James B. Longley Jr. - Yes, he's still alive.

When John Bolton was announced as Bush's nominee to be the US ambassador to the United Nations, it was generally seen as an insult to our allies and a sign that this administration has rejected any pretense of multilateralism in our foreign policy. Here are a few choice Bolton quotes:

"If I were doing the Security Council today, I'd have one permanent member [the United States] because that's the real reflection of the distribution of power in the world."

"There is no such thing as the United Nations."

"If [the United Nations building in New York] lost ten storeys, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference."

"It is a big mistake for us to grant any validity to international law."

Last week, 59 former American ambassadors signed a letter urging Senate Foreign Relations Committee head Richard Luger to reject Bolton's nomination. 46 of the ambassadors had served Republican administrations.

Today, The American Prospect notes that leading neoconservative Frank Gaffney has attempted to respond by gathering some signatures of his own. Instead of respected diplomats, however, he simply got a bunch of low-level right-wing partisans to sign his missive. His list is filled with Republican opposition researchers and retired speechwriters and the like (and Newt Gingrich of course).

What does this have to do with Maine politics? The letter served to clue me in on what single-term Maine congressman and Gingrich ally James B. Longley Jr. is up to now. After losing his seat to Tom Allen in 1996 and losing the gubernatorial race to Angus King in 1998, Longley now spends at least some of his time warming the bench for Gaffney's "National Security Advisory Council".

Longley was so excited about the letter supporting Bolton that he accidentally signed it twice.

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