Friday, May 27, 2005
What a horror! George Bush has nominated someone who may actually represet America's interests to the world, instead of playing along with the delusion that everything's AOK in UN land. Bolton's sin is that he recognizes that the Emperor has no clothes and he wants to throw a blanket over the poor old fellow before he freezes to death instead of standing there pretending with everyone else.
Washington Times: Democrats block vote on Bolton
Three Democrats and 53 Republicans comprised the 56 votes against the filibuster, but 60 votes are needed to force an up-or-down vote.
On the other side, 40 Democrats and one independent voted "no," as did Majority Leader Bill Frist, Tennessee Republican, who at the last minute voted against his own interests for technical reasons, so that he has the right to call for another vote after the Memorial Day recess.
"Actions speak volumes, and so does inaction," Mr. Frist said. "Given the chance to advance the cause of comity in the Senate, the Democrats have chosen partisan confrontation over cooperation."...
So what's the problem?
Is it likely to matter? No.
"I don't know that. But I know that is possible. I'm not predicting that would happen."
The top Democrat and Republican on the Senate intelligence committee have reviewed the intercepts with the names redacted, and both said there is no reason to believe anything improper, with Sen. Pat Roberts, Kansas Republican and committee chairman, calling the intercepts "almost pure vanilla."
Ask yourself whether you or anyone you know could weather this scrutiny unscathed, with entire staffs of people looking to get ya:
In a land of the blind, the one-eyed man is a heretic.
Get on with it and give the walrus a vote.
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The Dems cut a deal to prevent blocking fillibusters on judges and the 'moderates' cut the Dems a deal a lifetime.
So while they're supposedly now going to approve a few of Bush's judges that doesn't mean they can't block, delay, almost fillibuster, and screw around with Bolton who's a perfect place to do it, because he is controversial even among some Republicans. All the while it makes Frist look pathetic and uses up even more of Bush's 'political capital'.
Conservative/centrist senators are not doing a terribly good job on the PR side of things when it comes to Bolton. I'm not unhappy with the consensus or compromise reached with the judges: far from ideal, but politics in the end is an arena where compromises that are far less than ideal or fair are nonetheless inevitable (which is not to say they should be reached to readily, without a real fight). But John Bolton is a more singular concern, both as regards his own considerable talents and abilities, and as regards the ideological/transnational problems that inhere to the UN, some obviously so and others less obviously so. The Dems have essentially carried the day from a purely PR perspective and that need not be the case.
This issue of Risk of Freedom (small pdf), a small quarterly, serves to encapsulate why Bolton has the potential to be a genuinely productive talent at the U.N. Go to the fourth and final page to read the article by Bolton, though the entire issue is devoted to transnational governance.
Here is the archive of Risk of Freedom more generally, for a small, inconspicuous quarterly, it nonetheless covers some critical areas in a thoughtful and forthright manner.
Very interesting. I enjoyed that Bolton article on mary Robinson a great deal.
Which one is that from his links?
It's in the first link (small PDF).