From Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fifty-nine former U.S. diplomats oppose the nomination of John Bolton to be American ambassador to the United Nations, according to a letter to be delivered to a key congressional lawmaker on Tuesday.

Bolton was nominated by President Bush, a Republican, three weeks ago amid complaints from Democrats that he is a polarizing figure who has shown disdain for the United Nations.

“We urge you to reject that nomination,” the former diplomats said in a letter to Richard Lugar, the chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The former diplomats, who have served presidents from Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton, took issue with what they said was Bolton’s view that the United Nations is valuable only when it directly serves the interest of the Unites States.

The letter’s signees include Gerald Helman, former ambassador to the United Nations under President Jimmy Carter; Roger Kirk, former ambassador to Somalia and Romania under Nixon, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan and Princeton Lyman, former U.S. ambassador to South Africa and Nigeria under Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Clinton.

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[In order to accomodate my audience in this new, more conservative era, I’ve asked my colleague G. Frank Butterman to guest-blog here occasionally. Please welcome him. - Adam]

Hi. Great to be here.

Well, at least the liberals have been forced out into the open again where we can see ‘em. The crypto-liberals too. You know, those so-called “conservative appointees” who worked as “diplomats” instead of helping us kick some ass. People from the so-called “State Department” (which, by the way, oughta be called the “Statement Department,” ‘cuz that’s all they do - make statements! Feel free to use that one.)

Let me say this: Bolton is going to get approved. So this is all academic, and as you know I have no love for academics, “intellectuals,” and anyone else who considers themselves smarter than your average American just because they’ve “devoted their lives” to “learning” at our nation’s “finest” “schools.” Knowing a few more “facts” and being trained in “critical thinking” doesn’t mean you’re any more qualified than the next guy. Running the world ain’t exactly rocket science, y’know.

I’m digressing, I know.

Anyway, as for Bolton and the Unnecessary Nations, can I reintroduce you to UN for a second? They’re the do-nothings that tried to stop us from going into Iraq! Why? Maybe you don’t remember, but they appointed the Two Stooges known as “Blix” and “El Baradei” to “inspect” Iraq for illegal weapons. And then those idiots kept running back to New York to report that all was well and that Iraq probably didn’t HAVE chemical, biological, or nuclear arms! Well, that makes sense - after all, the UN had spent 10 years trying to disarm the guy peacefully, and we were the only ones with the guts to point out that it wasn’t working!

Well, needless to say we ignored the head-in-the-sand crowd, marched into Baghdad, and the rest is part of freedom’s li’l history book. As for Blix and El Baradei’s “fact-finding…” it turned out not to matter, didn’t it? Just like the Useless Nations itself.

That’s why we need a guy like Bolton in there, to tell the oil-for-fooders what America thinks of “diplomacy.” It has its place. And that place is the 20th century.