The Bolton Nomination Hearing .:. grubbykid.com

The Bolton Nomination Hearing

Here are some thoughts listening today to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is again taking up the nomination of John Bolton to the post as Ambassador to the United Nations. All of the quotes are approximate, taken from listening to the CSPAN feed, and this is liveblogging, so things will change.

Late Update
Mr. Bolton was voted out of committee without recommendation by a vote of 10-8 long party lines.

Senator Voinovich:
The United Nations can do better than John Bolton
John Bolton is the poster child for what those in the diplomatic corps should not be
Why did you need to send a nominee to the Senate who needs to be supervised

Voinovich gave a very passionate and eloquent speech against Bolton describing to the "T" exactly why Bolton should not have been nominated, and should not be confirmed. Very passionate. But (but) he will be voting Bolton out of Committee, because it is the "President's prerogative," but will vote against him on the full Senate floor.

Here is Senator Voinovich's full transcript.

Senator Biden:
Did anyone think when they heard the nomination thought, "Bolton, UN?" (yeah)
No one Senator seek out witnesses, they came to us.
It would be against our constitutional charge to not talk to witnesses who come forward.
Mr. Bolton has seen this information (NSA intercepts), but a Senator with 32 years of experience has not seen it?

Now Biden is discussing the roadblocks put up by the Executive Branch in order to obtain information. Including the Executive deciding what the Senate did not need some materials. Biden is bristling at the Administration which has fought to limit the information that the Senate needs, and is fundamentally undermining the checks and balances set forth in the Constitution.

Biden's four points of disagreement:

Removal of disagreeing analysts from their portfolio (firing them)
Bolton in speeches/testimony inflated intelligence and politicized the intelligence process
Exhibited abusive behavior towards colleagues and subordinates, and intolerance of other views
Misleading or disingenuous responses to this committee

Late Update
OK, so I needed to get some work done, and get some lunch. For a better live reaction to the hearings, check out Laura Rozen's hearing notes.

But, I want to again make a point: the President should (and must) be given large sway on who he appoints to positions inside the Executive Branch. However, given our current standing in the world, it makes little sense to send someone with so little diplomatic tact and good sense as Mr. Bolton. The Ambassador to the United Nations represents no the Administration, but all Americans.

Here are my thoughts, halfway through the hearing. Democrats, along with Senator Voinovich, raised larger points than the nominee, mainly, the impact of the nominee on the larger diplomatic mission of the US, the process which the Bush Administration has undermined the Senate and the Senate's Constitutional requirements to advise and consent, and finally illustrating the pattern of disregard which Bolton has on process, policy, and humanity. The Republican Senators basically retort with, "Well, I'm going to ignore all of those points and talk about how mean Democrats were to question the nominee. And while I'm at it, let me bring up some allegations that have been brought against Bolton, but haven't been substantiated, because the Administration has stonewalled the Senate investigation. I'm a Team Bush player, no matter how much it hurts the institution of the Senate." Don't get me started on Senator Chafee (R-RI) - what a wimp; how has being "moderate" or "centrist" turned into being a fainthearted wimp?

Prediction: The first vote to send the nomination to the floor with a recommendation to confirm will lose with a vote of 9-9, or perhaps 11-7 if Hagel (R-NE) or Murkowski (R-AK) heal their faint hearts. The second vote to send the nomination to the floor without a recommendation will probably pass with a vote of 10-8, unless Hagel decides that he needs to vote against confirmation in order to curry the "maverick" moniker which Senator Voinovich now holds. Hagel must balance this against his need for money and Party machine power for his Presidential run in 2008.

So, it looks like Mr. Bolton will be going to the full Senate floor. But we knew that already. If a favorable vote would not have occurred, the GOP would have forced a floor vote through legislative maneuvering.

But remember, Voinovich will vote no on the floor, which brings the total against confirmation to 47. Hagel could be peeled away, making 48. So four more Republican Senators would need to defect, not likely. But there are all manner of legislative maneuvering which will occur. Not to mention that the Democrats could filibuster. How this dovetails into with Senator Frist's Crybaby Option, is hard to guess. Frist's claim that they will only use it for judicial nominations is laughable.

Either way, the light will continue to shine on Mr. Bolton, and the Bush Administration's handling of this matter.

Comments

Dad says:

Hang in there Voinovich!!