Lord of the Onion Rings

Dubya's parade of crony ambassadors just keeps on comin'. Following on the ice hockey impresario who's going to Denmark, the car dealer going to the Court of St James, and the Supreme Court backroom dealer going to Brussels, we have the announcement of his nominee for Ambassador to New Zealand -- and Samoa:

The President intends to nominate William McCormick, of Oregon, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to New Zealand and to serve concurrently and without additional compensation as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Samoa. Mr. McCormick is Co-Founder and Chairman of McCormick & Schmick Management Group. He opened the company's first McCormick and Schmick's Seafood Restaurant thirty years ago.

Drive through the expense account district of any US city, and you've seen his restaurants. That clientele is Dubya's "base." McCormick is unlikely to be a complete embarrassment, since there aren't any major language issues and he can probably spend a few years scouting out wines and seafood for his chain. And relative to the 6 figure donations to the Republican party that some of these ambassadorships cost, he got off lightly:

Over the past year [as of August 2004], William McCormick, of seafood chain McCormick & Schmick's, has stepped up to give $25,000 to the [Republican National Committee]. Partner Douglas Schmick kicked in a relatively paltry $2,000 to the Bush campaign.

OK New Zealand. You crushed the Lions in rugger. But when valued by the legalised corruption of American politics, you're getting dissed.

UPDATE: The Embassies for Sale scandal is getting more attention: Newsweek and the Washington Post (both links via Dan Froomkin).