Prince Bandar's Friends

Prince Bandar is stepping down as the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. so let's see how the MSM and the N&O handle the story.

No doubt Bandar has been one of the most influential figures in Washington during his 22 years. Some will claim he had too much influence and the U.S. would have been better off moving away from the Saudis. Others say he was a moderating influence and helped keep relations cordial and reduced the level of extremism in the Saudi govt. After Sept. 11th, however, public opinion has turned against the Saudis, and it has not been a big plus to be seen as close to the govt. there.

So what the N&O wants to make clear in their article today is that Bandar was only influential with Republicans. They specifically mention Bandar's relationship with both 41 and 43, but oddly say nothing of his close ties not only with Clinton but also with a number of Democrat power brokers from as far back as the Carter administration. It took me 5 minutes to read about those ties in other references on my own bookshelf, so any writer worth his salt could have presented a comprehensive story pretty quickly.
Prince Bandar