Nice to see we have important experience coming with the new US ambassador to Canada appointment:
U.S. President George W. Bush has officially nominated David Wilkins, a longtime family friend and top Republican fundraiser, to be the new American ambassador to Canada....If approved, he will replace Paul Cellucci, who left the ambassador's job in March...A father of two, Wilkins is a fiscal and social conservative who headed Bush's two campaign efforts in the state. He raised more than $200,000 US for Bush in last year's election and is close to the president's father, George H. W. Bush. It's less clear how much he knows about Canada. The Associated Press reported that Wilkins had only been to the country once, about three decades ago while he was in the U.S. Army Reserve.This will be the fourth guy from the US of that age I will know whose Canadian experience is entirely based on 1970s party weekends from the military base at Fort Drum (then Camp Drum) across the river in northern New York to Kingston town. I'd bet a donut on that. I am sure it was the donuts he was over for.
Comments
Arthur - April 28, 2005 8:02 am
a longtime family friend
That qualifies him for the job!
Arthur - April 28, 2005 8:03 am
That qualifies him for the job!
Dear GenX readers:
I sound so snarky, that, if I get the chance next weekend, I'll be willing to ask the Consul for his qualifications. Promised.
Alan - April 28, 2005 8:04 am
Reporting from the front? How so?
Arthur - April 28, 2005 8:10 am
Reporting from the front?
Yessir!
The Other Ben - April 28, 2005 9:56 am
The Sun makes him sounds like a good choice. Still no experience with Canada but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Cellucci was from New England and look what a mess he did. I'm all for sending Southerners up here.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2005/04/27/1015895-ap.html
Arthur - April 28, 2005 10:30 am
Still no experience with Canada but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.
So raising money and being a friend of the president makes you qualified to represent fellow-Americans??
Alan - April 28, 2005 10:37 am
His role as a house speaker is good experience in seeing two sides. I think that is fair.
portland - April 28, 2005 3:46 pm
it aint exactly a foreign culture. you read the trade statistics, you throw the parties. what are you aiming for? - a guy who really really likes maple syrup and bacon. c'mon.
portland - April 28, 2005 3:50 pm
the canadian post is always a pal of the president's. it's traditionally a patronage position. and i'd rather his good friend than some stuffed shirt who nobody is ever going to listen to any day so.......
and you (we) all love it when these guys say stupid things about us. we love it even more when they say stupid stuff about quebec. admit it.
Alan - April 28, 2005 3:56 pm
Wouldn't it be great, though, to have someone entirely irrational show up and just crap all over Manitoba or PEI or hockey or something other than the usual wacko stuff like "Quebec different". Maybe Boris Yeltsin's Kentucky kinsman.
portland - April 28, 2005 4:49 pm
a guy who cant shut up about how cold it is.
Alan - April 28, 2005 5:13 pm
"Hey - jeese - its snowing again. You know what this country needs? Mens underwear that goes all the way down your legs to your socks. That's what this place needs. Crazy place."
The Other Ben - April 29, 2005 12:55 am
If one of them has to come up here for 4 years I'd rather it be someone close to the president that actually has access to him. I doubt you'd get that from a regular diplomat.
portland - April 29, 2005 1:14 am
it should always be a guy fom texas who refuses to use canadian currency. every once in a while he should shoot a bird in majors hill park from his office window. and he should call canadiajuns.
Alan - April 29, 2005 7:59 am
He should call us Cannageeuns and insist on a cheese slice on top of everything he is served at formal events. He should smoke cheap cigars which giving speeches, hacking unmercifully for minutes on end mid-sentence. He should refer to the Prime Minister as Lyle.