October 15, 2004

"Welcome, Mr. Ambassador! If you would just go ahead and sign that check..." Continuing presidential tradition, Bush appoints big contributors to plum ambassadorships.

Barring bickering over whether this is right or wrong, my question is: how cool would being an ambassador be? phenomenally cool, that's how cool. So the question is, could a regular mutt like me, with no political experience or connections to speak of, embark on a campaign of contributing to a presidential candidate for the specific end of obtaining an ambassadorship? Most of these guys contributed in the $100K to $200K range, which is pretty dear BUT, in the end, they get to put "Ambassador to [somewhere]" on their resume, which I can't believe doesn't automatically vault one to a certain, certainly high, level of future job options. So as a career maneuver, could this not be feasible? By way of comparison, I'm as we speak considering paying $80K + time + trouble to obtain an MBA. Thoughts? [shamelessly lifted from Ye Olde Blue Battlefield]

posted by Fes 20 years ago
  • Great link. I really enjoy stuff like that. Kerry need only mention it, deplore it, promise not to do it himself, and then follow through. He should be trying to paint Bush as the Help-the-Rich candidate. He tries that with respect to the tax cut, but does not really do it beyond that. Of course, the reason that he won't do it with this is because he has probably already promised many folks some jobs. Bastard.
  • You don't have to be rich to get a position in the white house from mr. bush. I don't remember his name, but I got a tour of the white house from a friend of a friend who has had a few jobs under this administration. He got in by leading the "al gore claims he invented the internet" smear, and for defending in court the republicans protesting against florida recounts. So, what you lack in money, you can always make up for in douchebaggery and a total lack of ethics, as long as the GOP's in charge.
  • c'mon india, get with the program.
  • I don't want to work in the White House! That would suck, and I'm not remotely political enough. I just want to be Ambassador to Italy. Or maybe Switzerland. Spain, possibly. And hey, it doesn't have to be Bush. I'd be pleased as punch to give Kerry or whoever comes after the hunnert-grand (assuming I have it and/or could get it) for the ambassador job. That's what I was asking - do you think that any candidate would be willing to promise me one of those in exchange for the contributions? I'm talking total, overt, jump-to-the-front-of-the-line completely unambiguous quid pro quo.
  • sure, but those are choice countries. If you settle for . . like, Tonga . . you could do it no problem.
  • I don't think you could avoid the need to be very, very political. These big money donors didn't just give a lot of money themselves. They were involved with the Republican Party for a while, usually by fundraising; schmoozing with the politicians, bullying large cummulative donations out of friends and colleagues. Just showing up and writing a check yourself isn't enough - it's about commitment. That might buy some favours, but the political parties want to feel you're committed to them and won't forget and just write the check to another party when it's their turn in office. Of course, you do that much political schmoozing and you might feel the need to get out of the country.
  • Hey, you could probably score a spot for $50K if you didn't mind being Ambassador to Turkmenistan.
  • Much cheaper than that for Turkmenistan - heck, you could have the NZ post for $42 000. I am interested that developing country positions are normally given to career foreign service officers. It's so hard to join the foreign service - I knew someone taking the exam - she knew Africa well (had studied it for some time, done work there), really cared about working in development, could name every country on the map (even the little ones) - and still was freaking out about the exam.
  • Teach me to comment without reading - shit! Costa Rica for $21000! I can actually do that! Hmmmm. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. :)
  • Scrounge up $3000 and you can outbid the nominee for Switzerland
  • If I had $42k to blow, you're damn straight I'd spend it on an ambassadorship to NZ.
  • pete_best: Tonga isn't that pretty a place to be. Unless you like your religion fundamentalist and your governments opressive.
  • I want Fes to become an ambassador just so I can say I knew him when he was only a chimp.
  • You know, Australia hasn't had an American ambassador for six months now. Please use this information wisely!
  • Australia is a posting I could definitely live with. And according to the link, the last ambassador only had to pony up a couple grand (he was an old pal of the president and a fellow Texas politico, though - neither of which qualifications I have). Even so, hmmmm.... *checks bank account, begins drafting letter to... Dick Cheney? Hillary Clinton? Ted Nugent?*