the loss you posit is “not by any means a sure thing.” It will surely depend on her performance in the job, unless you believe that her appointment in and of itself is a serious blow to the WFP. I don’t see much support for that.

If you fear immediate negative effect because McCain is a non-entity, I think you can relax. She is far from a non-entity under any normal meaning of the term. She is well known around the world, has experience in relief work, and will have good access to Biden (who wants her on his side in 2022 and 2024).

Anyway, I’m all for weighing gain and loss. We just see the scale differently. Time will tell.

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#169

I’ll take the candid admission that the difference is close to zero. Thanks.

I disagree with you about the importance of this WFP appointment.

  1. The World Food Programme does important work, as recognized just a few months ago by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee.

  2. I’ve already noted that Obama’s appointees to this post were both qualified – and there was a reason for that. Notice that one of his appointees went on to serve as the WFP’s Executive Director. Not even the most feckless ardent “defenders” of Ms. McCain’s appointment can picture her doing anything of this sort.

  3. Look at the current “food appointees” from other leading countries. They do not resemble Cindy McCain in the slightest. For example, Qu Dongyu, the Chinese head of the FAO, also a UN agency based in Rome, is a biologist with a Ph. D. in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and in his home country used to be vice minister of agriculture. If we are to lead at the UN, Ms. McCain is an unimpressive choice.

I could go on but you get the gist.

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#170

It’s not a blow to the WFP.

It’s a blow to our role in it.

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#171

Her peers on the WFP might find a PR use for a celebrity appointee. :slightly_smiling_face:

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#172

OK, that’s by far the best defense I’ve seen of this lousy idea!

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#173

Well, that’s a relief. You had me worried about the WPF for a while there.

Now that you express it as a trade-off between internal and external politics I’m more sanguine. I think we’re going to be on an upward trajectory internationally under Biden. I’m much more concerned about the politics here at home.

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#174

This is the most positive and lengthy defense I have made of a rich parasite, ever.
I’m done.

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#175

So here’s a thought: Instead of paying Ms. McCain back by sending her where she’d be conspicuously unqualified, how about bribing a different Arizona personality?

Ask Senator Sinema which of her donors she’d like to pay off with this appointment and then grant her wish in exchange for some pro-team behavior in the Senate.

That would do a hell of a lot more good for “politics here at home.”

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#176

I don’t want to doubt the sincerity of your concerns, but that comment sounds much more like someone who is implacably anti-McCain than it does someone who is strongly pro-World Food Programme.

Doubtful, for three reasons: it’s as unlikely as it sounds; Sinema counts little without Manchin; and bribing her probably won’t help keep Kelly in the senate or sway the state races.

#177

Not sure how you reach this conclusion.

My suggestion was not my preferred solution. It was purely a response to this:

#178

If she was a fraggle she’d be Boober McCain.

#179

Is an ambassadorship really an appropriate “participation trophy” for a Republican, Biden?

#180

What’s the over/under on how many gop votes she gets to confirm?

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