BLOWBACK BY BROWNBACK - AT 7:59 A.M. ET:  From The Washington Times:

Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas threatened Thursday to take advantage of a Senate rule to block the confirmation of Christopher Hill as U.S. ambassador to Iraq on the grounds that Mr. Hill misled him in promising to raise human rights in talks with North Korea.

"I am going to be doing everything I can to hold up this nominee," Mr. Brownback told The Washington Times.

Mr. Hill is to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday.

The threat raises the prospect that the Obama administration will go without an ambassador in Baghdad for a prolonged period at a sensitive time.

COMMENT:  Brownback will get criticized by the usual suspects on the left, but he should be cheered.  Hill, a talented diplomat, also has a bit of a reputation as the "Slick Willie" of the diplomatic corps.  His negotiations with North Korea, heralded as "successful" by the State Department spin machine, always seemed to wind up unraveling, or at least not producing the claimed result.  Let the Senate take its time with this nominee.  He's been appointed to one of the most sensitive posts in the world, Baghdad, to represent a president who's been opposed to our efforts there.  We don't need slickness in that position.  We need a straight shooter.

March 20, 2009