Diplomacy based on petulance

The Bush Administration continues to amaze me — they have an amazing ability to firmly put both feet in their mouth with their head up their ass.

From a press conference with Richard Boucher (I have no clue who he is, though):

QUESTION: Mr. Boucher, do you have anything on the proposal for the creation of a European Union military headquarters in Brussels independent of NATO — something that have angered the United States, according to reports?

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MR. BOUCHER: I’m not quite sure what proposal that is. You mean the one from the four countries that got together and had a little, bitty summit?

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QUESTION: That’s exactly it — and Belgium insisting to this —

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MR. BOUCHER: Yeah, the chocolate makers.

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(Laughter.)

What a wonderful little piece of diplomacy that is — deriding Belgium, France, Germany, and Luxembourg as “chocolate makers” and mocking their “little, bitty summit.”

Gov. Dean has issued a statement condemning the administration’s “foreign policy based on petulance“, a wonderful choice of words.