What’s up with Crocker? I have no doubt he has a firm grasp of the facts in the Middle East. My problem was that he looked and sounded like he was scared to death 90% of the time. I mean is this the best a senior diplomat in one of the most visible positions of diplomacy can muster? Frankly, I thought what he and Gen. Petraeus had to say was candid, balanced and accurate. But Crocker makes GW’s stumbling and mumbling from time to time look downright eloquent. Maybe I’m being to hard on the guy but I just can’t stop thinking about his painful pauses and whipped dog look he brought to the table with him.
Maybe this is what they teach diplomats as their “diplomatic presence.” Never, never look ‘em in the eye. Don’t sit up straight in your chair and engage them confidently and with a pleasant conviction. Every one of the senators I heard speak delivered their address with conviction and confidence. It made Crocker look like a school boy trying to explain his tardiness… again… even when answering Republicans!
Rich Moran left out the incredibly embarrasing gaffe Ted Kennedy made referring to the “Sunni’s in Basra” in the last uprising. Uh?… these were Shiites Ted. And McCain was making the comparison that Al Quaeda wasn’t (like) an inconsequential Shia sect found fighting alongside Sadr’s militia in Basra (the context). He could have stated it differently but I’m not sure he was calling Sunni’s Shia’s again. Poor Ted about spun a bearing trying to recover from his blunder.
