The Blue State

Cheney attempting to undercut Bush on North Korea

Recently, the Bush Administration changed its strategy of letting China control negotiations with North Korea to engaging with Kim Jong IL's regime directly.  The State Department is to thank for persuading Bush to begin bilateral talks.  Ironically, this is just a few years after Condoleezza Rice was convinced that bilateral talks would not work.  Now they are on the edge of a breakthrough.

This new approach is upsetting Dick Cheney.  One of the Vice President's loyal soldiers, John Bolton, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, is lobbying hard to undercut any bilateral successes with the North:

Former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton is urging GOP lawmakers tooppose the Bush administration’s recent agreement with North Korea toend its nuclear programs, according to House Republican sources.

WhileBolton’s skepticism of North Korea is well-known, this is believed tobe the first time a former top adviser to the president has taken theunusual step of lobbying against a pillar of the administration’scurrent foreign policy. It is particularly surprising given the valuethe administration has placed on loyalty.

If North Korea disarms, that would give the U.S. a reason to stop flexing its sticks as much in Southeast Asia.  Cheney's allies do not want that.

Remember, it was John Bolton that Bush brought in by way of recess appointment because the Senate Foreign Relations Committee refused to confirm him.  And it was this same John Bolton who was responsible for the breakdown in talks with North Korea earlier this decade when he had a different job under Bush.

Bolton desperately wants to prevent any breakthrough with the North, and will go to great lengths to do that -- even if it goes against Bush.  And as we have seen from history, Bolton never does anything without Dick Cheney's approval.

Just think: a sitting Vice President trying to undercut a sitting President.  Has this happened before?

John Bolton is out -- credit Chafee

Controversial US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton announced his resignation today, due in large part to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's resistance to clear him for confirmation.  Remember that in 2005, Bush gave Bolton a recess appointment because Republican Lincoln Chafee sided with the Democrats to block the nomination.  With just a few days left until Congress goes into recess for the holidays, the lame duck Chafee is still refusing to budge.  The White House figured that instead of suffering another embarrassing defeat, they might as well get Bolton out of there and quickly nominate someone else.

Bush is pissed at the Senate for not confirming him:

I am deeply disappointed that a handful of United StatesSenators prevented Ambassador Bolton from receiving the up or down votehe deserved in the Senate. They chose to obstruct his confirmation,even though he enjoys majority support in the Senate, and even thoughtheir tactics will disrupt our diplomatic work at a sensitive andimportant time.

Remember though, his confirmation was blocked by a Republican-led Senate.  So maybe next time Bush should nominate a moderate.

So why isn't Bolton a moderate?  I could cite dozens of examples.  But let's go with the most recent one.  Two weeks ago, Bolton refused to sign a UN resolution that would have commemorated the 200th anniversary of the ending of slave trading in the Atlantic.  Because Bolton didn't sign it, the resolution was therefore blocked.  So that is one example.  When you couple that instance with his close ties to Cheney and Rumsfeld, as well as his failure on the ongoing standoffs with Iran and North Korea, it is not a stretch to say that Bolton was not qualified to represent the United States in an international forum like the UN.

Kudos to Lincoln Chafee for standing on principle in the final days before he leaves office.  Although Democrats are fortunate that Sheldon Whitehouse defeated Chafee one month ago, which helped kick the GOP majority out of power, Chafee will be missed because he tried his hardest each day to move his GOP back to the center.  It didn't work.  But by forcing the resignation of Bolton, he got the last laugh.

Chafee's last stand

Even though he was defeated earlier this week by Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse  in the Rhode Island Senate race , Republican Lincoln Chafee says he wants to leave with integrity and block John Bolton, President Bush's nominee for U.S. Ambassador to the UN.

Republicans had been hoping that during the lame duck session of Congress, the last chance that the Republicans have to get their agenda through before the Democrats take over, they would be able confirm Mr. Bolton.  Republicans need support of Lincoln Chafee, who is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in order to bring the confirmation to a full Senate vote.  But the moderate Rhode Island Republican says no:

"The American people have spoken out against the president's agendaon a number of fronts, and presumably one of those is on foreignpolicy," the Rhode Island moderate told The Associated Press.

"And at this late stage in my term, I'm not going to endorse something the American people have spoke out against."

