Campaign To Scuttle Bolton Nomination Gains Ground

[struggle4progress]

BY ELI LAKE - Staff Reporter of the Sun
March 15, 2005

WASHINGTON - A new campaign here to scuttle President Bush's nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, is gathering steam. However, a swing voter on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Hagel of Nebraska, yesterday announced that he would vote to confirm Mr. Bolton, which could prove a setback to those opposing the appointment. <snip>

Since then, moveon.org has asked its supporters to pressure members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to vote against Mr. Bolton. A letter to MoveOn members sent by one of its directors, Eli Pariser, compared the nomination to the selection of a felon to be a police chief. Another organization called Citizens for Global Solutions created a Web site devoted to striking down Mr. Bolton's nomination. The site features video footage of remarks in which Mr. Bolton opined that if the U.N. Secretariat building in New York "lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference."

But Mr. Bolton's detractors are not limited to liberal democrats. The executive vice president of the New America Foundation, Steve Clemons, who has worked in recent months to bring Republican critics of the Iraq war together with Democrats, has utilized his blog in the last week to organize grass roots opposition to Mr. Bolton's nomination. <snip>

Mr. Chafee, who last fall cast his ballot in protest for George H.W. Bush and not his son, issued a statement that appeared designed to keep his options open on the matter. "The nomination of Undersecretary of State John Bolton brings a seasoned member to the Diplomatic team that will represent us through some very difficult times ahead," his statement said. "Undersecretary Bolton has been an outspoken critic of the United Nations. However, I have been assured that he will bring a more balanced approach to his new role." The second-to-last line of the statement, though, left open the possibility Mr. Bolton's name could not get out of committee: "I look forward to speaking with Undersecretary Bolton at his confirmation hearings about the myriad issues that he will be confronting if he is confirmed." A spokesman for Senator Feingold told the Sun yesterday that he was reserving judgment about Mr. Bolton's nomination until the hearings scheduled for April 7. <snip>

http://www.nysun.com/article/10577

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Gee, it's not like they've never lied to us before.....duh.

"However, I have been assured that he will bring a more balanced approach to his new role."