Ambassador Bolton’s Very Exclusive Reception

So John Bolton had a reception at the U.N. ambassador's private residence in the penthouse at the Waldorf Astoria last night. The Washington Times, Fox News, and various other conservatives were invited, but some of the people who weren't included Colum Lynch from the Washington Post and Warren Hoge from the New York Times, both of whom cover the U.N. for their respective papers. If you thought the Bush administration’s cowardice about facing anyone not completely on board was confined to Crawford and the campaign trail, think again.

Lynch actually called the mission to the U.N. to confirm that he was not invited, and he was told that, indeed, he was not. A few hours before the reception I asked Warren Hoge about all this. "I'm not taking it personally. I've never met John Bolton," he told me, "and clearly this will continue through tonight."

Indeed, this is not about taking it personally, but it’s not an auspicious start -- especially coming on the same day as the reports about the extensive and undermining revisions to a proposed U.N. reform document. Is that what Bolton meant when he said he was going to New York to "strengthen" the U.N.?

I hope you had fun, Mr. Ambassador. Just send us the bill. We'll be picking up the tab for you for quite a while, I suspect.