Bless my soul, do Republicans show class from time to time?
Steve Clemons says that “Senators Trent Lott, Susan Collins, Lincoln Chafee, John McCain, George Voinovich and Lamar Alexander have all stated that they believe that the White House should release ALL requested documents on Bolton.” Cynical me, I wonder what real courage this takes since the White House will likely refuse to provide the documents (list below fold). So, Mssrs. and Ms. GOP Senators can appear fair-minded without consequence. Clemons, however, thinks “the White House is in a tough position.” (Hmmm.)
Clemons also notes that “[w]ord is that John Bolton may not accept a recess appointment. The bottom line there is that any U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. not confirmed by the Senate will not be perceived as legitimate.”
Below, a limerick on Frist’s follies re Bolton:
From Peek: Blog of Blogs, quoting Mad Kane:
Said John Bolton’s appointment was killed.
But then Bush buttonholed him,
Demanding John Bolton.
Now Bill claims that appointment’s just ill.
Audio version. (MP3)
The list of documents:
1. NSA Intercepts and names of U.S. officials redacted in them and requested by Bolton
2. All preparatory and deliberative material and communications on Syria WMD testimony that was to have been presented in 2003
3. The client list of Matthew C. Freedman who continued to work as a lobbyist while he worked as a six-figure “special assistant” in John Bolton’s office and being listed in the State Department staff directory
There once was a Senator Frist,
Removed Bolton from an ambassador’s list.
But the president called him;
And Bolton’s back on.
So who’s ass do you think has been kissed?
OMG. We’ve been served. Oh yeah. We’ve been served. Showdown a comin’.
You lime-rock, Bood!
If they truly feel that way, why did they vote for cloture last time?
Ohhhh, another cynic! And a logical one at that! Why vote for cloture if you think the documents must be provided? Yes, indeed.
will not accept a recess appointment (if it is true). And good news that some Republican senators are standing up for principle, for a change. But how can they message be pressed that the White House is obviously hiding something. Right now the message that the Democrats are obstructionists is winning out, even in the NY Times.
Clemons says: “TWN has no idea whether the White House will yield. It made sense for them to yield long ago. That would have been the rational calculation — so rational assessments about what the White House might do now are not necessarily productive indicators.” But it is rational for the WH to stonewall on releasing damaging information. What names were on those intercepts Bolton demanded? Want to know!
Yesterday, Laura Rozen linked to a story that is staggering in its implication. We’re running around ranting and raving that BushCo deliberately lied, et cetera, and that he should realize that the country does not want Bolton. But what if the man/men/administration suffers instead from true delusion?
How else to explain the fact that the president and his lieutenants consistently played down the costs of the endeavor, the number of troops required, the difficulties of overcoming tensions among the Sunnis, the Shiites and the Kurds? Were they lying? The more logical explanation is that they didn’t know what they were talking about.
Because the White House failed to prepare Americans for what was to come, the administration now faces a backlash.
Rozen concludes, “He goes on to describe Cheney as the most afflicted by such delusions.”
Deluded by one aspect of what they’re doing, deluded by all. Perhaps instead of a congressional inquiry, this administration should submit to a psychiatric evaluation. By any reasonable standard, these people are unfit to be in government, let alone govern.
And run over, quick like a bunny, to see Pat Oliphant’s editorial cartoon today re: Bolton.
“The worst possibility is that the president and his advisers believed their own propaganda.”
Worse, I think, they believed – and believe — in their indominitable superiority over all other governments and peoples in the world.
Hubris.
(That’s a great cartoon! I used their e-mail feature and sent it to my brother.)
To be honest, I only see 5 Republican Senators standing up for principle. I see the sixth (Trent Lott) going for further humiliation of Bill Frist — probably positioning himself for a power grab in the end. But if humiliation is what he wants, I’m more than happy to help him get it 🙂
Although I gotta say, Collins and Snowe are really confusing me on this one. It seems that some days they’re for it, some days they’re against it and some days they’re split.
Nice limerick!