The man who was behind one of the more important Initiative’s when it comes to preventing terrorists from acquiring WMD’s, The Proliferation Security Initiative (h/t The American Thinker), is still being denied confirmation as US Ambassador to the UN:
But with the announcement on Thursday by Senator Lincoln Chafee, Republican of Rhode Island, that he would deny Republicans on the committee the last vote needed to send Mr. Bolton’s nomination to the full Senate, some administration officials privately acknowledge that Mr. Bolton’s chances of confirmation are “nil,” one State Department official said.
Mr. Chafee, who was defeated for re-election on Tuesday, said: “The American people have spoken out against the president’s agenda on a number of fronts, and presumably one of those is on foreign policy. And at this late stage in my term, I’m not going to endorse something the American people have spoken out against.”
In this situation, the usual next step would be for Mr. Bolton to withdraw from consideration and for Mr. Bush to nominate a less polarizing candidate. Names that have been floated both inside and outside the administration include Zalmay Khalilzad, the American ambassador to Iraq; Philip D. Zelikow, the State Department counselor; Paula Dobriansky, under secretary of state for democracy and global affairs; and even Mr. Chafee.
But the Wall Street Journal rightly claimed this morning that denying him the seat is not only hurtful to the United States, it’s hurtful to President Bush’s attempt to keep this country protected:
So let’s see. Democrats retake the Senate, and their first act of “bipartisanship” is to declare that they’ll deny a confirmation vote to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton. And now, say the arbiters of Washington manners, President Bush is supposed to show his willingness to compromise by withdrawing Mr. Bolton’s nomination.
If Mr. Bush obliges, he’ll be taking a big step toward turning last week’s GOP defeat into a rout. Mr. Bolton has performed in exemplary fashion as a recess appointee these last two years, winning plaudits from everyone except those who admire Kofi Annan and Hugo Chavez. He has followed State Department orders and argued forcefully for U.S. policy.
The opposition to Mr. Bolton is based on nothing save vindictiveness. Republican Lincoln Chafee, who would have lost his GOP primary without White House support and who finally did lose last week, now says he won’t vote for Mr. Bolton though he had once supported him. Mr. Chafee is a mystery wrapped in a muddle even to himself. Democrats Chris Dodd and Joe Biden are trying to show that any political appointee who refuses to bend to their wishes can’t be confirmed. They know other Democrats would vote to confirm Mr. Bolton if he made it to the Senate floor.
Having had one recess appointment, Mr. Bolton can’t get another one and be paid. But he could retain his position and be paid if Mr. Bush names him to a non-confirmable post at State and then assigns him to the U.N. Ambassador’s duties. Now, that’s a compromise.
Thankfully Bush is not going to back down and let Pelosi and her minions run roughshod over this country:
President Bush will not relent in his defense of John Bolton, his nominee for UN ambassador, despite unwavering opposition from Democrats who view Bolton as too combative for international diplomacy, aides said yesterday.
Two of Bush’s top advisers said the White House is not backing down from a fight to win Senate approval for Bolton to continue in the job. Bush gave Bolton the job temporarily in August 2005, while Congress was in recess. That appointment will expire when Congress adjourns, no later than January.
The Senate’s top Democrat said lawmakers have more pressing matters to deal with during the postelection session this week. “I think we should go to things that we can work together on,” said Senator Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada.
Work together on? Come on, as Pelosi has so clearly shown, there will not be ANY working together. Her attempts to get the worst of the worst when it comes to far lefties into leadership positions in the house should be a huge warning signal to those who actually believe we can all get along.
The left ran a bunch of middle of the road Democrats to challenge Conservatives so they could get a majority. Once they won they quickly swept those moderates under the rug and are back to their foolishness.
There will not be any working together. Bush will not bow down and compromise on someone who has done so much good work in the UN. Someone who will not allow this kind of baloney:
The United Nations’ top human rights body will hold a special session on Wednesday to consider a call by Arab and Muslim states for action against the “gross human rights violations” of Israel in Gaza.
to succeed needs to be confirmed.
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