But even being kissin' cousins with the president still takes some beaucoup bucks if you want a cushy position.
OpenSecrets.org notes several thousands of campaign contributions made to the Republican party in 2003/2004:
http://tinyurl.com/9pnp2
Bush has pulled off a tour de force of diplomatic imperialism, claiming carte blanche, while dismissing our concerns as outré.
Merde! The Greenwich Times notes that President Bush will be sending family member to mend relations with the French:
http://tinyurl.com/94x7w
A real estate executive with family and business ties to President Bush, Stapleton inherits what foreign policy experts describe as the tricky task of mending Franco-American relations strained by the Iraq war and trade disputes.
"It's one of the most high-profile postings there is," said Charles Kupchan, director of European Studies for the Council on Foreign Relations, a public policy institute with offices in New York and Washington, D.C.
"The U.S. ambassador to France will be serving at a very delicate time in U.S.-European relations, in part, because the transatlantic relationship has been troubled of late and the European Union is in the midst of one of the most serious crises in its history."
Messages seeking comment about Stapleton's confirmation were left yesterday at his Greenwich office.
A father of two whose wife, Debbie Walker Stapleton, is a Bush cousin, Stapleton served as ambassador to the Czech Republic from 2001 to 2003. He resigned the diplomatic post to help spearhead Bush's re-election bid in Connecticut, campaigning for his former Texas Rangers partner.
Coup de grace!
But as reported in a LeMonde survey, French and Americans' mutual dislike is growing, and more people in each country consider the other a rival.
Among the French, 17 percent disliked the U.S., compared with 11 percent last year.
But a quick google of Mr. Stapleton's name finds that maybe he didn't leave the Ambassadorship of the Czech Republic just to raise funds for Bush's reelection. It's déjà vu all over again:
The Prague Post
http://tinyurl.com/arwsj
President Vaclav Klaus and U.S. Ambassador Craig Stapleton had a sharp dispute over Iraq at a March 28 meeting, according to media reports. The president said that if weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq, they might have been planted, the newspaper Lidove noviny reported. Klaus also allegedly asked for the United States to remove the Czech Republic from its list of allies in the war against Iraq. Klaus denied making such comments. The U.S. Embassy declined to comment on the report, fueling press speculation that tensions were running high between the president and the ambassador. Stapleton broke his silence on the issue in an interview with The Prague Post about Iraq and U.S.-Czech relations.
Mr. Stapleton seems to have no difficulty standing up for the Bush party line - and we all know how "French Fry" Jacques Chirac and the other EU allies felt about the invasion.
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.