quote:

---

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush sidestepped the Senate and installed embattled nominee John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations on Monday, ending a five-month impasse with Democrats who accused Bolton of abusing subordinates and twisting intelligence to fit his conservative ideology.

"This post is too important to leave vacant any longer, especially during a war and a vital debate about UN reform," Bush said. He said Bolton had his complete confidence.

Bush put Bolton on the job in a recess appointment - an avenue available to the president when the Congress is in recess. Under the Constitution, a recess appointment during the lawmakers' August break would last until a newly elected Congress takes office in January 2007.

Bolton was to be sworn in later Monday and go immediately to U.N. headquarters in New York to begin work, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by filthy

...Now we will be treated to the specticle of someone with the record of a consumate bully and toady sending the world's respect for the US to new and loftier depths...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dude
Maybe the Senate will step up, republicans included, and step on him.

---

quote:

---

PEOPLE JUST DON'T GET IT
[UPDATE: How to Fight, and Defeat, the Enemy.]

In the previous post, I noted that Bush has in fact appointed Bolton to the U.N. In that connection, I read the following article yesterday, and almost wrote about it then. It's worth commenting on briefly. Here are the authors' major arguments against the Bolton recess appointment:

In addition to Bolton's potential involvement in fixing the facts to the policy in the run-up to war, objections to Bolton are as pertinent today as they were when the nomination was announced on March 7. Simply put: The Senate has recoiled at the prospect of sending an abrasive individual with a history of politicizing intelligence to be America's chief diplomat at the United Nations. Of course, Bolton and the United Nations were not a harmonious pairing in the first place. Bolton has questioned the United Nations' existence, disparaged international cooperation and scoffed at paying U.N. dues. But for the most part, principled members of Congress worried that Bolton's lack of credibility, patience and diplomatic experience (not necessarily his anti-U.N. ideology) would make him a liability at the world body.

That lack of credibility and ineffectiveness which made senators so apprehensive to being with—and compelled Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, to call Bolton “the poster child for what someone in the diplomatic corps should not be”—will only be exacerbated should Bolton be sent to New York without congressional approval. In the words of Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., a recess appointment “would weaken not only Mr. Bolton but also the United States.”

---

quote:

---

Where's the checks and balances, for Christ's sake?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kil

Just a thought. Could it be that rather than go through a contentious battle only to loose the confirmation of Bolton, many congressional republicans were counting on Bush's move? They come out smelling like a rose and of course, Bush is a lame duck and doesn't have to face another election. It removes Bolton's confirmation as a possible election issue for many republicans. I am usually not given to conspiracy theories, but in this case, the conspiracy is small and, well, a perfect crime.

I'm not saying that some republicans do not really think Bolton's was the wrong man for the job. But the majority of them have been very supportive of Bush and this would be a way to support the president without having to vote in favor of the nomination after hearings that could turn out to be very embarrassing to them.

Or am I missing the fact that I have a firm grasp of the obvious?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dude

Unreal. Lame-duck W is just gonna do what he wants, apparently.

Maybe the Senate will step up, republicans included, and step on him.

I truly despise G.W.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by filthy

In a job that calls for an expert diplomat, he has brought forth someone who is merely a tyrant to inferiors and a lickspittle to his superiors, in short: anything but.

---