More Getting Ready For Hillarity!:
John Kerry rated worst secretary of state in 50 years
Entirely plausible (although I do remember the "This wouldn't be happening if Warren Christopher were still alive" jokes from the early 90's), but...
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — A new survey of scholars ranks Secretary of State John Kerry dead last in terms of effectiveness in that job over the past 50 years.
Henry Kissinger was ranked the most effective secretary of state with 32.2% of the vote. He was followed by James Baker, Madeleine Albright, and Hillary Clinton, as judged by a survey of 1,615 international relations scholars.
Hillary? Based on what? And if she was so effective, how did it all go to hell so quickly under her successor?
Or, why ask why?
THEN AGAIN: Could they have meant that one day Hillary might be regarded as the fourth most effective female Secretary of State? Hey, right now she has third place nailed down!
First to Worst.
Posted by: Jeff Dobbs | February 05, 2015 at 10:50 AM
judged by a survey of 1,615
international relations scholarscredentialed communists."That's why George P. Schultz isn't right up near the top.
Posted by: RickB | February 05, 2015 at 10:50 AM
This is one case where I would like to see the survey, It appears likely that the participants were given one choice to pick as "most effective secretary of state in last 50 years", rather than an opportunity to actually rank the secretaries. So, really, Kerry did not come in as the "worst". He came in as "got the least votes for first". (Of course, I'd like to meet the person or two who did vote for him as most effective. One of them had to be John Kerry. The other is some academic in Colorado.)
By the way, the original source for the survey is here:
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/02/03/top-twenty-five-schools-international-relations/#section-rankings
You have to look hard to find the results.
Posted by: Appalled | February 05, 2015 at 10:56 AM
as judged by a survey of 1,615 international relations scholars
Kerry has failed the global test.
Posted by: Jeff Dobbs | February 05, 2015 at 10:58 AM
Many years ago I was in the same law firm as Warren Christopher. I did not go to his funeral. A friend who did, and was close to Chris, said when he viewed the body, he was not certain Chris was dead. Just couldn't tell.
Posted by: MarkO | February 05, 2015 at 11:04 AM
MarkO,
Could you tell before he died?
Posted by: Dave (in MA) | February 05, 2015 at 11:09 AM
Appalled:
By the way, the original source for the survey is here:
So if there were 1,615 responses, here's the vote total:
1.Henry Kissinger 520
2.Don't know 296
3.James Baker 286
4.Madeleine Albright 141
4.Hillary Clinton 141
6.George Shultz 91
7.Dean Rusk 57
8.Warren Christopher 25
8.Cyrus Vance 25
10.Colin Powell 17
11.Condoleezza Rice 7
12.Lawrence Eagleburger 5
13.John Kerry 5
Posted by: Jeff Dobbs | February 05, 2015 at 11:10 AM
Williams will be reprimanded but retain his job. Somewhere Dan Rather is seething.
Obama has never been in the military like King Abdullah. He wouldn't last a day in boot camp because at heart he is a wuss.
Posted by: maryrose | February 05, 2015 at 11:13 AM
Condi should be higher than Cankles.
Colin Powell is about right.
Posted by: maryrose | February 05, 2015 at 11:14 AM
MarkO,
In all seriousness, when he was SoS, I thought he looked like Dracula.
IF only we actually HAD Dracula as SoS. The idiot we've got now is a bloodsucking parasite anyway, we might as well have one who knows who his enemies are, and what to do about them.
Posted by: James D. | February 05, 2015 at 11:14 AM
Obama mentioned the Crusades and the Inquisition at the prayer breakfast. (see Drudge) He is equating the history of 500-700 years ago with current events. What a fool.
Posted by: Marlene | February 05, 2015 at 11:32 AM
Chris was anything but spontaneous.
He was a brilliant lawyer with massive business connections. When he came back to O'M&M after being SOS, he was the first partner to receive compensation in excess of those of his same graduating class.
Those were the halcyon days of law practice in which the motto was "What do the boys want and why can't they have it?"
Now, I'm told, O'M&M is a series of profit centers with joint marketing agreements.
Money does corrupt.
