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Wangja
Joined: 17 May 2004
Location: Seoul, Yongsan
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 Posted: Thu May 12, 2005 10:54 pm Post subject: Bush pressured to drop UN choice |
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4542917.stm
Are the worms turning?
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| President George W Bush is coming under increasing pressure to withdraw his nomination of outspoken conservative John Bolton for UN ambassador. |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu May 12, 2005 11:10 pm Post subject: |
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| I hope so. It would be great if he withdraws the nomination or Bolton gets rejected by Congress. |
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
Joined: 25 May 2003
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| Posted: Thu May 12, 2005 11:12 pm Post subject: |
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| The UN deserves Bolton. |
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canuckistan
Mod Team
Joined: 17 Jun 2003
Location: Training future GS competitors.....
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| Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 5:32 am Post subject: |
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For once I totally agree with a Republican:
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The pivotal vote came from Ohio Republican Sen. George Voinovich, who said Bolton was a sometime bully whose short fuse would have gotten him fired in the private sector.
"This is not behavior that should be endorsed as the face of the United States to the world community at the United Nations," Voinovich said. "It is my opinion that John Bolton is the poster child of what someone in the diplomatic corps should not be."
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If Bolton is the best they could do, polished, dignified talent willing to stump for Bush must be getting rare in Washington these days.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/11632379.htm
WASHINGTON - John R. Bolton, President Bush's sharp-elbowed nominee to become U.N. ambassador, survived a cliffhanger Senate committee vote Thursday after renewed criticism from both Democrats and Republicans, leaving the final confirmation decision to the full Senate.
The Foreign Relations Committee voted 10-8 along party lines to advance Bolton's nomination without the customary recommendation that the Senate approve it. The procedural move spared Bush outright defeat in the Republican-led committee but still represented an embarrassing setback early in his second term.
The pivotal vote came from Ohio Republican Sen. George Voinovich, who said Bolton was a sometime bully whose short fuse would have gotten him fired in the private sector.
"This is not behavior that should be endorsed as the face of the United States to the world community at the United Nations," Voinovich said. "It is my opinion that John Bolton is the poster child of what someone in the diplomatic corps should not be."
It was not clear when Bolton's nomination would come to the Senate floor. Republicans hold a 55-44 majority, making confirmation likely. One wild card: Democrats could still try to block a final vote.
The White House predicted eventual victory despite Voinovich's harsh assessment and weeks of tumult over whether Bolton abused subordinates, stretched government intelligence to fit a preconceived ideology or misled the Senate committee.
In a statement that ignored the committee's action forwarding the nomination without a recommendation, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she was pleased it was moving to the full Senate for consideration. Rice said she has believed from the outset that Bolton is the "right man for this challenging assignment, and I hope the Senate will now move quickly to confirm him so that he can begin his work at the United Nations."
Public misgivings among four of the panel's 10 Republicans held up the Bolton vote for three weeks, and the White House launched a full-throated lobbying campaign.
In the end, only Voinovich broke GOP ranks. The committee's chairman, Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, gave point-by-point answers to many of the allegations against Bolton, such as instances when he may have improperly pressured or retaliated against government analysts who disagreed with him.
Even that lengthy defense of Bolton carried an asterisk, however.
"Secretary Bolton's actions were not always exemplary," Lugar said. "On several occasions, he made incorrect assumptions about the behavior and motivations of subordinates. At other times, he failed to use proper managerial channels or unnecessarily personalized internal disputes."
Democrats were united in opposing Bolton almost from the moment Bush nominated him in March. Initially, opposition focused on Bolton's well-known hostility to the United Nations. He once famously said that it would not matter if 10 stories of the world body's New York headquarters disappeared.
By the time of Bolton's nomination hearing in April, Democrats had focused on complaints about his conduct in his current job as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security affairs. They pointed to testimony from a former Republican State Department colleague that Bolton was a "serial abuser."
"He's the wrong choice," said the panel's senior Democrat, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware. "We can do a lot better."
Biden suggested that Bush should withdraw Bolton's nomination, but also said he did not expect that outcome.
Republicans on the committee stressed foreign policy and arms control successes Bolton had achieved over the four years since the same committee approved him for the arms control job.
"We are not electing Mr. Congeniality. We do not need Mr. Milquetoast," said Sen. George Allen, R-Va., arguing that Bolton would be an effective agent for change at the United Nations.
Voinovich rejected the White House argument that Bolton's acknowledged blunt manner is good medicine for a moribund bureaucracy and ingrained corruption at the United Nations. Bolton might do more harm than good, and alienate nations whose cooperation the United States' needs, Voinovich said.
"He is an ideologue and fosters an atmosphere of intimidation," Voinovich said. But he said it would be arrogant of him to vote with the Democrats and kill the nomination. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 6:12 am Post subject: |
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Are the worms turning?
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I hope so. It would be great if he withdraws the nomination or Bolton gets rejected by Congress.
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I hope so! Meanwhile my reputation as a prophet is suffering bigtime. (I predicted the nomination would be withdrawn by May 1.)
A TV reporter said sending an ambassador's nomination to the Senate floor without a recommendation has never happened. I can't vouch for that, but it is embarrassing to Bolton.
I'm going to go out on a limb and make another prediction (and rescue my reputation) and say that he will be confirmed. |
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Hank Scorpio
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
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| Posted: Sat May 14, 2005 2:04 am Post subject: |
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And your hero Voinovich has also said that he seriously thinks if Bolton worked for a corporation he'd have been fired by now. Then he followed the party line and voted yes for Bolton to go up for a vote where thanks to a handy Republican majority he'll be confirmed.
Ah, I love the smell of schadenfreude in the morning. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Sat May 14, 2005 6:25 pm Post subject: |
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"We are not electing Mr. Congeniality. We do not need Mr. Milquetoast," said Sen. George Allen, R-Va., arguing that Bolton would be an effective agent for change at the United Nations.
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I can't speak for anyone else, but if someone walked up to me and said, "I think you are a useless waste of the earth's resources. Here is a list of the things I want you to do to improve yourself..." There is a very good chance that I won't bother to listen to his ideas for reforming me. I'm just funny that way. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Sat May 14, 2005 6:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Then he followed the party line and voted yes for Bolton to go up for a vote where thanks to a handy Republican majority he'll be confirmed. |
Except for the fact that you are wrong, that's a pretty good sentence. Voinovich voted in favor of allowing Bolton's nomination to go to the Senate floor without a recommendation. It's the first time a UN ambassador-nominee has failed to get the support of the committee. |
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suwonteacher
Joined: 22 May 2006
Location: Hwaesodong
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| Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 4:37 pm Post subject: |
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| Ahhh, the chimp. How the world misses thee... |
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