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GOP Confident of Bolton's Chances
Yahoo ^ | May 15, 2005 | Associated Press

Posted on 05/15/2005 5:10:23 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative

The White House and Republicans expressed confidence Sunday that John R. Bolton would win Senate approval as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations after a bruising confirmation battle in committee.

"The president continues to have confidence in John. He believes he's the right person for the job," national security adviser Stephen Hadley said on "Fox News Sunday."

"And we're confident, we're pleased he's going to get a vote and we're confident that the Senate at the end of the day will agree with the president and John Bolton will be confirmed."

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 10-8 on Thursday to send President Bush's nomination of Bolton to the full Senate without an endorsement.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., put a hold on the nomination Friday, saying she did not want debate to begin in the full Senate until the State Department provided more information about Bolton, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security.

Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., said Boxer wanted to ensure that a Senate vote on Bolton was not rushed.

Asked if there was any likelihood that Senate Democrats would try to stop Bolton's confirmation with a filibuster, which would require 60 votes to overcome, Biden said: "I'd rather have an opportunity for the president to come forward on the information we're entitled to that hasn't been delivered yet. ... It's much too premature to talk about filibustering Mr. Bolton."

Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate committee, told CNN's "Late Edition" that "a majority of senators are in favor of confirming John Bolton."

Lugar said the oil-for-food scandal now surrounding U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan "has brought a good bit of antipathy from many Americans, including many members of the House and Senate. So it's a rough terrain there, in which reform is going to be required."

"The president of the United States and the secretary of state have determined that John Bolton is the person that they want for the reform," Lugar said.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., said Democrats have yet to settle on a strategy for the Bolton nomination. "When we finally get the proposal from the Foreign Relations Committee, we can see what the tactics would be," he told CBS' "Face the Nation."

"I'm strongly opposed to John Bolton," Kennedy added. "We need a diplomat at the United Nations, not a bully."

The Senate has 55 Republicans, 44 Democrats and one independent. One Republican, Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio, said at the committee hearing last week he intended to vote against confirmation of Bolton.

Voinovich called Bolton "the poster child of what someone in the diplomatic corps should not be."


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 109th; bolton; boxer; bush; democrat; obstructionism; republican; senate; unitednations

1 posted on 05/15/2005 5:10:24 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
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To: West Coast Conservative

Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., said Boxer wanted to ensure that a Senate vote on Bolton was not rushed.

I'm sure they'd rather wait till 2006, but I don't think
it would do them much good.


2 posted on 05/15/2005 5:18:56 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: tet68

"the poster child of what someone in the diplomatic corps should not be."


I think that Sentor Voinovich is what a Republican Senator should not be.


3 posted on 05/15/2005 5:34:51 PM PDT by beagle9
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To: West Coast Conservative

The old more info ploy is pure BS. They dont need more info its a play to get Boxers name in the papers, just like her act in Ohio was. What should be done is this, The Republican party should take any money they may have used to support these RINO's and give it to their Democrat opponents when they come up for the next election. I would rather see a democrat in office than a turncoat POS.


4 posted on 05/15/2005 5:40:12 PM PDT by sgtbono2002
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To: West Coast Conservative
"Voinovich called Bolton the poster child of what someone in the diplomatic corps should not be."

And Voinovich can be called a poster child for what a Senate Republican should not be. He has his choice on whose side of this issue he will be on, the President's or Ted Kennedy's. I hope, for his political future, he choses wisely.

5 posted on 05/15/2005 5:42:33 PM PDT by DJ Taylor (Once again our country is at war, and once again the Democrats have sided with our enemy.)
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To: All

Let the democrats drag this out as long as they like. The general public could care less about who we send to the UN. In fact I think Joe Sixpack might like the fact we are sending in a guy that doesn't take any garbage after all that has gone on over there over the last few years. I don't know who thought up the strategy of obstructing a meaningless post but I hope they never get fired. This is only making the democrats look like petty losers.


6 posted on 05/15/2005 5:45:29 PM PDT by pepperhead (Kennedy's float, Mary Jo's don't!)
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To: West Coast Conservative
GOP Confident of Bolton's Chances

"Confident"? Why??
I would feel a lot more confident if the GOP controlled the Senate by at least a few votes. It would also help if the GOP had a clear mandate, say, by holding a healthy majority in the House and maybe even winning the Presidency a couple of times. A majority of state legislatures and governors would also help.

7 posted on 05/15/2005 5:48:49 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: West Coast Conservative
From a Wash. Post Article:

Personnel appointments would be particularly vulnerable to delay tactics, and the first casualty could be Bush's pick to be United Nations ambassador, John R. Bolton. Frist plans to bring Bolton's nomination to the Senate floor after the rule change but before the Memorial Day recess.

The Frist aide, who briefed reporters on the condition that he not be identified, said the majority leader would keep the Senate in session "until the ambassador's nomination is resolved." The aide said the judge dispute and the Bolton fight "will all be resolved before Memorial Day."

The Republicans left their options open about which candidate -- Owen or Brown -- would come to a vote first. The precise mechanism for the confrontation is complex: first, a "test vote" to demonstrate there is majority support for the nominee but not the 60 needed to break a filibuster; second, a vote on a non-debatable motion to table the objections Democrats would raise to a ruling by the presiding officer -- Vice President Cheney -- that a simple majority vote is sufficient for confirmation; and, if the first two hurdles are cleared, a vote on the nominee herself.


8 posted on 05/15/2005 5:50:06 PM PDT by deport (Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue....)
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IMHO - it doesn't matter if Bolton get confirmed by 51 votes or 100 votes. No one will remember excep the wonks. Just getting Bolton in the door to kick some butt is what he has been selected for. He seems to com from Rummy's mold. He doesn't look like he is concerned what other think about him when he has a job to do. That is the kind of guy we need.

Come to think of it, so do most private sector corporations.


9 posted on 05/15/2005 7:35:38 PM PDT by Dutch Boy
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To: tet68

What happens in 2006? Biden's hairplugs reach terminal velocity?


10 posted on 05/15/2005 8:19:05 PM PDT by Mad_Tom_Rackham (Delenda est Liberalism!)
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To: beagle9
I think that Sentor Voinovich is what a Republican Senator should not be.

Much as I hate to say it (well, not really), kinda makes you wonder what would have happened had the FAA, or the Secret Service, or whoever it was, called his bluff on that little airplane incident a while ago...

In a much more peaceful opinion, do you think that these arrogants in the Senate would pull these shenanigans if they themselves had to go through confirmation hearings to become senators (instead of just being voted in)?

11 posted on 05/15/2005 10:04:04 PM PDT by Christian4Bush (Prayers for Laura Ingraham and her family as she is treated for breast cancer. 5-4-05)
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To: West Coast Conservative
It is instructive to remember that 13 Democrats voted against Condi Rice to be confirmed as SecState.

Akaka (D-HI) Bayh (D-IN) Boxer (D-CA) Byrd (D-WV) Dayton (D-MN) Durbin (D-IL) Harkin (D-IA) Jeffords (I-VT) Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Levin (D-MI) Reed (D-RI)

12 posted on 05/15/2005 10:09:24 PM PDT by kabar
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To: West Coast Conservative
It makes not the slightest difference who is America's "ambassador" to the criminal organization called the United Nations.

The debate ought to be whether to withdraw the U. S. from the U. N.

The evidence is overwhelming that the U. N. is an evil gang and our participation in it is to condone murder, rape, theft and genocide.
13 posted on 05/16/2005 5:17:40 AM PDT by R.W.Ratikal
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