UPDATE 2007-04-04: Exercising his prerogative, President Bush today made a recess appointment of Sam Fox as Ambassador to Belgium. Will Sen. Kerry restrain himself and let this issue rest? Well, what do you think? Get the popcorn ...
Original post follows:
As is their wont, Presidents nominate wealthy and influential friends and supporters as Ambassadors to foreign nations. For major and developed nations, these political appointees receive this as a reward for loyalty, and are expected to represent the best interests of our nation. Such is the case of Missourian Sam Fox. At the age of 77, and having lead an enviable life, he was nominated by President Bush to serve as US Ambassador to Belgium. For Mr. Fox, this would have been a fitting cap to an impressive career.
Would have been, had Mr. Fox realized that the US Constitution's guaranty of free speech does not apply when it comes to criticism of Democrats. You see, Mr. Fox had the audacity to give $50,000 of his own money to the group known as the "Swiftboat Veterans for Truth", or SVTs, during the 2004 presidential election cycle. You will recall that the SVTs were very critical of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, and his conduct during and after the Vietnam War. This money apparently was spent on political free speech by the SVTs, in apparent violation of the "Thou Shalt Not Criticize Democrats" provision of the 1st Amendment.
As an aside, Sen. Kerry had the opportunity to put all of the SVT criticism to rest by authorizing the release of his military records by signing form SF-180. He might say he did, but this would be akin to the Clintonesque "non-denial denial". He signed a form allowing records to be released to a hand-picked journalist from Boston (presumably under the same confidentiality expectation that landed Judith Miller in jail during the real investigation of the non-leak of the name of a non-covert employee of the CIA). Had Sen. Kerry instead signed a blanket form, held a press conference, and provided full copies of all records to the 30 most prominent news agencies (both left- and right-leaning), we could have separated truth from fiction. Instead, he chose the course of belligerent denial and confrontation in a bitter "he-said, she-said" public debate ("How dare you question me! I'm John Kerry!!"). If they're as clean as Sen. Kerry would have us believe, he was a fool for not releasing them, as he'd most likely be President today. One can only wonder what is in those files.
Fast-forward to 2007, and we see Mr. Fox's name come before the Senate as Ambassador-nominee. Sen. Kerry now has the opportunity to rise above partisanship and petty politics, and recognize both the lifelong achievements of a great American, and the Presidential prerogative of naming Ambassadors (I'm picturing a head-shot of Sen. Kerry with, in the best Looney Tunes fashion, "Politicus Pettymaximus" as his identified species). Would Sen. Kerry be inspired to move on, as would be the rallying cry of many of his supporters at Moveon.org? Of course not! Sen. Kerry simply cannot keep himself from digging up the past and halting the nomination. Talk about your politics of personal destruction!
So Mr. Fox will presumably return to Missouri to enjoy his retirement, and without having had the opportunity to represent his beloved country as Ambassador to Belgium. I can only hope that, deep inside, Sam Fox takes solace that Sen. John F. Kerry has, once again, shown himself to be undeserving of the title: "President of the United States".
