I was surprised when Steve asked me to join in as a guest blogger. I remain a books and print kind-of-guy in the internet age, so it’s a new thing for me. I also warned Steve that he risked having the Washington Note turned into a “Blog for Bolton” site.

I took Peter Scoblic’s suggestion and read his new piece in The New Republic, and I must say it’s magnificent.

The Associated Press, along with other news outlets, is now reporting that President Bush will send John Bolton to the United Nations next week via his power of recess appointment. This is, as I have said repeatedly, an unfortunate step, but a particularly egregious one now that we have learned that Mr.

CBS News, 7/29/05: President Bush intends to announce next week that he is going around Congress to install embattled nominee John Bolton as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, senior administration officials said Friday.

Alright, I’ve finally deciphered all the signatures on the letter [pdf] sent to Bush today by 36 members of the U.S. Senate, calling on the president to withdraw Bolton’s name in light of his “memory lapse” (discussed in depth here).

President Bush should walk into the Oval Office on Monday morning and contact Bill Frist, Harry Reid, Dick Lugar, and Joe Biden. Then he should make a recess appointment to fill the UN Ambassador vacancy. You’re probably wondering right now why in the world Steve would let me write for his blog in his absence….

Yesterday the Department of State responded to Senator Biden in writing. The letter lays out how Bolton’s memory was jogged: JUL 28, 2005 Dear Senator Biden: I am writing in response to your letters of July 27 and July 28. Mr.

I missed this, but Robert George pointed it out in comments, and gail helpfully supplied the transcript. Shuster now claims that it was inaccurate to list Bolton as having testified to the Fitzgerald grand jury: MATTHEWS: David, last Thursday, a week ago, you reported that John Bolton, the president’s nominee for the U.N.

Josh Marshall has some more information up over at TPM Cafe on Bolton and the State-CIA inquiry, including a letter Senate Democrats sent the president today asking him not to make a recess appointment. — Peter Scoblic [Note from Dave: Jeremy and Peter submitted their posts minutes apart.

While rumors and hints that President Bush will give John Bolton a recess appointment to the UN sometime early next week continue to swirl, opponents of the nomination have seized on the latest developments and are calling for Bush to withdraw Bolton’s name, or at least not to send him to New York without the…