Tomlinson May Be Going, but He's Staying

Burns for the Defense

Who says chivalry is dead? Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns has come to the defense of his colleague, undersecretary for public diplomacy -- and very close Bush friend -- Karen Hughes, in the latest issue of the Foreign Service Journal, which is put out by the career diplomat association.

Burns, in a quite lengthy and impassioned rebuttal to an October article in the journal, wrote "to express my strong disagreement with several assertions" in the piece, especially that she was "wary of the foreign service" and prefers "political appointees."

Arrant balderdash! "Karen is an inclusive leader who has shown great respect for the Foreign and Civil Service," wrote Burns, and career folks "in her office feel a great sense of loyalty to her."

Yes, indeed. "Karen Hughes is a compassionate and generous person who has bent over backward to rely" on the career people, Burns said.

She's also, as the purportedly offensive October article noted, "really smart, flexible and adaptable, and willing to change her tactics to accommodate the facts." And she's quite capable of defending herself.

The Internet Has Many Fathers

Puffery alert! We all know that Al Gore invented the Internet. Now we learn he was hardly the only one. In a news release announcing his new job working for his former chief of staff, former senator Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) has been "praised as 'one of the fathers of the modern Internet.' "

And on the Hill, a news release tells us that Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Calif.) is taking over "the reins of the Committee on House Administration, a mammoth organization [and] prestigious Committee."

You mean the one former representative Bob Ney (R-Ohio) used to run?