Great Moments in Diplomacy

The Bush Administration has announced it has appointed James K. Glassman as the new undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs. This is the same position that was handed as a sinecure to former Bush henchwoman Karen Hughes, whose foray into spreading democracy was highlighted by her assuring an Egyptian audience, "I go as an official of the United States government, but I'm also a mom, a working mom." Because, you know, those people will be way more accepting of Abu Ghraib if they know there's somebody's mom behind it.

Glassman has heretofore been primarily a pundit with a record of making spectacularly bad predictions. In what remains, by far, my most shining moment as a journalist, I interviewed Jon Stewart for Rolling Stone back in 2003, and James K. Glassman's name came up:

JS: What about the guy who wrote Dow 36,000. Is he allowed to talk to people still?

OPC: James K. Glassman. He still writes a column for the Washington Post.

JS: So can a doctor come on and go, "You don't need your heart," and they still go to him as your expert? It's insane. There's no accountability for this stuff.