US State Department Praises North Korea's Kim Jong-Il

When diplomacy devolves to the point of praising one of the world's most brutal dictators, it fails to remain diplomacy. It's either acquiescence to evil or acceptance of it. The US State Department appears to be taking the path of least resistance - otherwise known as the road to hell - when it comes to the death of Kim Jong-Il.

Enter the number 3 official at the US State Department, via Weekly Standard:

Wendy Sherman, undersecretary of state for political affairs at the State Department, had some rather nice things to say about the reclusive Kim Jong Il, the dictatorial leader of North Korea who died a few days ago. She had met the rogue dictator, Josh Rogin reports, when Sherman "served as State Department counselor and North Korea policy coordinator under former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, [and had] traveled to Pyongyang with Albright in 2000."

The Standard quoted from both an NPR obituary that quotes Sherman as well as a New York Times article in which she heaped praise on the dictator:

Wendy Sherman, now the No. 3 official in the State Department, who served as counselor to Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and accompanied her to North Korea, said in 2008: "He was smart, engaged, knowledgeable, self-confident, sort of the master-director of all he surveyed."

If the leaders at the top of our government are more comfortable praising one of the world's most brutal dictators instead of highlighting his atrocities, that should cause great concern among US citizens when it comes to how much our leaders care about their own people.

Ah, but the elitists at State are so much more intelligent and we citizens simply don't understand diplomacy, right? Diplomacy does NOT include praising evil dictators.

What more evidence do we need that our leaders have been inching closer to insanity for some time?

h/t Verum Serum