In Troubling Times, Conservatives Head Out to Sea

We know there is a "good Biden" and a "bad Biden," as he's told reporters, adding that he understands he has the capacity to "self-destruct." But when he announced his candidacy, he promised NBC's Tim Russert that "I'm going to be Joe Biden, and I'm going to try to be the best Biden I can be. If I can, I got a shot. If I can't, I lose."

Seems he's making a concerted effort to cut the rambling. Biden, of course, is the holder of the world indoor bloviation record for his spectacular 1,100-word question during Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's confirmation hearing in 1993.

But during his questioning of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at a recent hearing, Biden asked seven questions. The total number of words was 573, an average of only 82 words per question. The total includes his recitation of a lengthy quotation from Bush. One question was: "Are you confident?"

Could be he's serious about that presidential bid.

Speaking of Bloviating . . .

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Didn't seem that morale at the Agency for International Development could get much lower. Word is that a recent survey of Foreign Service officers there found about half the FSOs ranked morale as low to poor and only 12 percent said morale was good.

Probably didn't get better when employees found out last week that the annual employee awards ceremony for meritorious effort in 2006, scheduled for Wednesday, was postponed.

AID Administrator Randall Tobias, the official announcement said, will be joining Rice as "the second-ranking member of the U.S. delegation" to a gathering in Paris for donors helping Lebanon. The meeting date was only recently set, we're told.

Back in mid-November, Tobias told reporters he "might well lead the delegation" to the meeting, which he said was coming up in late January. Turns out the secretary of state will be the lead. Tobias will then go on to the all-important World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, a compulsory gathering for important and self-important bloviators.

The awards ceremony was put off until sometime in early spring.