Posted on 04/18/2005 12:40:14 PM PDT by hinterlander
Hagel May Jump Ship on Bush's Pick for UN Ambassodor -- Human Events has learned that the White House has become increasingly nervous about the confirmation of John Bolton to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
As a new week begins on Capitol Hill, conservatives are beginning to worry that the Democrats' smear campaign against John Bolton might be working.
With the Senate Foreign Relations Committee set to vote on the nomination on Tuesday, Republicans now fear that they might not have the votes to get Bolton out of committee and onto the Senate floor.
Liberal GOP Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R.I.) has long been a question mark for the Senate leadership. Now Majority Leader Frist must add fellow presidential hopeful Sen. Chuck Hagel (R.-Neb.) to his list of possible turncoats.
Sources say that the White House is taking seriously reports that Hagel is considering a vote against the President's pick to represent the U.S. at the United Nations in committee.
The Los Angeles Times today reported that Hagel "suggested" he might oppose the Bolton nomination because he is "troubled" by the nominee's "method of operation" and that he is "concerned about a series of accusations questioning Bolton's temperament and wondered if he was the right man for the job."
Conservatives in Washington believe that, in effect, a vote against Bolton would put an end to any hopes for higher political office that Sen. Hagel may harbor. What he now says stands in stark contrast to his March 14 statement on the Bolton nomination just over a month ago:
He has the confidence of the President and the Secretary of State and I believe he will be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
It's a given that they will do that regardless of the outcome of the Bolton nomination.
Yea....and Andy was front and center for the worst US foreign policy of the 20th century.
I'm sure they've got caller ID. They might even be able to pick up your area code, even if you've got your number blocked, but that's just speculation.
Actually, I was being a wise-ass with my comment. I'd be very annoyed if a BRAC decision came out of anything so petty as spite of a Senator. Sorry for the overreach.
Deal! Lets bury the sellout and find another nominee.
And this would be different from any other day, how?
He was a bleeding heart FDR type liberal but he hit that nail right on the head.
Golly, Bolton tries to get rid of people he thinks are incompetent. Doesn't he realize he is employed by the Government. Those people need to be promoted. :)
Close...NB - 66% (all dark red, only 4 light red counties)
However... OK - 66%, ID - 68%, WY - 69%, UT - 71%
I have news for you. It doesn't matter one twit what this RINO does regarding Bolton. I won't support him even if he leads the charge in favor of Bolton. This guy has no core. He's pro-Hagel and that's it.
That ought to be an interesting friendship. They have to be competing for the same microphones and cameras--useful idiots both of them.
Frist's sissified "leadership" may be to blame here. It is raining pschitt in the Senate, and idiots like Hagel, that posturing pryck, seem to be in the driver's seat.
Bush should have turned up the heat. But that isn't his style, and Bolton isn't his kind of guy.
As usual, the Rats got the jump on us. We should have pre-emptively organized for Bolton, not reacted too little and too late.
I am very, very, very angry about this one. Someone -- probably Bill Frist after we lose the "nuclear" vote -- needs to lose his job over this.
Bolton will be voted out of Committee tomorrow.... 10 - 8, jmo.
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3224565&nav=0Ra7Ymxo
Lugar says he'll vote to confirm Bolton's nomination. However, another top Senate Republican raised the possibility Sunday that he might vote against Bolton if more accusations surface about Bolton's alleged harassment of analysts who disagreed with his views.
Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska was asked whether he would endorse Bolton. "At this point, I will ... but I have been troubled with more and more allegations, revelations, coming about his style, his method of operation," said Hagel, the committee's No. 2 Republican. “Right now, if there's nothing more that comes out, I will vote for Bolton."
SHUT UP
Conservatives need to challenge Hagel the way Spectre was challenged, and this time put that challenger over the top.
Putting a Dem in place is unlikely to accomplish better. Hagel is a lost cause. He's been struck by McCain-itis.
Someone mentioned Osbourne? Pressure should be brought for a Republican primary challenge.
I never met Sen. Moynihan, but I always respected his public persona. He usually seemed to have a certain amount of class missing in today's politicians. It is amazing how far that element of society has slid in the past decade on both sides of the aisle.
Hagel is a McVain copycat. He's slobbering over all the fawning attention the turncoat McAnus gets from the Old Media, and he's trying to duplicate it.
WOW, good letter Phil.
"...the Repubs become more of a disappointment."
AMEN!!!!
They cannot unite on anything! Bipartisanship is becoming more of an "in-party" feature as much as Rep vs Dem. WE NEED TO LET THESE RINO'S KNOW THEY ARE NO LONGER WANTED AND WE WILL FINANCIALLY SUPPORT WHOEVER RUNS AGAINST THEM WHEN THEIR TERM IS UP!!! I will send $$$ to any opponent of Chafee, Hagel, McCain, etc. as long as they are in the race.
McCain is doing all he can TO HURT FRIST'S CHANCE FOR RUNNING FOR PRES. NOMINATION and McCain cares ONLY FOR HIMSELF...his country be damned!!!
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