Can our government get any dumber?

I'm thinking the answer is probably Yes.Every time I think the policy makers and their minions in Washington, D.C., have managed to hit rock bottom, they manage to do something even more moronic. I speak, of course, of the latest example, the handling of the Edward Snowden case. On what planet did the bright minds in D.C. think it would be a good idea to harass the President of Bolivia?

Even if Snowden had been on board the aircraft, you don't force the head of state of a sovereign nation into making an emergency landing and then, to insult the Bolivians even more, have the Spanish ambassador to Austria search the plane to make sure Snowden is not on board. This whole mess must be playing real well in the global press. Even countries that aren't real fond of Bolivia or its current president have to be wondering if they'd merit the same treatment. In short, it was practically guaranteed that right after that news came out, there'd be at least one South American country rolling out the Welcome mat for Snowden. It's actually not much of a surprise that it's Venezuela; they've got nothing to lose when it comes to the U.S. Our government has been making theirs sound like Evil Incarnate ever since the citizens of Venezuela elected an overtly socialist government.

Then when you toss in the fact that creating an international diplomatic incident that's going to have fallout for years to come also has the effect of making Snowden seem a lot more important than President Obama had been implying he was -- remember Obama's speech a few days ago in which he laughed at the idea of using any extraordinary means of getting at Snowden? He was trying to suggest Snowden isn't at all important, someone really not worth worrying about. Well, if Snowden is no big deal, why go through the trouble of pissing off a whole bunch of Latin American countries? Maybe there's more to Snowden (whom I've viewed as basically a fantasist with delusions of importance) than meets the eye.