[promoted by BooMan]
Facing extreme pressure within the senate and the possibility that the appointment of John Bolton as new US ambassador to the UN will fail, the White House has announced that they are not ruling out a recess appointment. This is the way the Bush administration operates: if they can’t get what they want from a branch of the democratically elected government, they force their will by using strong arm tactics.
Condaleezza Rice and WH sock puppet, Scott McClellan are both parroting the “up or down vote” line through the press, while senate Republicans have scheduled a procedural vote for today, Monday, June 20, 2005.
(Note: I will be posting a live diary to follow that vote later on today when I find out the time of the vote. Update: C-SPAN has announced that the vote to limit debate will occur at 6 pm ET.)
A recess appointment would ensure that Bolton would serve as UN ambassador until January, 2007. This, following news last week that the administration’s idea of UN reform is to blackmail the UN by threatening to withhold dues if their demands are not met. Who better to be the public face of this bullying than John Bolton, whose history of unrestrained aggressiveness is very well documented?
As Joe Biden said on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday: “If we give up on this, we might as well forget about oversight”.
From Harry Reid:
Republican officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press last week they were unlikely to prevail, barring a last-minute compromise.
And, if Bush can’t get what he wants, we all know that he has no qualms about grabbing it any way possible. Democracy? What’s that?
As Chrid Dodd points out:
Many of us would say that his reputation has already crippled him, but if he’s sent to the UN as the teacher’s pet, ignoring the will of the senate, that will send a clear message to other UN members: Bush will ignore any and all criticism from the people of America to further his agenda at the UN.
Democrats are still holding out for information about what Bolton did with the names revealed to him via the NSA intercepts and, if it is not forthcoming, Bolton will go to the UN under a huge cloud of suspicion. How can UN member countries be expected to trust a man or a government that refuses to be trustworthy and open? That is the function of a diplomat: to secure fruitful and trusting relationships in order to further cooperation. Bolton is not a diplomat and he is not the man for that delicate job. He will fail and the people of the US will pay for it. Those who oppose his nomination know that. Those who would be subject to his behaviour at the UN in the future if he is appointed during the recess will soon discover it.
Just try it, Bush. Just try it.
because Bolton best represents Bush. Bush acts that way in private because he has a background of being a snarling and vindictive person.
Remember the cursing threats in the restaurant
Bush lit into him, saying, among other things, “You no-good fucking son of a bitch, I will never fucking forget what you wrote.” (Hunt had predicted that the 1988 Republican ticket would be Jack Kemp and Richard Lugar, instead of George Bush Sr and Dan Quayle.) What’s interesting is that the Wall St Journal editor later commented that Bush was well “lubricated.”
Also, he called a New York Times reporter ‘a major asshole’ in front of a mike that he thought was closed.
Also, his White House declared open season on Joe Wilson’s CIA agent wife.
Wow. I hadn’t seen that Al Hunt story before. Thanks for posting it.
It’s definitely worthy of noting that Bolton’s name has come up in relation to the (DSM) fixing of the intel before the Iraq war. That, in itself, ought to be enough to turf his nomination.
He travelled the globe like a character out of “Godfather” of the “Sopranos” doing Bush’s dirty work.
Beginning here:
He stopped dead in his tracks and flew trans-Atlantic to Florida in 2000, to proclaim “I’m John Bolton and I’m here to stop the recount.” For that, the Bush admin is forever grateful.
near the beginning of Paul Waldman’s Fraud, which is an excellent book. I don’t have the book in front of me, though, so I can’t tell you where the account originally came from.
So many books to read!!
just what does Bolton have on Bushco that Georgie is so hell bent on having him at the UN come hell or high water. Like Catnip daid…”just try it”. They are out of control and its time to rein them in folks.
OT…Catnip…everything ok for you up there in flood country?
Thanks for asking. I’m okay. I posted about it here this morning.
If he doesn’t get his way he screems or has others do his dirty work for him. He needs Bolton to undermine the UN. He also needs him to “white wash” his plans for Iran or Syria.
Put him on the 11th circuit, waited, and he was just approved by the senate last week. Bolton will have little to No cred if he is a recess appointment. Bush is hell bent on destroying our country and any credibility we might have left in the world. The thing that kills me is Bushco spewing hate about the UN and saying they need to be reformed and we are the ones that went in there and Told the Biggest lies of all. We spit in there faces in regards to Iraq. We gave them false information with Powell and his bog and pony show…they saw through the bullshit…we went at Iraq almost alone and were WRONG. No WMD’s The UN was RIGHT and now we have the audacity to appoint a rep who was responsible for many of those lies. The United States of American is in the Toilet.
The scary thing is the US having veto power on the Security Council with regards to any resolutions about Iran and/or Syria. Sure, the troops are stretched so thin they can’t possibly take on another war, but, that certainly isn’t the only way to attack Iran.
The Bozo definitely owes John “I’m here to stop the vote count” Bolton. Aside from his own spoiled brat, vindictive personality. I’ll be battening down the hatches the moment Congress goes on recess. Thanks for posting this Catnip, I was getting too relaxed.
Have to accept the appointment of Bolton? I don’t know anything about UN bylaws, etc.
If the US president appoints him or if he is approved by the senate, there’s nothing the UN can do.
if the US doesn’t pay all dues as they have threatened maybe the Un can slam the door in Bolton’s face. Now that would be sweet.
here
If the President tries to force recess appointments on the Senate, thus circumventing the normal “advice and consent” process, the Congress can refuse to appropriate funds to pay the salaries of the appointees. The Senate might also take the extraordinary measure of blocking future nominations… [ThisNation]
Looks like the Senate has a couple of alternatives. If “Mustache the Wonder Boy” attempts to bully anyone at the U.N., it would likely hit the papers the following day. And I wouldn’t underestimate the power of the diplomats in the U.N. to make his term an unhappy one.