Ambassador John Bolton makes a point that I led off with in the Paul post, namely, that we pushed too soon for democracy in Pakistan. That push led to Bhutto’s return, which in turn led to what happened to her today. That’s not blaming America so much as noting that you can’t make democracy in a microwave.

Bolton goes on to note that beyond democracy or anything else, the paramount US interest in Pakistan right now is to make sure that the nukes are secure. That need supersedes thoughts of the January 8 election. He’s right, of course. The first candidate who enlists Bolton’s open support in the primary is highly likely to get my vote.

More: I’ve been pondering whether and when to mention this, and this post seems as good a time as any. Probably the single aspect of Bolton’s book that most surprised me was the fact that one particular senator stood out as supporting Bolton’s nomination to become US Ambassador to the UN more than any other. Many senators supported him, and several tried to help out however they could. But one — Sen. John McCain — stands out in the book as doing the most over the longest period of time to try to facilitate Bolton’s confirmation.

That’s not an endorsement of McCain by any means. It does speak well of his judgment on putting the right man into the right job, though. If personnel is policy, and I believe that it very much is, we could do worse than McCain. Any of the Democrats would be much, much worse, because none of them would even think of putting someone like Bolton into a major role.