Comments on: Bolton Nomination is Toast

By: QandO

QandO — Fri, 13 May 2005 02:52:04 +0000

John Bolton So, John Bolton takes the next step forward, having been voted out of committee "without any endorsement". Republican holdout Senator Voinovich "said Bolton was a sometime bully whose short fuse would

By: WurfWhile

WurfWhile — Fri, 13 May 2005 02:07:20 +0000

Ohio Senator George Voinovich Gets National Exposure With Little Exposure
Showing he can have his cake and eat it too, Ohio Senator George Voinovich positioned himself perfectly in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on the Bush Administration nomination of John Bolton for U.N. ambassador. Voinovich surprised eve...

By: JackLewis.net

JackLewis.net — Wed, 11 May 2005 14:25:24 +0000

Bolton bolting all over the place
Bolton is definitely out? Outside the Beltway No, Bolton may be out? Blogs for Bush No, wait, Bolton may be...

By: Bithead

Bithead — Wed, 11 May 2005 02:34:54 +0000

Will someone please explain to me, given the state of the UN, what harm a real ass-kicker's gonna cause? I mean, how can the UN get WORSE?

By: bryan

bryan — Wed, 11 May 2005 00:41:56 +0000

while quietly trying to ensure that the idiot isnât in any kind of position to muck things up further for the U.S.

I thought ambassador to the U.N. was exactly such a position. Why would Armitage muck that up?

By: Beldar

Beldar — Tue, 10 May 2005 19:10:50 +0000

It's implicit in Anderson's comment above, and perhaps McGeehee's question above ("shouldnât Armitage be saying this instead of his underling"?) was rhetorical, but I found it odd that Dr. Joyner relies so heavily on this report without noting, at least in passing, that Armitage has specifically and publicly endorsed Bolton's nomination. An obvious hypothesis for reconciling the muzzle policy and the endorsement is that Armitage thought Bolton was a lightning rod for controversy, and lacked (in his prior job) either the pay grade and/or (perhaps as a result thereof) access to the highest levels of administration policy and info to be calling discretionary shots about who to lambaste and with what particular rhetoric and arguments. Those problems might actually be solved, cured, by a promotion. In any event, I don't agree with Dr. Joyner that the muzzle policy is a particularly damning bit of evidence in and of itself, and I don't think one can persuasively suggest that it is such without at least mentioning the apparent contradiction between the policy and the endorsement.

By: Anderson

Anderson — Tue, 10 May 2005 18:37:04 +0000

Armitage is said to be angling for Defense, which is an excellent reason for him to be on the record as supporting Bolton, while quietly trying to ensure that the idiot isn't in any kind of position to muck things up further for the U.S.

By: PAXALLES

PAXALLES — Tue, 10 May 2005 18:29:42 +0000

Bolton Sinking Under Veiled State-ments of Resentment

Bolton Sinking Under Veiled State-ments of Resentment

By: Hal

Hal — Tue, 10 May 2005 17:12:04 +0000

Yea, because chasing Anan around the halls is so much more important than trying to make our case about Iran, N. Korea and lord only knows what else is coming down the pike.

By: Scott Dillard

Scott Dillard — Tue, 10 May 2005 15:43:35 +0000

The man has been confirmed four times by the Senate, and this all comes up now? Rubbish. I hope he gets to the UN and starts chasing Kofi Anan down the hall yelling about his expense account.

By: McGehee

McGehee — Tue, 10 May 2005 15:24:23 +0000

Indeed, it's baffling that he has flourished as long as he has, continually getting higher level appointments and easy Senate confirmation until now. Which raises the question of why these matters haven't come up before. If it's as big a deal as Wilkerson's making out, shouldn't Armitage be saying this instead of his underling?

By: James Durbin

James Durbin — Tue, 10 May 2005 14:35:06 +0000

The whole thing sounds fishy. The chasing through the halls woman, Melody Townsel, is now saying she wasn't actually chased, per se, but rather, that it felt like she was being chased because everytime she saw Bolton, he would try to speak with her about her expense accounts.

If this is true about Bolton, it would not necessarily be a nail in the coffin - it might have been Armitage's concern that Bolton was not taking the political considerations of the higher-ups into account when he spoke.

Considering the record of State, this is not exactly a bad thing. If this were the CIA, Bolton would be receiving high praise for speaking inconvenient truth to power.

Personally, I think it takes someone known for a loose cannon to take on the current UN. I'd like it if our top UN official came out and said, "UN peacekeepers are raping children in Africa while it seems that every country that opposed the Iraq war was taking money from Saddam Hussein. This has to stop." There is no diplomatic way to address those issues - and the confirmation process for Bolton is not about him - it's about opposing Bush.

By: Kappiy

Kappiy — Tue, 10 May 2005 14:34:08 +0000

James, The critique of Bolton on competency has been persistent and has centered around various transgressions: notably his "analysis" of Cuba's biological weapons capability was way off base; his "analysis" of Syrian WMDs; his role in obfuscating Senate efforts to investigate Contra drug-running; his role in promoting the lie linking Iraq and Nigerian uranium. Who cares about his personality or if he's--to use Bush's favorite platitude--"a good man." The guy is not adept at analyzing evidence, which seems to be a basic requirement for any top-level government position.

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Tue, 10 May 2005 14:05:26 +0000

Well, no. The charges were basically that 1) he yelled at subordinates and 2) he put serious pressure on underlings who presented him with information that went against his own views. The latter is potentially problematic, but not necessarily a matter of competence.

By: Kappiy

Kappiy — Tue, 10 May 2005 13:56:58 +0000

Most honest critics of Bolton have been making the argument that he is incompetent. This latest report is more evidence of that fact.

The "Bolton is an asshole" portrayal of his opposition was nothing more than Bush apologists' spin to distract substantive discussion of Bolton's record.