Posted on 06/22/2005 5:21:15 AM PDT by OESY
Democrats seem determined to filibuster John Bolton's nomination to be U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., embarrassing President Bush and sending a message that any public official who declines to kowtow to the permanent bureaucracy will be punished. Mr. Bush now has to decide how to respond in a way that shows he's not a lame duck.
The easiest response would be to make a recess appointment, which would send Mr. Bolton to Turtle Bay for the duration of this Congress, roughly 18 months. But this would allow Democrats to claim that they've wounded Mr. Bolton and embolden U.N. officials to resist his reform exertions. It also asks Mr. Bolton to sacrifice himself so the President can move on.
We have a better idea. Send White House National Security Adviser Steve Hadley to the U.N. and give Mr. Hadley's current job, which isn't subject to Senate confirmation, to Mr. Bolton. As a soft-spoken type, Mr. Hadley will have no trouble being confirmed, and no one at the U.N. will doubt he has Mr. Bush's ear. Meantime, the swap will send a message to Democrats that they can't deny Mr. Bush the foreign-policy advisers he wants.
While the U.N. post would be a temporary loss of status for Mr. Hadley, his loyal service would mark him for a Cabinet post in the future.... He'd also take the U.N. job at a pivotal moment when the U.S. commitment to that body hinges on genuine reform.
The White House temptation will be to cut its political losses with a recess appointment. But while Mr. Bolton was the immediate target, the worst damage here has been to Mr. Bush's own political prestige and foreign policy. One of his most loyal supporters is being denied confirmation for nothing more than promoting Mr. Bush's policy too vigorously....
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Does Bolton have Hadley's ear? Any idea?
I agree...Bush should follow Sun Tzu's advice on this one..."when your opponent is angry, taunt them." The Dims are ALWAYS angry! It is amazing to watch.
[snip]Mr. Hadley has been a member of the Department of Defense Policy Board, the National Security Advisory Panel to the Director of Central Intelligence, and the Board of Trustees of Analytical Services, Inc. ("ANSER"). His professional legal practice focused on business problems of U.S. and foreign corporations particularly as they involve international business, regulatory, and strategy issues. He received a BA degree from Cornell University and a law degree from Yale Law School.
Call for another vote with cheney in the chamber, let the donks obstruct and nuke the idiots. Let the donks know that filibusters are for their chamber to decide legislative matters but will not be tolerated in the role of advice and consent for executive branch appointments (and of course, judges are covered here as well).
Enough with the recess appointment idea. Finish this once and for all.
But that article was written by a leftist reporter, so I take it with a ton of salt.
I could live with that, as long as Bolton is in a critical position.
Nice idea. Are their 50 Senators willing to do this? Sadly, I don't think so.
Who cares what their fifty senators do or what they think? The vote on cloture fails, Frist calls for "point of order" with cheney in the chair and we nuke them.
Then and there.
I think the only way a nuke actually leaves the silo is if it's over a SCOTUS nomination. That's not to say a filibustered SCOTUS nomination will result in a nuke; it's just that I seriesly doubt there are 50 votes for any other circumstance -- whether it's a Circuit Judge, UN Ambassador, or any other appointment.
Oh. I did not reaize you meant the other "there". Sorry. None of our senators should balk, because in principle there is NO difference between appointing bolton and appointing a judge as far as the constitution is concerned. The fact that it will come to a vote again should offer a pretty strong indication of what the president expects from the repubs in the senate.
It's time for the repubs to have a come to Jesus meeting, take a whip count, offer thune a way to keep Elsworth from getting cut, and bring it to a vote after the 4th of July with Cheney in the chamber.
The postion is open because of the Senate. They haven't voted on the nomination yet.
The only way to keep the heat on the Senate is to reject their attempt to return the nomination without voting on it.
JOHN BOLTON NOMINATION
Mr. REID. Mr. President, yesterday at the White House it was reported that President Bush told Republican leaders to keep fighting to get Mr. Bolton, the President's nominee to be U.N. ambassador, an up-or-down vote. Keep fighting--that was the message delivered by the President.
