So, there we were in the rather overdone Second Empire reception hall of the French Senate—thirty-something Fulbright grantees, not to mention miscellaneous ministers and luminaries. Truly, it was the sort of gala affair, complete with free booze and interesting cheese, that one hopes for when one wins a prestigious scholarship to France.
Then Craig Roberts Stapelton gave a speech.
Who is Craig Roberts Stapleton, you ask? Well, he's allegedly the American ambassador to France. You'd never know it, though. The guy couldn't speak a word of French. Heck, he couldn't even pronounce the speech that had been translated for him. Granted, my French is horrible, but I know that if I had been appointed the goddamned American ambassador, I'd have taken a crash course to at least learn to pronounce my speeches.
What's Stapleton's main qualification for the office? He's a Harvard man from Connecticut who had been a co-owner of the Texas Rangers with Dubbya from 1989 to 1998. This is a man from the business world who didn't hold a single public appointment until his buddy was appointed President by the Supreme Court. It's very big-minded of Bush to appoint Harvard types as well as Yale men, but do you think he might, say, appoint someone who could, say, further the country's interests? But then, what do you expect from the guy who asked Jacques Chirac's aide to please speak to his boss in English?
With arrogant assholes like this in charge, no wonder the world hates us and we're losing the war in Iraq.