Posted on 11/09/2006 12:57:57 PM PST by Leroy S. Mort
WASHINGTON (AP) - Prospects for extending John Bolton's job as U.N. ambassador essentially died Thursday as Democrats and a pivotal Republican said they would continue to oppose the nomination.
It was another blow to President Bush two days after Democrats triumphed in elections that will give them control of Congress next year. On Wednesday, Bush had announced that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, a polarizing figure and face of the Iraq war, would step down.
On Thursday the White House resubmitted Bolton's nomination to the Senate, where the appointment has languished for more than a year. Bush appointed him to the job temporarily in August 2005 while Congress was in recess, an appointment that will expire in January.
Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., who was defeated by Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse on Tuesday, told reporters in Rhode Island on Thursday that he would continue opposing Bolton. That would deny Republicans the votes they would need to move Bolton's nomination from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to the full Senate.
Democrats indicated that even should the Senate try debating Bolton's nomination when lawmakers reconvene next week - still under Republican control - they would stretch out debate on Bolton with the aim of killing it.
``I see no point in considering Mr. Bolton's nomination again in the Foreign Relations Committee because regardless of what happens there, he is unlikely to be considered by the full Senate,'' said Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee.
How weak is Bush? He did more for Chaffee, than any other Senator for this election, and yet he can't even get Chaffee to do something for him.
Yeah, this would be a really nice time to do something to get us back up and soldiering on, wouldn't it. Unfortunately, I fear we conservatives are being held responsible for everything and there will be no relief in site for some time.
If there is one bright spot on all this it is that this idiot is no longer in the Senate.
Chaffee is preventing him from coming to the floor. he has a hold on him.
Honestly, has there ever been a Republican who was give so much - money, support, etc. and who so viciously STABBED us in the back, time after time??
After their victory it would set a poor tone to do so. Bolton has done a good job in handling the North Korea nuclear issue. The hard speaking, bar room rough-neck that we know is better than some soft-spoken dandy we don't know in the current geopolitical environment.
It's interesting, if all the races had turned out the same but Chafee won, the GOP would have 50 seats and could organize with Cheney's tie-breaking vote. Except you know that Chafee would have waited until spring just like Jeffords, then he'd say he couldn't tolerate the extremism of the Republican Party, and he'd switch to the Democrats.
That would have led to a bunch of newspaper articles and TV show appearances focusing on the evils of the Republican Party. Which is exactly what happened in the Jeffords case.
So it's just as well that the Republicans won 49 seats rather than 50 with Chafee being among the 50. It would still be 49 seats by some point next year.
How can they do that?
Yeah he's "pivotal" all right. Pivot man is more like it.
"How weak is Bush?"
There are never any paybacks.
Just ask France.
Chaffee slapped Bush across the face without fear.
I agree. The way I understand it, Bush can recess appoint him again, but he can't be paid. I wonder if a Bolton fund is legal.....
Good God! Bubba Clintoon will be replacin' John Bolton. Halloweenie will be comin' early.
Frankly, I was not unhappy to see Chaffee go down. What a weasel. Not worth a bucket of warm spit.
If I'm not mistaken people like Dodd and Harkin are lovers of Ortega and his ilk and Bolton rattled some cages way back when vis a vis the South American commies. Now I could be confusing Bolton with Otto Reich but I think the principle is the same - the bad guys hate people who stand up to bad guys.
Time for some lame duck Congress legislation. Force him through.
Chafee confirming everything ever suspected about him.
Bolton is an embarrasment to the democrats because he's accomplished more in 3 months at the UN, than any of the dem nominated ones have in their lifetimes.
But a corrupt den of theives style UN (Pre-Bolton) is a ally to the democrats and thats what they are going to push for. I bet they already have some liberal islam appeasing pacifist they plan to place in there.
And so the long, slow march to dhimmitude begins.... not with a bang, but with a whimper.
If the Donks want to kill the nomination of a tough-talking Ambassador to the UN, we should make them kill it. We should not save them the trouble by making it go away.
The thing is, an awful lot of Americans think that haveing a tough-talking Ambassador to the UN is a heck of a good idea. If the Donks want to be Milquetoasts, they should pay the political price.
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