if what the article says about Mr. Tsunis' comments and his total lack of knowledge about the country are true, he should not be confirmed as Ambassador.

I realize ambassadorships are often offered to big money donors to the President's campaign. These people are not really selected for their diplomatic skills, interest in or knowledge of the country, etc. But one would think if you were going for a confirmation hearing you might spend a few hours learning about the country.

Norway is a U.S. ally in NATO, a constitutional monarchy with a capitalist economy. They, not unlike other west European democracies, have a multi-party system. That system gives voice to a variety of political views which can be seen from our perspective as vitriolic, etc. But it is a democracy nevertheless.

learning about the guy and understanding the consequences. I like it.

where just about everybody is Norwegian. There's this recent editorial:

Other than it was time to reward his pay to play team?

I recall when Clinton really blew it with Carol Mostly Wrong. She embarrassed herself and the country as ambassador. This guy seems to be in the same league

seems to have been standard operating procedure since time immemorial. If you are going to do this, though, wouldn't it make sense to try to appoint those who are at least marginally qualified to represent the United States in a way that won't embarrass the administration and/or insult the countries to which they are posted? Tsunis doesn't have to be fluent in Norwegian or know how to bake lefse from scratch, but he should have at least tried to learn something about the country and especially its parliamentary system of government before making an ass of himself at the hearing and pissing off the Norwegians. Bet he thought it was just a pro forma thing and that the sheer amount of his donations was sufficient to qualify him. "Norway? OK. Nice scenery. I'll pop in for a visit now and then, travel first class on the government's dime, leave the actual work to the Civil Service grunts at the embassy. It's good to be rich and connected."

Dump this guy. Svært rask.

Would know at least some of the language, preferably travelled their "incognito", know something about the history, what makes the locals tick, and actually LIKE the country he would be transferred to...The only thing this clown seems to be qualified is to say "want fries with that" behind a counter for 7.25 an hour....

You do wonder what they were thinking with this.. and shame on the nominee, too, for not bothering to prepare properly, and, in general, not taking the confirmation process, or, apparently, the job, seriously.

I really, really hate Lutefisk.

Regarding insulting FRP: They invite insult. It would be rude not to accept the invitation.

I wouldn't mind coming to DC, taking a piss at the GOP myself...

But then again, I'm not rich, so I wouldn't get this offer anyway even in Norway.

I'm so sick of all this. Unqualified and ignorant political cronies getting appointed to high positions. And I don't care if it is standard practice. Obama PROMISED not to do this sort of thing. And that's a promise that would have been so very easy to keep.

Are all politicians (with sole exception of Bernie Sanders) liars? I'm beginning to think so.

Maybe the new rule should be: vote for the lesser liar.

But that doesn't mean he's anything remotely qualified for the job. He seems to be a smug douchebag who should have gotten more wedges in high school....

FRP (Progressive Party) is the most RW party in Norway having any Power in history (save from Quisling 1940-45)....

They have a weird sense of government. They are anything but progressive. So let me give you a rundown on what the "progressives" have done.

I Call it "FRP in a nutshell - a party of paradox"...

They want alcohol Commercials on TV. Not that it's anything wrong With that, since Norway has some of the most restrictive countries in the world regarding drugs. They want to sell liquorish pipes to kids and have it stored openly in the stores. They want to be able to sell booze 24/7. Again, Our nanny state think we are not mature enough to decide for ourselves when to get Our Liquid drug. Their leaders love their booze, and hate me for me taking my weed.

Yet the justice minister still does not want to have any discussion regarding legalization of Cannabis. He's afraid that the kids would receive "the wrong Message"...

They are all for the "free market", and think that every millionaire and billionaire have scrambled together their wealth by their on hands, and think that they should have giant tax cuts. At the same time, they are working against workers and unions, and want to criminalize beggars - Gypsie beggars by outlawing begging.
They think that our richest have to little, while they think that farmers and nurses and union workers earns to much. Our agricultural minister is anything but a farmer. She took college, and an education before becoming a full time politician, getting some experience in Washington DC working for a GOP official and working for First House afterwards.

They want to Close Our borders for People to get in, but have a large base of "refugees" living half the year in Spain while they are complaining about all the immigrants coming to Norway in their 17th of May speeches.

They are for more WARs in the ME, and will follow their NATO masters at a whim.

And want to refuse the refugees from these WARs entrance to the country.

Yes, FRP really hates "nanny state" and "Big government". So finally we are allowed to purchase Segway, and snow scooters all over in our pristine mountains. They want to drill for oil in the Barents Sea.

And as your run of the mill republican denies man made climate change. They want more oil, and are 50/50 on clean energy. They love oil and money for oil and think that scientists are commie, hippie tree huggers who wants to destroy our economy. They think climate change is an excellent change.

They claim they want to protect "Norwegian culture", but cannot define it but want to take huge cuts on our culture budgets. Somehow they must think that artists and writers are almost as big moochers and thieves as nurses and gypsies. They say to us: If you can't make a living and get rich on your writing, find something else to do you moocher". To be such "patriots", they do have this contempt for artists. They despise our "Socialists" with equal venom. Anything left of 'Høyre" (Right - the conservative party) are socialists. They have some suspicions about some party members there as well.

They claim they are for the "common man" and taking care of our treasures, they want to sell these commons to private interests. Since our government kissed arse to the Chinese government, suddenly Chinese "businessmen" wants to buy some of our soil. FRP are open for business. And I always thought they hated the commies and loved peace loving freedom fighters like Dalai Lama. Our prime minister (Høyre) refused to meet the Tibetan leader. The RWers from FRP defended the stance with nail and tooth, and couched up some cheap talking point from some "PR firm" (in which one of our FRP ministers used to work for) bashing Dalai Lama as an old fashioned feudal lord. I guess they must have read the Mao version of the invasion of Tibet.

As I said, they are against "mass immigrations" to this country, but are all in favor of Zionists take the WHOLE of Palestine, rendering the incarcerated Palestinians on Gaza as merely terrorists, and could care less about the harassment they receive on the West Bank while supporting more illegal settlements.
They don't want Palestinians to be an independent people, and bitch about "anti-Semitism" as soon as someone criticizes their ideology and stance, and labels more moderate voices as terrorist sympathizers.

They hated Obama since he got in to office. But if any leftie criticizes Obama, then you are an American hating commie who loves Jihad and hate our society for our value and freedom.

Does this remind you of something?

Put it like this, my vote for them will not happen anytime soon.

Think I'll join the Greens, bitch about getting a position, and bash them with unspeakable things during prime time television.

"While you vote for television
Everybody else votes to fuck you with switch blades!

That's voting!

You're welcome!"

Spider Jerusalem (Transmetropolitan)

But obviously it is unrealistic to hire someone who knows what they are doing.