Sam Brownback's hold

It is time to tell Senator Brownback to end the hold on confirming Francis Ricciardone, Jr. as an envoy to Turkey. Why does it even matter? Because back in 2002, he wrote a letter to Ricciardone. Big deal, right? Well, as it turns out, this letter thanked him for his dedication and service as an envoy to the Philippines, for trying to  obtain the release of a missionary and his wife. He went on to say that he knew Ricciardone would "do a good job representing America's interests." The missionary was killed, his wife was freed. And why was the hold placed? Former Bush advisor Elliot Abrams said that he did not push hard enough to obtain democracy while serving as an ambassador to Egypt from 2005 to 2008. To be fair though, neither did the Bush administration. It is currently unknown if the hold will be lifted after the election or not.