If, as Claire Booth once said, no good deed goes unpunished, then within the White House, no bad deed goes unrewarded. Former Senator John Danforth was just appointed U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Of course, knowing in what contempt the White House holds the U.N., perhaps the choice of a liar and a hypocrite is appropriate.

But the White House isn't alone in its adoration of Danforth; he was also approved by Congress as the special investigator for the Waco Branch Dividian confrontation.

Danforth, it should be noted, is also an Episcopal priest. During the Clarence Thomas hearings, when he was still a senator, he was willing to do anything to get Thomas ratified, so he made up some truly nasty and outrageous lies about Professor Anita Hill, who had accused Thomas of sexual harrassment. Only he would take some time out on Fridays to run down to a nearby church and celebrate the Eucharist.

Danforth has admitted to lying and trashing Hill's reputation. No one in the White House, Congress or the news media seemed to think that made him unfit for either the Waco job or the U.N. job. After all, Professor Hill was just a woman. A black woman.

This behavior, of course, is brought to you by the people who scream "values!" at every opportunity, and who have pledged to bring "morality" to the White House. At least Danforth isn't a criminal, like some of the White House appointees.