A job done

Continuing his record of nominating cronies to Ambassadorships, Dubya has unveiled His Man in Brussels:

The President intends to nominate C. Boyden Gray, of the District of Columbia, to be the Representative of the United States of America to the European Union, with the Rank and Status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.

Now Gray is a high achiever, but his CV shows zero diplomatic credentials though a lot of connections to the lobbying tentacles of George W. Bush. In fact, Gray had recently managed the trick of being a "Supreme Court Analyst" for the Fox News Channel (quelle surprise) while being a lobbyist to get Dubya's justices confirmed. Since Ambassador nominees do require Senate confirmation, Dubya must be sufficiently confident in getting the Apostle John (Roberts) onto the Supreme Court bench that he doesn't feel that Gray will have to use any dirty tricks in this cause that might alienate some Senators.

Of Irish interest: Gray's new role, assuming confirmation, makes him the counterpart of John Bruton, the EU Ambassador to the US.