Posted by: MarkO | February 05, 2015 at 11:32 AM
He is truly despicable and a fucking liar-- USA slavery? the pre 1865 abolition movement was primarily driven Christian religious fanatics, you know, like the ones who oppose abortion: http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-people-committed-terrible-deeds-name-christ_840302.html
Posted by: NKvirusedand back | February 05, 2015 at 11:33 AM
maryrose:
Obama has never been in the military like King Abdullah. He wouldn't last a day in boot camp because at heart he is a wuss.
But, but, but, Obama's claim in the 2008 election was that he really did consider joining the military.....
It was Nixon's fault for getting us out of Vietnam, or maybe Carter's fault for not going to war with Iran. Either way, Obama could have been a super warrior patriot if only there had been a war going on for him to star in.
Posted by: Jeff Dobbs | February 05, 2015 at 11:35 AM
The first Crusade started in 1096 so it's even older than that.
Posted by: Captain Hate | February 05, 2015 at 11:51 AM
Obama is the ultimate relativist. What a disgraceful human being. He is incapable of looking at the positives and instead is always seeking uniform fart perfection as defined by Marx, Derrida, Gramsci and Foucault.
I don't understand how Hillary escaped the bottom, though. She traveled more than any SoS in history and accomplished less. Getting bombed and dancing the night away in Colombia, South Africa and elsewhere is no way to go through life, young lady.
Posted by: matt | February 05, 2015 at 11:53 AM
unicorn fart perfection!! Damn you, spellcheck!
Posted by: matt | February 05, 2015 at 11:54 AM
I assume everybody who refused to vote for Kissinger because he's a Jew gave their vote to Baker.
Posted by: Captain Hate | February 05, 2015 at 11:55 AM
The Pope will speak to Congress in Sept. Did Obama get bypassed again?
Posted by: henry | February 05, 2015 at 11:56 AM
CH,I just looked it up,yes 900 years ago! Someone at the prayer group should have shouted...Dude! That was like 900 years ago!
Posted by: Marlene | February 05, 2015 at 11:57 AM
"Getting bombed and dancing the night away"
That's what I meant. That's what I totally meant. Not that I got shot down, that I got bombed. I regret it if anyone heard it differently than how I meant it.
Posted by: Brian Willams | February 05, 2015 at 11:59 AM
Bullshit he considered it in high school. SOB didn't even register for the draft until Sept. 4, 1980, a full year after his 18th birthday and a year after he started Occidental. He probably only did so to stay eligible for federal student loans, until whatever magical ship came in that sent him to Columbia in 1981.
Posted by: Soylent Red | February 05, 2015 at 12:00 PM
Is there any doubt now where this POS's religious sympathies lie?
Posted by: Jack is Back! | February 05, 2015 at 12:02 PM
It was Nixon's fault for getting us out of Vietnam, or maybe Carter's fault for not going to war with Iran. Either way, Obama could have been a super warrior patriot if only there had been a war going on for him to star in.
Were foreigners allowed in the military back then?
Posted by: Jane | February 05, 2015 at 12:03 PM
Getting bombed and dancing the night away in Colombia, South Africa and elsewhere is no way to go through life, young lady.
You'll have to shout that into her good ear, matt.
Posted by: Soylent Red | February 05, 2015 at 12:03 PM
I wonder if the Pope will tell Congress about all of those terrible things done in the name of Christ.
I also wonder how many Dims will boycott.
Posted by: Eric in Boise | February 05, 2015 at 12:08 PM
Well, the interference with the state religion of Mexico by Cortés was only 495 years ago. That was just prior to Christian missionaries (those who didn't wind up in the pot) beginning to interfere with the religious practices of Africans.
Darned Christians, always meddling.
Posted by: RickB | February 05, 2015 at 12:09 PM
A little history lesson for the Dumbass-in-Chief
Posted by: Ignatz | February 05, 2015 at 12:43 PM
I detest polls of this kind, for the reasons stated by Appalled. They are worse than meaningless.
Posted by: Danube on iPad | February 05, 2015 at 12:49 PM
When ISIS is committing jihad, they are obeying their Q'u''r'an & Allah.
