Posted on 06/04/2004 1:24:42 PM PDT by Jean S
ROME (AP) - President Bush said Friday he had chosen former Sen. John Danforth of Missouri to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
If confirmed by the Senate, Danforth, a Republican who is a popular figure among both Republicans and Democrats, would succeed the current ambassador, John Negroponte, Bush's choice to be ambassador to Iraq.
Since 2001, Danforth has been Bush's special envoy to war-torn Sudan. He served in the Senate for 18 years.
Bush made the announcement in a statement released while he was in Rome on a three-day European trip during which the U.N.'s role in post-occupation Iraq is a major topic.
A lawyer with a practice in St. Louis, Danforth, 68, is a former attorney general of Missouri. He is also a licensed Episcopal minister. He is a graduate of Princeton University and Yale University's law school.
As Bush's Sudan envoy, Danforth has attempted to mediate a peace agreeing among long-warring factions.
Bush nominated Negroponte in April to be the ambassador to Iraq's interim government, which is to gain sovereignty on June 30.
Easy Senate confirmation of Danforth seems likely, given his background as a senator and as a troubleshooter.
Danforth has been tapped before to tackle complex issues since his 1995 retirement from the Senate. During the Clinton years, he acted as special counsel appointed by then-Attorney General Janet Reno. He conducted a 14-month inquiry into the deaths in 1993 of about 80 Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. His investigation cleared the FBI of wrongdoing.
AP-ES-06-04-04 1545EDT
Ambassadorc?
Was this a typo or a political statement?...............
Rut-row! That did it. He is totally unacceptable to the religious hating socialist democrats!
Great. He'll fit right in.
Missouri John Danforth ping
Yeah, now he can help cover up Oil-for-Food and the World Bank scandal.
A NOTE FROM THE PAST:
Source: NewsMax.com
Published: Wednesday June 13, 2001; 4:17 p.m. EDT Author: Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff
Posted on 06/13/2001 13:33:02 PDT by JeanS
Former Waco special counsel John Danforth privately assured Clinton Attorney General Janet Reno that she did "exactly the right thing" when she ordered U.S. Army tanks to begin pumping tear gas into the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas eight years ago, a source familiar with his comments told NewsMax.com Wednesday.
Exactly!! The guys a fixer.
Danforth is the epitome of a blue-blooded RINO. A Ralston-Purina heir (his family founded it); educated at St. Louis Country Day, Princeton, Yale Law School and Yale Divinity School (he's both an attorney and an ordained Episcopal minister). An 18-year Senate career which steered a careful course down the middle (don't know whether he believed in nothing, or everything). Probably thinks the UN is a swell idea.
An utterly gutless nomination by the President.
Yep, I guess using your vernacular he helped fix Clarence Thomas's nomination to SCOTUS.(Danforth recommended and sponsored his nomination in the Senate and didn't waver).
Let's just get all the facts out before some go kneejerk, Ok.
I don't know much about him, but as a social conservative he doesn't qualify as a RINO in my book.
During his career in the Senate, Danforth amassed a record of moderate-to-conservative votes, while winning the support of social conservatives for his outspoken pro-life views, fervent defense of Clarence Thomas's nomination to the Supreme Court, and Episcopalian ministry. link
He's also at least somewhat pro-Taiwan, which I like, as one of the key proponents of the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act.
He was professional and did not waver.
I always liked Danforth, and so did my father and uncles, FWIW. He's not on the right side (i.e., my side) on everything, but who is?
Great! The same man that covered up Waco will not cover up the oil for food program
John Danforth is one of the most optimistic persons (he believes that people are well-intentioned and that he has no "enemies") who ever lived. The job of UN ambassador demands a true skeptic, and Danforth does not fit the bill for this position. Alan Keyes, yes, but Danforth, no.
Wow! That's it - the Waco deal - I knew his name rang a bell for some reason. And yes, he was a disappointment.
Wasn't Danforth in charge of whitewashing the OKC bombing?
Re: my post #19
My mistake - - it was Waco that Danforth whitewashed.
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