Sometimes I find the incompetence of the Bush administration simply beyond belief.

I'm talking about the recent fuck-you America sent to the world: the nominations of Josh Bolton and Paul Wolfowitz to the positions of UN ambassador and World Bank president, respectively. Both posts are diplomatic in nature, and both people are elicit visceral dislike almost everywhere outside of America.

The benefit of nominating Wolfowitz and Bolton (as opposed to other candidates) is close to zero, whereas the costs are positive: giving our allies the finger in this way will make it more difficult to obtain their cooperation in the future. It really is not a difficult cost-benefit analysis to carry out, but it seems to have eluded this administration.