Well isn't that something?  A politician thinking beyond partisan lines, beyond elections and beyond himself for a change.  Although all of us can be glad that Sheldon Whitehouse won on Tuesday, it really hurts for someone like Chafee to leave, who is such a wonderful influence on his party.

With John Bolton not being able to even clear committee, assuming that Chafee sticks to his word, President Bush might have to use another recess appointment.

John Bolton confirmation has been blocked

A cancelled Senate meeting marks the probable end of the effort to confirm John Bolton as the official U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.  This is a huge setback for Bush.

It was embarrassing enough for Bush in 2005 when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee rebuked the nomination of John Bolton for the UN Ambassador job, prompting the White House issue a recess appointment that is set to expire at the end of this year.  But with time running out in Bolton's term, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is still blocking his confirmation.  Lincoln Chafee, a moderate Republican, isn't budging and says he will still vote with the Democrats to block the nomination.  Chafee faces a tough reelection challenge up in Rhode Island, and doesn't want to be perceived as a poster boy for President Bush's Iraq policy.

John McCain expressed anger over the weekend and demanded that Bolton at least clear committee.  But yesterday, all hope was lost when a committee meeting was cancelled after the Republicans realized the inevitability that Bolton stood no chance of passing.

Steve Clemons of The Washington Note blog sounded the alarm yesterday:

The last pre-election loophole through which John Bolton'sconfirmation might have snuck through the Senate Foreign RelationsCommittee was at 2:15 this afternoon at a previously called "businessmeeting" of the Committee.

That meeting has been cancelled -- and with it even the dimmest chance of John Bolton being confirmed as US Ambassador to the United Nations.

Some have said that another effort could be mounted during a lameduck session of Congress, but there are several Republicans who willnot feel bound by the White House in that circumstance; Dems as well --who will vote against cloture on the floor of the Senate were it to getout of Committee then.

So, it's over.  Wow.

Actually, it's not quite over.  There are rumors swirling that the White House might issue a second recess appointment, which is quite rare.  But others say Bush will not go that far, and could ask Bolton to become an unpaid spokesman for the United States government at the United Nations:

But the White House has considered a shocking plan to keep theAmbassador in his position at the UN that may not involve a secondrecess appointment to his current position -- which would mean that hecould not be compensated, may not be eligible for travel funds, may notbe able to actually use government facilities for his work, and wouldpossibly be time limited to a certain number of days that he couldremain in this position, even if largely stripped of all taxpayersupport.

Yeah, just imagine one of our own UN officials working out of his home office.  That would look great.  Or wait, I have an idea: how about actually respecting the decision of the Legislative Branch for a change?  We do have three branches, you know, not just one.

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Other sites blogging about this issue: Huffington Post, The Good Democrat, Don Singleton, The Moderate Voice, Shakespeare's Sister, Crooks and Liars, TPMCafe.

The Bolton fight begins again

Get ready.  Here we go again.  Today the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is beginning hearings that are the opening act of a tough decision that must come by January over whether John Bolton will be confirmed as the US Ambassador to the UN.

But wait, you say.  Isn't John Bolton already in that position? 

Technically speaking, yes he is -- but by recess appointment.  In other words, Democrats blocked the Bolton nomination in 2005.  By Executive Order, President Bush waited until Congress was at its summer recess and personally confirmed Bolton to the spot.  By the rules of this appointment, Bolton's term lasts until the end of this year.  Think of it as an asterisk.

The Democrats are at odds with the Administration for not releasing Bolton's controversial classified documents that might indicate he harassed some of his employees over at the State Department.  As of this date, the White House has refused to hand them over.  Interesting strategy, especially if they have nothing to hide!

Even aside from the documents that are sought, Democratic Senator Joe Biden thinks Bolton's record thus far speaks for itself:

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) said, "Mr. Bolton's performance atthe U.N. only confirms my conviction that he's the wrong person forthis job." He suggested that Democrats may filibuster a Senate voteunless the Bush administration releases documents Biden believes detailBolton's use of National Security Agency intercepts involving U.S.citizens.

On a personal note, I think that Bolton's irresponsibility in 2003, which resulted in the breakdown of talks with North Korea, is the main reason why I oppose his nomination.  He is a guided missile.
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Other blogs writing about John Bolton: Huffington Post, Freepress, Media Matters, Tim Saler.