Don’t sneak Bolton in back door

Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts is right: President Bush shouldn’t try to make a so-called “recess appointment” of John Bolton, his controversial nominee for United Nations ambassador, during the upcoming Senate break. “That would not be in our best interest,” Roberts said of the recess maneuver, which could send a politically compromised Bolton to the United Nations until January 2007, when he would again face confirmation.
For now, Bush is saying he still wants an up-or-down Senate vote, but Democrats vow to prevent that until the White House agrees to release documents they suspect will show Bolton misused intelligence about Syria’s weapons capability.
Bush needs to provide more information about Bolton, and Senate Democrats need to not let partisan politics poison the confirmation process. If not, a pox on both their houses.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee

5 Comments

  1. Damoon
    Posted June 23, 2005 at 8:15 am | Permalink

    The fact that Bush would nominate someone like John Bolton to be our country’s representative to the UN shows what an incompetent president he is. We need someone who has some degree of diplomatic skills. George, what were you thinking?

  2. Roo
    Posted June 23, 2005 at 10:37 am | Permalink

    Say, wouldn’t his former boss be a better candidate? Granted he fumbled a bit when being forced to present false evidence of Iraq WMD in the General Assembly. But, Colin Powell is still a force to be reckoned with!

  3. joseph
    Posted June 24, 2005 at 12:16 pm | Permalink

    Having no representative at the UN is OK with me. Who needs an impotent, corrupt debating society that does nothing about genocide, sends out rape gangs instead of peacekeepers, and puts totalitarian regimes in charge of its human rights committee? And don’t give me that unnsupportable bias about the USA being as bad as the dozens of 100% despotic countries in the UN.

  4. Damoon
    Posted June 24, 2005 at 8:23 pm | Permalink

    I agree joseph, the UN needs a good overhaul. It would be best if we could have someone that would be strong and effective, with proven diplomatic skills, who might make a difference. John Bolton does not have the skills to do the job.
    Better yet, why not establish a new organization in which only countries with democratic governments could belong. This could be a strong power base and would maybe be an incentive for other countries to clean up their act.

  5. Steven E.
    Posted June 24, 2005 at 9:05 pm | Permalink

    Bolton is Cheney’s boy. When Condi Rice wanted him out of the State Department, Cheney wanted him somewhere and that was why he was nominated for the U.N. job. The match of skills to job was likely not even considered.

    Cheney usually gets what he wants in Washington. But this has become a high profile appointment so Bolton will be watched closely. Cheney usually likes to work in the background, but will not be able to with this appoinment. So, Cheney actually loses due to his winning.

    I can’t decide if the conclusion is satisfying to me or if it is disgusting because of the political games involved.