Senator Chafee is sending signals that he is considering opposing John Bolton. This is amazinig and important news.
Just in from the Boston Globe:
GOP senator may oppose UN choice
By Farah Stockman, Globe Staff | April 6, 2005
WASHINGTON — Senator Lincoln Chafee’s office said yesterday that his constituency is “overwhelmingly” opposed to the nomination of John Bolton as US ambassador to the United Nations, signaling that Chafee is leaning against supporting Bolton in a move that could derail the nomination.
If Chafee, a moderate Republican from Rhode Island who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, joins with Democrats who are expected to unanimously oppose the nomination, Republicans will not have enough votes to send the confirmation to the Senate floor.
This does not mean that Chafee has completely abandoned Bolton’s nomination.
I have heard that Chafee’s staff is taking a much more careful look, as all of the Senators — Republican and Democrat — should, at John Bolton’s performance on national security matters in his current job and opening for consideration “matters” that may have been pushed under the rug during the Congressional investigations into John Bolton’s role at the National Policy Forum.
There is much yet to do — but thank you to those of you in Rhode Island and elsewhere who have created this “political space” for Lincoln Chafee to possibly oppose John Bolton.
— Steve Clemons
