KENNEDY âThe Sky is fallingâ
DODD âThe Sky is fallingâ
LEAHY âThe sky is fallingâ
REID âThe sky is fallingâ
VOINOVICH âThe sky is really falling bad. It REALLY is!â
HEH HEH HEH HEH
GET USED TO IT BOYZ!
| Submit your comments on this article |
| International-UN-NGOs |
| Bolton finally to be appointed |
| 2005-08-01 |
| Registration required, so posted in full. Bush to Name Bolton to U.N. Post Today By TERENCE HUNT The Associated Press Monday, August 1, 2005; 9:50 AM WASHINGTON -- Frustrated by Democrats, President Bush will circumvent the Senate on Monday and install embattled nominee John Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations, the White House said. Bush has the power to fill vacancies without Senate approval while Congress is in recess. Under the Constitution, a recess appointment during the lawmakers' August break would last until the next session of Congress, which begins in January 2007. In advance of Bush's announcement, Democrats said Bolton would start his new job on the wrong foot in a recess appointment. "He's damaged goods. This is a person who lacks credibility," Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, a senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and backer of America's enemies since the 1980s, said on "Fox News Sunday." Bush, he said, should think again before using a recess appointment to place Bolton at the United Nations while the Senate is on its traditional August break. But Republicans appearing on Sunday's news shows said Bolton is the man the White House wants and he's the right person to represent the United States at the world body. White House press secretary Scott McClellan brushed off Democrats' objections and accused them of using stalling tactics. He said Bolton has the complete confidence of the president and that the United States needs an ambassador at the UN at a critical time when the war on terror is ongoing. McClellan said Bush believes strongly that Bolton "is the right person for the job." Bolton's appointment ends a five-month impasse between the administration and Senate Democrats. The battle grabbed headlines last spring amid accusations that Bolton abused subordinates and twisted intelligence to shape his conservative ideology, and as White House and GOP leadership efforts to ram the nomination through the Senate fell short. In recent weeks, it faded into the background as the Senate prepared to begin a nomination battle over John Roberts, the federal appeals judge that Bush chose to replace the retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor at the Supreme Court. At Bolton's April confirmation hearing, Democrats raised additional questions about his demeanor and attitude toward lower-level government officials. Those questions came to dominate Bolton's confirmation battle, growing into numerous allegations that he had abused underlings or tried to browbeat intelligence analysts whose views differed from his own. Despite lengthy investigations, it was never clear that Bolton did anything improper. Witnesses told the committee that Bolton lost his temper, tried to engineer the ouster of at least two intelligence analysts and otherwise threw his weight around. But Democrats were never able to establish that his actions crossed the line to out-and-out harassment or improper intimidation. Separately, Democrats and the White House deadlocked over Bolton's acknowledged request for names of U.S officials whose communications were secretly picked up by the National Security Agency. Democrats said the material might show that Bolton conducted a witch hunt for analysts or others who disagreed with him. The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee received a limited briefing on the contents of the messages Bolton saw, but were not told the names. Democrats said that was not good enough, but later offered a compromise. After much back and forth, with the White House claiming Democrats had moved the goal posts, no other senator saw any of the material. Last week, the administration telegraphed Bush's intention to put Bolton on the job. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the vacancy needed to be filled before the U.N. General Assembly's annual meeting in mid-September. Former Sen. John Danforth left the post in January. In the face of objections from most Democrats and at least one Republican, Bush has steadfastly refused to withdraw Bolton's nomination _ even after the Foreign Relations Committee sent it to the full Senate without the customary recommendation to approve it. Though the debate over Bolton had largely faded from the headlines, critics raised fresh concerns this week when it surfaced that Bolton had neglected to tell Congress that he had been interviewed in 2003 in a government investigation into faulty prewar intelligence on Iraq. In a letter released Friday, 35 Democratic senators and one independent, Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont, urged Bush not to give Bolton a recess appointment. "There's just too much unanswered about Bolton, and I think the president would make a truly serious mistake if he makes a recess appointment," Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said in an interview. © 2005 The Associated Press |
| Posted by:Jackal |
| #13 Sarge - So, if they take a vote, then his term runs to Jan 20 2009 instead of Jan 3 2007... So much the better... |
| Posted by: BigEd 2005-08-01 20:56 |
| #12 I just found out that the Democrats can stop this recess appointment by giving Bolton a vote when they come back. So when they gnash and whine take that into account. Because they know the outcome it will probably not happen but I want just one reporter to float that past the loonier of the Senators that decry "Abuse of power." |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2005-08-01 19:05 |
| #11 Just cashing in our winnings from the 2004 election. Way to go Mr. President. |
| Posted by: badanov 2005-08-01 18:27 |
| #10 *sob* |
| Posted by: G. Voinovich 2005-08-01 16:45 |
| #9 KENNEDY âThe Sky is fallingâ DODD âThe Sky is fallingâ LEAHY âThe sky is fallingâ REID âThe sky is fallingâ VOINOVICH âThe sky is really falling bad. It REALLY is!â HEH HEH HEH HEH GET USED TO IT BOYZ! |
| Posted by: BigEd 2005-08-01 16:23 |
| #8 I hope his first day at the UN he hands most of the delegations (the UK, Oz and a few others excepted) a rope and tells them they know what they can do with it. I believe we need an organization like the UN. Just not this UN. An international forum based more on just how important the member states are. The idea the some third world shithole that can't get its act together in any sort of way has the same voting power in the General Assembly as the US, Japan, India or even god forbid France is ludicrous. Plus the voting or appointing of states that are dictatorships to organizations like the UN Human Rights Commision is a sick joke. Plus they can pay their freaking parking tickets. |
| Posted by: Cheaderhead 2005-08-01 15:41 |
| #7 Thanks, Jackel. Well done, Mr. President. Let the Games begin! (I'll go make some popcorn.) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-08-01 15:24 |
| #6 I think it would be awfully funny if some of the shifting funds; "Oil-for-Food" and otherwise ended up in the hands of some smartass Donkistan Senator or organization like moveon. Ol' Bolton is likely to have a crack staff to do some serious rooting around in the swamps.... |
| Posted by: BigEd 2005-08-01 13:07 |
| #5 "He's damaged goods. This is a person who lacks credibility," Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Nothing says 'damaged goods' like a waitress sandwich... |
| Posted by: Raj 2005-08-01 12:30 |
| #4 According to the Terrorist Times, Sen. "Happy Hour" Kennedy states concerning Pres. Bush: "It's a devious maneuver that evades the constitutional requirement of Senate consent and only further darkens the cloud over Mr. Bolton's credibility at the U.N." What Sen. Happy Hour is forgetting, among other things in his "devious" life, is that former -President DNA Stain- made 140 recess appointments during his two terms. Most important of all the treasonous act of trying making the U.S. under the control of the ICC while Congress was on vacation. |
| Posted by: Poison Reverse 2005-08-01 12:00 |
| #3 Update: It's a done deal. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2005-08-01 11:25 |
| #2 Classic, just classic. I still want to see Bolton have, "an aggressive stance" when he puts his hands on his hips and yells at the UN. It will make all those buerowinnies crying. |
| Posted by: mmurray821 2005-08-01 10:44 |
| #1 "He's damaged goods." LOL No my friend the Donks in the Senate are damaged goods. They have proven that they have no clear vision or idea and offer nothing but obstruction. That's ok if you want to vote on the platform "We aren't Republicans." It's about fucking time and would like to see more of these with respect to judicial appointments. I can see the steam coming out of Teddy's ears this morning. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2005-08-01 10:33 |