The White House is standing by George Tsunis, President Obama’s pick for ambassador to Norway, despite a side-splitting confirmation hearing performance in which he averred that Norway has a president, which it doesn’t, and that the Norwegian government had condemned a Party with which it has formed a coalition.
“I can tell you that this president has confidence in all of the nominees he’s put forward for ambassadorial positions as well as other positions in the administration, in the government,” said White House press secretary Jay Carney today.
But maybe we’re being unfair here. After all, Tsunis’ chief qualification for the Norway posting appears to be his fundraising prowess, not his his scholarship of Scandinavia.
During the 2012 election cycle, he and his wife raised $988,550 for Obama, gave $300,000 to Democratic super PACs and $75,800 to the Obama Victory Fund, according to Yahoo News.
Watch this hilarious exchange between Mr. Tsunis and Sen. John McCain at a hearing on some nominees.
It begins with a rambling, contentless comment by Colleen Bradley Bell, an “American television producer, philanthropist and advocate for the environment, arts and social causes,” according to Wikipedia. Bell, who is Obama’s nominee to be ambassador to Hungary, sounds like she’s responding to a question in the finals of the Miss World contest, prompting a dryly sardonic, “great answer,” from McCain.
Following the response from Tsunis, who describes McCain’s rather routine query as “a very seminal question,” McCain deadpans, “I have no more questions for this incredibly highly qualified group of nominees.”
You’ll have to go to the Dossier link above to catch the video of Ms. Bell’s testimony (well worth the effort – don’t miss it) but here’s the Long Island shopping mall developer’s son George doing his bit for America, a performance for which the U>S. Embassy in Norway has already apologized. I’m sure there will be many more such opportunities during the next three years.