A Warning to All You Summer Interns Out There

Three lessons can be learned from this Politico story about Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele's mysterious courtship of ambassadors:

An RNC intern sent a message late last month to at least one ambassador on behalf of Neil Alpert, a senior finance aide, with little explanation.

"As you know, the November election is just 103 days away and the Chairman would like to extend to you an invitation to sit down either at the RNC or at your embassy to discuss the upcoming 2010 midterm elections," wrote Christopher Kelleher, a finance department intern. "With literally hundreds of congressional seats up for grabs in just under four months, Chairman Steel [sic] would love to have the opportunity to discuss the Party's outlook with you."

Lesson number one: It is very important to spell correctly the name of the person who runs your organization. Here at The Atlantic, for instance, interns are warned early that the magazine's editor, James Bennett, is a stickler on this point;

Lesson number two: It is best not to take an internship with Michael Steele, for any number of reasons;

Lesson number three: If, because of the recession, the only internship you can land is one with Michael Steele, you should avoid causing international incidents for no discernible reason, in particular international incidents that could conceivably prompt newspaper investigations of your activities.