Posted by: Janet | February 05, 2015 at 12:53 PM
How nice of Obama to give us the opportunity to once again point out how younger folks are not being taught history.
Posted by: Miss Marple | February 05, 2015 at 01:02 PM
why don't we ever hear how crap other old civilizations were?
Everything native American is celebrated, but lets hear about the cannibalism practiced in some of the tribes? How one tribe would slaughter another & carry off the remaining captives as slaves? Let's hear about some of that.
Posted by: Janet | February 05, 2015 at 01:03 PM
Let me make sure I have this straight;
George Schultz, who presided over the great victory against and the absolute demise of the Soviet Union and its vast network of satellites and client states is ranked lower than the dumb bitch who presided over not only its nascent rebirth under Putin with the historically embarrassing "reset" stunt but also helped give birth to a rising tide of the most virulent Islamic fanaticism in decades sweeping across the Arab and African world and stunningly treating this as a positive step?
That he is ranked below Kissinger, the author of the hopelessly defeatist detente campaign and inextricably bound up in the colossal failure in Viet Nam is itself an injustice.
Posted by: Ignatz | February 05, 2015 at 01:09 PM
in response to last night's query, one of the horde, who has a degree in middle eastern studies, had a book on early state craft in the Islamic world, so that might be it,
things that make you go hm, Carlos Slim's didn't have a front page piece on the Jordanian reaction to the incineration, putting it halfway through the paper, instead the led with the almost apocryphal
'28 pages' on the 9/11 report, tying it to the Moussaoui claims, of funding from the Kingdom,
Posted by: narciso | February 05, 2015 at 01:13 PM
Heh. George 'I know nothing' Schulz.made Cap Weinberger look like a genius.
Posted by: Ben | February 05, 2015 at 01:24 PM
well Christopher did look like Kip the alien from Futurama, he got the job at Foggy Bottom as a reward for the Christopher Commission, that helped set
LA ablaze, before the election,
Posted by: narciso | February 05, 2015 at 01:31 PM
Yet somehow, Ben, he managed to negotiate a nuclear arms treaty with the Soviets, get our hostages home from Tehran, and initiate what resulted in the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Pretty good record for a dumb guy. Kerry should be so lucky.
Posted by: Miss Marple | February 05, 2015 at 01:34 PM
And now, we have the genius of John Kerry, Jen Psacki, and Marie Harf! How lucky we are to have smart people, unlike that doofus Schultz!
/sarcasm
Posted by: Miss Marple | February 05, 2015 at 01:40 PM
Bravo, Ignatz and Miss Marple. No matter how rigorously they labor to deceive and defraud, the progs can never be victorious as long as those who tell the truth keep speaking.
Posted by: BeenThereDoneThat | February 05, 2015 at 02:05 PM
Clutch Cargo has let the Rooskis know that the US doesn't plan on doing anything to help Ukraine.
Posted by: Captain Hate | February 05, 2015 at 02:34 PM
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/feb/5/obama-denied-request-jordan-predator-drones-islami/#.VNPTZspEDz0.twitter
Posted by: Miss Marple | February 05, 2015 at 04:01 PM
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mike-ciandella/2015/02/05/brian-williams-sits-board-congressional-medal-honor-foundation
No further words needed.
Posted by: pagar | February 05, 2015 at 05:12 PM
After briefly reviewing the source of the survey, I determined that the voters were completely sympathetic to democrats and thus the results should be taken with a grain of salt. By this I mean, in a lower survey, it was asked what is the most pressing international relations problem? The winner, Climate Change. Anyone who comes to that conclusion can not be trusted in regards to their judgement. To translate the results then, 4th place for Hillary and Maddy indicates that they were completely ineffective, rivaling the competence of an empty chair.
Posted by: PWT | February 05, 2015 at 05:27 PM
What difference does it make?
Posted by: jorod | February 05, 2015 at 08:52 PM
How seriously can we take the opinions of a bunch who rate Global Climate Change the number one foreign policy issue facing the United States today?
Posted by: Tom Bowler | February 06, 2015 at 11:34 PM