I understand the need for an occasional pep rally to bolster discouraged members of his party, but the American people are tired of the fighting and the bickering. They want us to tackle the hard issues confronting this country and deal with the crisis in health care where 45 million people have no health insurance and millions of others are underinsured, to deal with education, the ability of parents to send their children to college and then the deteriorating nature of our public school system, part of which is directly related to the Leave No Child Behind Act. We are approaching 1,800 dead American soldiers in the war in Iraq. We are approaching 20,000 who have been wounded. We do not know the exact number of Iraqis who are dead, but it is well over 100,000.
Of course, we have the President's ongoing direction to privatize Social Security. He has not directed his attention at all, as we should, to retirement security. United Airlines basically defaulted on their pension obligations to their employees. Delta, Northwest, other airlines, and other companies are standing by. Unless they get help from the Congress, they too will default on their obligations to their employees' retirement programs.
They, the White House, want the John Bolton matter resolved. It can be resolved easily and quickly in two ways. First, the President can take the advice of the distinguished Republican, the Senator from Ohio, Mr. Voinovich, and offer a new nominee. Over the course of the Foreign Relations Committee hearings, it became quite clear that John Bolton is simply not the right man for this most important job. John Bolton has attempted to manipulate intelligence, intimidate intelligence analysts, and has shown outright disdain for the international system and the institution for which he was nominated to serve.
The administration would have everyone believe that Mr. Bolton is the only man capable of delivering the reform message to the United Nations. We all agree that the United Nations needs reform, but I would submit that there are dozens, scores of tough reform-minded conservatives who could be confirmed rapidly with broad bipartisan support.
We have quickly approved the White House's two previous selections to this post, Negroponte and Danforth, and we are prepared to do so again.
When Senator Danforth decided to step down as our Representative to the United Nations, the administration had a choice to make: Did it want to pick someone along the lines of its two previous nominees who could have been quickly confirmed and on the job fixing the U.N. or did it want a fight in the Senate? It appears a fight was more in line with what they felt was appropriate.
Unfortunately, the administration, as I have said, knowingly chose a fight. They were told prior to sending his name to the Senate that it was a problem. The White House's choice and subsequent actions demonstrate that reform in Washington is needed as much as it is at the United Nations.
If the administration does not want to withdraw Mr. Bolton's nomination, and that appears to be clear, there is another path. It can take the advice of former majority leader Trent Lott, who said yesterday on Fox News that the administration should provide the information that has been requested by the Senate. This is Senator Lott saying this, not me, even though I have said it also. Speaking to Fox News, the Senator from Mississippi further said:
My colleagues have a right to know that information. . . . I think the [Administration] ought to give the [Senate] the information.The distinguished Senator from Mississippi, my friend, also went on to say what this fight is really all about:
We are saying to the White House, we're a coequal branch of government here, other Senators have done this in the past, we're seeking this information which we have a right to . . .That is also a view shared by the Republican Senator from Rhode Island who sits on the committee, Lincoln Chafee, who, when asked whether the White House should turn over the information about Mr. Bolton, said, as he usually does, in very short, concise statements:
``I like full disclosure.''
Full disclosure is exactly what we need. We should shed light on whether this nominee tried to stretch the truth about Syria's weapons of mass destruction programs, and it should explain why Mr. Bolton needed to see what Americans--perhaps his own superiors at the State Department--were saying about him in these NSA intercepts.
I have said it before and I will say it again: This fight is not about Mr. Bolton. It is about whether this administration will recognize that the Constitution established that Congress is a coequal branch of Government with certain powers and responsibilities. If the President turns over the information, not part of it or a summary of it but turns over all of the information requested, the White House will get their up-or-down vote on Mr. Bolton.
Unlike the advice offered by the President yesterday, continued fighting will not advance his troubled nominee. Working with the Senate will. By taking the advice of my friends from Ohio, Senator Voinovich; Mississippi, Trent Lott; and Lincoln Chafee, Rhode Island, all Republicans, the President and the Congress can put this matter behind them and move on to the critical issues facing the Nation and the United Nations.
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