I thank you all, and I appreciate you coming by my office and I enjoyed the private conversation.

Good. It is hoped that in the Gulf of Guinea we can, I think we have, move to intercept the issue before it gets as bad as it did off the coast of Somalia certainly.

Thank you. Now I can stage a coup. Chairman Coons is finally gone here.

One thing that has been disappointing I think to all of us is that regional organizations, in particular SADC and the African Union, have not spoken out more forcefully and more on the side of democracy.

This is a critically important post, something that both of us have been pushing for, and I am glad the State Department finally has made this nomination.

I think you put the odds of a comprehensive deal at about 50/50 because we do not know the direction that this is going to head.

I know you are aware of the challenges that GAO has laid out regarding the lack of using appropriate accounting standards, if you will, at the State Department.

I do hope, if confirmed, that you will work with us to ensure that these programs are not clamped down upon but actually... expanded because I agree.

What is it that you think we could be doing to help stabilize Lebanon with the conflict that is occurring in Syria?

Our Nation's first great politicians were truly our ablest, most respected, most talented leaders, who moved from one field to another with amazing versatility and vitality.

I think it is a tremendous opportunity for us and I think you do, too.

I do not think we are back where we started, because the population is energized.

I think the committee worked very well under the chairman's leadership to produce I think a good piece of legislation.

In Libya we have a situation, as we talked about yesterday in my office, in which a country that has almost no government. You can feel it when you are there on the ground. Much of the country appears under militia control, and many recent…

I just traveled, not 3 months ago or so, through northern Africa to see what is happening with the nodes, if you will, of al-Qaeda that have now splintered off, and the effect that it is going to have on North Africa as well as the role…

I hope you will follow the footsteps of predecessors like Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Jeane Kilpatrick who basically got out there and championed our national interests at the United Nations even when it was unpopular.

I certainly, though, would like to drill down a little bit on the responsibility to protect.

the stated purpose of the United Nations, which is to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security.