President Bush should be asking the question of who on his team let the Battle over John Bolton escalate into a proxy battle over White House influence. This should be about bigger issues. In fact, Senator Voinovich framed this debate brilliantly and eloquently.
Senator Lugar is not going to allow a vote on John Bolton in the Committee. We will get no 9-9 tie because Lugar won’t allow a loss, or stalemate. What will happen shortly is that Lugar will move that the committee report the nomination to the floor without recommendation.
Voinovich has created the political space for defeatist-tilting Democrats to buck up and for Bolton-offended internationalist Republicans to oppose Bolton. If this comes out of Committee shortly with a 9-9 vote, we will have even more time to tell countless troubling vignettes about Mr. Bolton’s recklessness with national security intelligence.
Voinovich just said that “John Bolton is the poster child for what someone in the diplomatic corps should not be.” Someone notify David Brooks that the tide has yet again turned.
George Voinovich, like Barry Goldwater once articulated so well, believes that conservatives must maintain a solid connection to their conscience. He is voting against Bolton’s nomination. We are now at 50/50. Everything this weekend was psychological warfare by the White House — trying to convince the opponents to Bolton that they had already lost.
I have no idea what George Voinovich is about to conclude in the Bolton hearings, but already, the language he has used to frame the “bigger picture” at stake is EXACTLY the kind of discourse we should be having.
Senator Lugar’s very, very long opening statement is actually making the case of why John Bolton is NOT a candidate of impeccable credentials — and not likely to be a candidate that most Americans can support of whom feel proud.
Demetri Sevastopulo has a great article today in the Financial Times that gives just a quick “state of play” run-down on the Battle over Bolton. I recommend a full read of it. The headline is wrong though. This is NOT the final battle over John Bolton today.
John Bolton may have thought that there was a mole in the State Department Intelligence & Research Bureau who was undermining his efforts to announce that Cuba had a bio-weapons program underway. This is incredible news. . .
Senator Boxer has launched a campaign to have citizens try to talk sense to Chafee on all things Bolton. Here is a letter she sent out yesterday — and yes, there is still time to encourage Chafee to realize that a vote to confirm Bolton will be consequential for him. . .and remembered.
