William Weld, the Republican Governor of Massachusetts, had been named Ambassador to Mexico by Democratic President Bill Clinton, but his appointment was being held up by Republican Senator Jesse Helms. Mr. Weld meanwhile--who the year before had failed in his challenge to incumbent Democratic Senator John Kerry--had resigned from the governorship to concentrate on the confirmation hearings. To help sort all this out, we have the retired Democratic boss of the Massachusetts legislature, who in this genial session says of his former enemy turned friend, "I think he is just off on a little bit of a--having fun. He may become the ambassador to Mexico. If he really were intent on being the ambassador, however, I think he'd have sought it from the governor's office in Massachusetts." Mr. Buckley suggests another thing Mr. Weld could have done differently: "My own notion is that Mr. Weld became sort of provocative. He said, along the line: 'Look, I'm drawing a line and you troglodytes over there are different from us types who are sort of airborne Republicans who understand all these niceties.'" And Mr. Bulger adds a salutary warning about our media guardians: "In Massachusetts Helms is only a caricature. We have no idea what he's like. It filters through an exceedingly liberal media up there."