Steve Clemons reports that John Bolton’s confirmation is dead. Apparently, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has cancelled its business meeting this afternoon and that was the last chance Bolton had to get through to the floor of the Senate. He will not be confirmed and cannot be paid next year. There are a few things that the Bush administration can still do, perhaps, to keep Bolton in place. They might be able to convince him to work without compensation. They might be able to give him a new recess appointment as Deputy and then have him serve as ‘acting’ ambassador. That would involve a pay-cut. I would not be surprised to see the Bush administration do something like that because they really do not like to lose battles with Congress. Also, they think Bolton is an important piece of their battle against Iran.
Regardless of what the cabal does, the Mustache will be the only ambassador ever to serve at the United Nations without being confirmed. I know that this will make Alan Derschowitz cry in his soup, but I don’t really care about him any more than he cared about the Lebanese civilians being killed by a totally ridiculous, self-defeating, and idiotic policy set out Beaver Creek.
It’s pointless to make recommendations for Bolton’s replacement. Someone like Bill Clinton could do a lot to repair America’s image, but he would never take orders from Bush and Cheney and they would never give him such a big microphone.
More likely, John Bolton will be replaced by someone known for their warmongering. I can see Bill Kristol as the perfect choice for this administration. That is, he’d be perfect if he hadn’t screwed the pooch by endorsing McCain in the 2000 election. Maybe Dan Quayle is looking for work. He’s one of the original PNAC signatories. He’d be perfect.
