Bolton Update .:. grubbykid.com

Bolton Update

The rats seem to be jumping off the John Bolton ship after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee failed to send his nomination to the whole Senate. IT has been an open secret that former Secretary of State Colin Powell has been doing the DC-two-step, letting aides say that he has been talking to Sen. Chaffe and Hegel about his disapproval of Bolton. Now it seems that he is coming forward publically against Bolton. This is not so surprising, since it has been reported that Bolton was one of the prime movers in cherry-picking intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war. Now, reports are coming in that Bolton created his own J. Edgar Hoover-like hidden intelligence department in order to ferret out detractors.

I must agree with Laura that this fracas a Bolton has more to do with intra-Republican waring than Conventional Wisdom (D vs. R) would want us to believe. Is the WSJ is threatning Sen Lugar for not being 100% in lock-step with the White House, then this isn't just about Dem vs. Rep squabbling: this is an internal Republican fight over the direction of forign policy which has spilled out in the the U.N. (and the public) because Bolton didn't get the Undersecretary job at State because the Condelizza Rice camp won out over the Cheney camp (who is activly campaigning for Bolton).

There's more after the jump concerning Bolton, Fainthearts, and American Taliban reaction to Voinovich.

All through this matter, the word on the street was that the GOP was trying to rush Bolton through the confirmation proceedings, in order to shut-down any sort of investigation into his past. If you remember, in the beginning, Senator Lugar and Sen. Majority Leader Frist were using every parliamentary method at their disposal in order to move his nomination along. Senator Lugar's actions the other day in the Foreign Relations Committee is an indication that word has gone down to "expedite" his hearing. And with good reason: today another GOP senator hesitates on Bolton's nomination:

President Bush's nomination of John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations was put in further peril Friday when a fourth Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee expressed concern about him and a former Bush ambassador called his behavior "undiplomatic".

A spokeswoman for Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said the senator felt the committee "did the right thing delaying the vote on Bolton in light of the recent information presented to the committee."

Asked if Bolton had Murkowski's support, spokeswoman Kristin Pugh said, "I can't speculate on how she would vote."

It took Senator Voinovich to speak his concience to give the more fainthearted "moderates" cover. For the courage of his convictions, the Senator is getting piled on by right-wing groups, with really foolish advertisements:

Wife: Honey, were you watching C-SPAN today? Did you hear how disloyal Senator Voinovich was to Republicans and President Bush? Voinovich stood with the Democrats and refused to vote for John Bolton, the man President Bush has chosen to fight for the United States at the UN

Husband: No, I was streaming it on the Internet at the office, but from what I could tell, Senator Voinovich played hookey from the hearings?

Wife: Yeah that's right. He's missed most of the Bolton confirmation hearings, but then shows up at the last minute and stabs the President and Republicans right in the back.

Husband: That's ridiculous - the United Nations needs reform, we need someone who will stand up for the United States and fight the UN's corruption and anti-Americanism.

Wife: Shame on Senator Voinovich. After the Democrats smeared Condoleeza Rice for Secretary of State and Alberto Gonzales for Attorney General, how could Voinovich side with the Democrats in smearing John Bolton?

Husband: It seems like Senator Voinovich has become a traitor to the Republican Party.

Wife: Enough's enough. I'm logging on to Move America Forward dot com to register my protest with Senator Voinovich's office.

Husband: What was that site? Move America Forward dot com ?

Wife: Yep, Move America Forward dot com

You can hear the audio. Reports also say that Voinovich greatly cherishes his independence, and that mountains of negative campaigning would tip his hand against Move America Forward.

The big question is whose names were on those NSA Intercepts which Bolton so desperately wanted to see? The undercurrent is that it was Undersecretary Armitage (Bolton's boss) among others who was the target of the spying. No wonder Powell and others are beginning the sandbagging.

Bolton Update

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