The Diplomad resigns. Anyone with the linguistic chops to describe Canada as “an anti-American sharia-besotted Botswana with snow” will be sorely missed. (My only question: Were these US Foreign Service Officer-bloggers under pressure from the State Department to shut down?)
PJ Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that PJ Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. Please note that comments are reviewed by the editorial staff and may not be posted immediately. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pjmedia.com.
Their closing post says:
I’ll take them at face value, but will miss their voice, view, and style
They did a great job while they lasted. Dang! Better tipjar Roger before he goes and decides to fold up his tent!
I just discovered (why am I always the last to know?) that Spinsanity hung up their keyboards also.
Roger,
Along with you, Powerline, Cap’n Ed and about 10 others, the Diplomad was a must read.
We will miss him, but at the same time I would like to thank you for all you do. We lost Steve Denbeste before I could thank him for his work and vowed I would not let it happen again, so thanks for your hard work from a neighbor in Burbank.
I’m reminded of the final marquee sign at the great repertory movie theater in Berkeley, my favorite Marx Brothers movie, and a favorite parody…
Living with your folks… living with your folks… the beginning of the end… drab, dead yesterdays shutting out beautiful tomorrows… hideous, stumbling footsteps creaking along the misty corridors of time… and in those corridors I see figures… straaange figures… weeeird figures: Steel 186, Anaconda 74, American Can 138.
I don’t know why.
I wish the Diplomad would have hung around a bit longer to give us there take on developments such as this from the Sunday Telegraph.
Interesting how a State contrarian stops blogging just as Sec. Rice comes on board. Perhaps the Chief Diplomad’s talents and politics are being put to even better use now by the Department. Dearly hope that he is not being muzzled for his telling it like it is, especially since he’s such a keen proponent of Bush’s policies.
“Were these US Foreign Service Officer-bloggers under pressure from the State Department to shut down?”
My guess is that he got a heads up from a colleague and decided not to press his luck any futher. Can’t blame him. Maybe he will be back.
If its true that they weren’t rooted out by the State Dept, and if its true that they won’t be blogging anymore, perhaps they can share their names with us, so we can know who they are and where they were blogging from.
Powell out. Rice in. Kofi going down.
Diplomad thinks: my work here is done.
Roger,
In the wacky world of Washington tea-leaf reading (who says Kremlinology is a dead art?), when the Diplomad says he wasn’t soerced into shutting down the blog, it probably means he got a quiet word from a colleague that it was “time to move on.”
I’ll miss his (her? their?) postings dearly. They gave me so much good ammunition in the days after the tsunami when I was arguing with UN-worshipping Canadian friends in the “Great Stingy Debate.”
Tis a shame. The “glow-ball vorming” and his reply, “your government is concerned about worms?” was a classic.
it’s time to send Don Logan (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203119/)
… sorry, better link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005UV33/002-4047738-3314402?v=glance
As a senior FSO, the diplomad must have known that blogging tsunami relief operations would “out” him-her. What a gutsy move. I’ll miss the blog. Thanks Diplomad.
Indeed I agree with Homer. Posting documents from a known origin undoubtedly hung the hat for Diplomad… (absolutely no reference to Roger:))
It is a shame it was such a short-lived experiment. Perhaps they will choose to reincarnate… Please let me know if they do.
http://www.RightViews.com
I’ll miss the Diplomad. What a fun blog that was. All my favorite targets, lined up and shot down at point-blank range.
Knucklehead:
Thanks for the Telegraph link. I loved this line:
“There cannot be an absence of moral content in American foreign policy,” she says. “Europeans giggle at this, but we are not European, we are American, and we have different principles.”
Morgan,
I also enjoyed those lines. They tied with
as my favorite.
With Condi in, maybe he thinks things will get better.
Otherwise, crushing his dissent!!!!!