So Bolton is finally going to be out of the UN. And after his lowly performance there, here's what NPR's Jackie Northam offers us: "John Bolton’s short tenure as ambassador to the UN was contentious, controversial, and thanks to his gift for pithy statements, colorful."This is a pretty sad way to describe a figure like Bolton. Even a mainstream publication like MSNBC/Newsweek gives a far more informative and unflattering portrait of Bolton's shortcomings. Pithy statements? Colorful? Maybe Northam was thinking of the Bolton of July 2006 -- when his words had a distinctly blood-spattered tinge to them? Or perhaps pithy was how she interpreted the occasion mentioned in the MSNBC/Newsweek piece when he called a close ally of the US at the UN an "international civil servant" because the man dared to offer Bolton some helpful criticism?
Glib and shallow pieces like this stand in such stark contrast to what NPR is capable of offering - as in Daniel Zwerdling's rich, substantive, and humane piece on the mental health struggles of Iraq war veterans.
