LIVE THREAD: Senate Coverage AND Senate Foreign Relations Committee vote on Bolton nomination

C-span

[ken5050]

OK..here's what we know..Senate is in recess for the weekly party caucus luncheons. Supposed to resume at 2:15. on C-span 2.. The Foreign Relations committee is supposed to meet at 2:45 to vote on the Bolton nomination. Lugar has refused requests for a delay. Just before the Senate recessed, Reid objected to Frist's UC request for the Froeign Relations committee to meet today. Frist withdrew his request..

[You Dirty Rats]

The WH and the party leadership needs to enforce party discipline RIGOROUSLY

How? If you count up the Democrats and the wobbly Republicans, they are close to or at a majority. Add them up: McCain, Voinovich, Snowe and Collins, Chafee, Hagel -- that group makes Specter look like Reagan. We have maybe one Democrat -- Nelson of Nebraska. It only took ONE Benedict Arnold on the committee today to block the vote. We just don't have enough Senators that we can count on. Blaming Voinovich et al on Bush or Frist is just misguided.

[lexington minuteman 1775]

I like your thinking!

[ken5050]

I'm giving Chaffee and Hagel a pass on this..Hagel looked pathetic..he has doubts, but "he's voting to pass the nominee, and then debate on the Senate floor"..talk about being on all 5 sides of a square..The idea that this guy wants to be president is a farce. Same for Chafee..he stood tall, said he would vote for the nominee, despite considerable political pressure back home..Now, since the nominee wasn't gonna pass..he tookt he opportunity to carefully suggest a compromise, and score some points politically back home..He didn't hurt his party..NO..Voinovich is the son of a vich..

[EllaMinnow]

I'm already feelign better..IMHO the Dems will screw this up..overplay their hand, like they did with Wellstone Memorial..

I agree. They always overplay their hand.

[Truth29]

Well, the issue now is how to motivate Voinovich, either positively or negatively. He can't be threatened with a loss of reelection. He's one year into a six year term. So what does he really want or what is he most afraid of losing? Of course, the GOP would have to have the nerve to deliver the motivation.

[SoVaDPJ]

Second time on one thread that I've seen something that makes me want to run over my head with my car.

[You Dirty Rats]

I miss Senator Jesse Helms and his spine.

BEST comment on the whole thread!! I'm trying to picture Voinovich doing Jesse Helms like he did Dick Lugar -- and I can't. Just ask William Weld about f****** with Jesse. Not a good idea!

[dfwgator]

I just want to say as a Slav, I'm ashamed Voinovich is a Slav.

[Buck W.]

Sounds good, but I'm not sure that Bolton would get paid.

[CT CONSERVATIVE]

That one idiot like Mr. V can impede necessary and long overdue reforms speaks volumes about party discipline. GWB ought to cut every cent out of anything V wanted. Meanwhile, he ought to shun him and put him in the political cooler for the next 4 years.

Its inexcusable in today's political environment for a senator who claims to be a Republican to snub his party leader in such a out-of-the-blue and chicken-crap way. Its only because the good people from Ohio elected GWB that I don't propose more drastic maasures...Damn am I disgusted right now!

[truthkeeper]

That they did. And watching it, you KNEW something was going on; probably waiting for Judas to show up.

You are right on. I had flashbacks of threads from the impeachment days of yore...

[ken5050]

Voinovich is a Son of a vich!!!

[meema]

R's--GROW A PAIR!

How about this? Who needs an ambassador to the u.n. anyway? Maybe the dimz?

We Pubbies sure don't!

If we can't have a strong ambassador there, it's better to have none at all! The last thing we need is a wimp, there, to let those b******* run all over us. Tell them to move to Paris ON THEIR OWN DIME.

ENOUGH!

[XJarhead]

Sounds good, but I'm not sure that Bolton would get paid.

Sure he would. He would still be a government employee, and still have a job and title. There are plenty of appointed positions that do not require Senate confirmation.

[You Dirty Rats]

IMHO the Dems will screw this up

Unless somebody beats them to it!!

[maggief]

Sen. George Voinovich (news, bio, voting record), (R-OH), listens to a discussion on United States Ambassador to the UN nominee John Bolton at the Capitol on April 19, 2005. The committee, which had been set to vote on sending Bolton's nomination to the Senate, agreed instead to reconsider the nomination after Voinovich said he was unwilling to vote to send the nomination to the Senate yet. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst


Senator Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., left, and Sen. Chuck, R-Neb., talk prior to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting in Washington to vote on John Bolton to be the U. S. ambassador to the United Nations. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook)

[truthkeeper]

Bush has never been any good at taking retribution against those who stab him and the conservative agenda in the back IMHO.

Agree totally. That damn "new tone" business.

[Perlstein]

I don't understand why no one here, as patriots, mentions the alleged offense, just revealed today, that will be investigated--that Bolton made extraordinary efforts to un-redact top secret NSA documents to intimidate people whose intelligence reports he found inconvenient. It's as if no one cares if it's true or not.

How can we get the accurate intelligence we need to win the GWOT if analysts feel intimidated for political reasons? I am a liberal who enjoys reading FR, and find myself dismayed that you seem to care more about the president "winning" than about whether Bolton is an honorable person or not.

[Txsleuth]

LOL---I guess I should have said that nothing is going conservatives way!!!!

[SoVaDPJ]

The Dems really wanted Billy in there--remember a couple of months ago, all the cooing and heavy breathing over Billy becoming the head of the UN once Kofi got canned?
Maybe they're holding out until President Bush offers it to him!