TO BELGIUM, WITH LOVE. As you may have heard, the president has given Belgium a new ambassador as a recess appointment; one Sam Fox, a major Republican donor and also a donor to the Swift Boaters. Googling Fox's name gives us recent history in a snapshot: pages and pages about Bush giving in to the Democratic opposition and withdrawing Fox's nomination, and then -- BANG -- the guy is in. Gotcha! A new type of bipartisanship? Or rather the same old Boltonizing? Fox wasn't the only recess appointment. Bush also appointed Andrew Biggs, a big fan of privatization, to be the deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration, and Susan E. Dudley, a skeptic about the necessity of government regulation, to a position that will let her review those very same regulations. So what can the Democrats do about these spring presents? Not much, perhaps, although some argue that a legal challenge might be in the works in the case of Fox's nomination.
-- J. Goodrich
