Clinton rescinds invitations for hot-dog diplomacy

Thanks to all of you who voted about whether Secretary Clinton should be speaking out more about the Iranian election and its aftermath. To date, 54 percent of you said Clinton should be speaking out more, 35 percent said she shouldn’t, and 10 percent were undecided. (Rounding makes the percentages not sum to 100, and no, this poll wasn’t scientific.)

Well, it turns out that Clinton did “speak out” in a unique way on Wednesday when she ordered all U.S. embassies and consular missions to rescind July 4 Independence Day party invitations sent to Iranian diplomats. When it comes to Iran, Clinton is canceling the “hot dog” diplomacy. In a cable sent to U.S. diplomatic posts worldwide, Clinton said:

Unfortunately, circumstances have changed, and participation by Iranian diplomats would not be appropriate in light of the unjust actions that the President and I have condemned.  For invitations which have been extended, posts should make clear that Iranian participation is no longer appropriate in the current circumstances.

No Iranian diplomats will be crying about having their hot dogs snatched away from them, though; none had RSVPed that they were coming. 

By the way, I hope that none of those hot dogs that embassies planned to offer contained pork.

Photo: iStockphoto