Here's the thing - don't expect me to be enthused about someone who cozys up to a mass murderer.

[MADem]

283. He had no titled or salaried role in Clinton's State Department. He did what most SoS's have done

down the years.

A few phone calls, where HE called her ("checked in regularly), with conversations that were likely on the lines of "How did you handle so-and-so?" or "What did (insert country) tell you about (insert issue) when you visited back in 72?" and a few travel reports are not what you're trying desperately to make them out to be. Clinton's precise words, quoted elsewhere in this thread:

Kissinger is a friend, and I relied on his counsel when I served as secretary of state. He checked in with me regularly, sharing astute observations about foreign leaders and sending me written reports on his travels. Though we have often seen the world and some of our challenges quite differently, and advocated different responses now and in the past...

That bit -- often seen the world and some of our challenges quite differently, and advocated different responses now and in the past bears REPEATING. More than once because it's not sinking in, apparently.

They see the world differently. They advocated different responses now and in the past. That's diplomatic language for "We didn't see eye to eye."

Madeleine Albright, Condi Rice and Colin Powell no doubt "advise" Kerry when they run into one another, too. or when one of them travels to a foreign country and meets with a government official--it's what senior government leaders DO, you see.

There aren't that many living SECSTATES, just like there aren't that many POTUS's. These are small clubs, and the people in them are what's called grown-ups. They speak to one another civilly, even if they have disagreements over policy issues or world view.