Embassies For Sale

[Franconicus]

Want To Become Bush's Next Ambassador?

By Georg Mascolo

Want to become a US ambassador? It's not as hard as you may think. Just donate a couple of hundred thousand to President George W. Bush's campaign coffers and pick your city. The president's new cadre of diplomats tend to be generous campaign donors, including the wealthy Ohio ball-bearing manufacture who is expected to run the US Embassy in Berlin.

....
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/inte...362387,00.html

[InsaneApache]

Well the last Ambassador to the UK was widely regarded as the worst ever....and he gave plenty to the re-elect Bush campaign. Happily his replacement (after 18 months) is a career diplomat. Some wag said that he (Bush) must have got his names mixed up when he appointed him......

[Redleg]

Want To Become Bush's Next Ambassador?

By Georg Mascolo

Want to become a US ambassador? It's not as hard as you may think. Just donate a couple of hundred thousand to President George W. Bush's campaign coffers and pick your city. The president's new cadre of diplomats tend to be generous campaign donors, including the wealthy Ohio ball-bearing manufacture who is expected to run the US Embassy in Berlin.

....
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/inte...362387,00.html

Ambassador's have always been selected under whatever criteria the President wishes to use. Hell I image other countries pick ambassador's using similiar if not worse criteria. From the same article in which you linked.

And the price for a ticket into the diplomatic corps is high -- at least six figures according to an unwritten rule that's been in place ever since Richard Nixon was in the White House. Back then, the president instructed his chief of staff that "anybody who wants to be an ambassador must at least give $250,000."

Former US President Bill Clinton also used campaign contributions as a factor when choosing political appointees -- albeit not nearly to the same degree as the current president

[doc_bean]

We use career diplomats, but as I understand it, Bush only appoints the fundraisers to lesser important posts (not China or Iran or Israel or similar places).

[Spetulhu]

Bush only appoints the fundraisers to lesser important posts (not China or Iran or Israel or similar places).

Like Berlin, Germany?

Let's hope these people only want the title for play and let the real embassy workers handle things.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Like Berlin, Germany?

Kinda shows
how Germany ranks in the US nowdays

[Franconicus]

It is your problem, man, not ours. We abolished the trade with offices a long time ago.

By the way: The Americans always complain about antiamericanism in Germany and France.
When I look at the threads here there are many Germans and French posting and most of them do not agree with Bush. But they are not antiamerican. Better complain about Canadians, English, Scottish, Australians .... .

[Oaty]

Kinda shows
how Germany ranks in the US nowdays

I do believe it has more to do with how delicate the relations are, not how important they are