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 t
must be exam time at the journalism schools, because the Washington
Post has just published a "how-to-do-it" piece
on the vaunted
"Federal Page" that is an inspiration to us all. The frolicsome
editors published an article by one Walter Pincus, known to greater
Washington as the slimer-in-chief for his many smear jobs on Republicans
and other conservatives.
Pincus's target
this time is my friend and colleague John Bolton, recently nominated
for the post of undersecretary of state for arms control and international
security. The charge? He "was paid $30,000 over three years
in the mid-1990s by Taiwan's government for research papers on U.N.
membership issues involving Taiwan." Not only that, but Bolton
also testified to Congress, supporting Taiwan's full membership
in the United Nations.
Imagine! Does
Pincus think that Taiwan should have hired one of the countless
members of the Communist Chinese chorus to write the papers for
them? Did the Taiwanese show bad judgment when they asked one of
the most respected and literate policy intellectuals in town to
write them? Not at all. Was there anything untoward in these actions?
Well, the whole story was told to the Office of Government Ethics
and the state department's Legal Advisor's Office, as well as to
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and none of them found anything
wrong.
Maybe it's
an out-and-out policy spat. But no, when Senator Kerry challenged
Bolton's views on U.N. membership for Taiwan, Bolton pointed out
that it would be improper for him, in his new post, to advocate
(even) diplomatic recognition of the place.
So why is the
Post so exercised? Why did they unleash Walter Pincus for
a full quarter of the page on this non-event?
The answer,
as I am sure the profs in the journalism departments are pointing
out to their students even now, is to be found in the accompanying
photograph, which shows Bolton eyeing a "disputed ballot"
in Palm Beach County. You see, Bolton was part of the Jim Baker
team that sacrificed its eyesight (and, no doubt, a significant
chunk of its sanity) to the endless recount of chads and dimples
after the November election. And that, dear friends, is considered
criminal in the corridors of the gray Stalinist building on 15th
Street that encases the Post's staff.
This sort of
thing used to have an effect, but everyone seems to have recognized
it as a failed prank. When I checked with the State Department late
Monday afternoon, I was told there hadn't been a single call from
the media on the matter.
This may be
yet another blow to Walter Pincus's self-esteem, but he and his
wife can always do a reprise of their fabulous dinner party for
the Clintons a few years ago, when Mrs. Pincus was a political appointee
in the Executive Branch. They can certainly count on gushing coverage
from the Post.
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