Bush Bypasses Senate Foreign Relations Committee To Install ‘Loyalist’ In Arms Control Position

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http://thinkprogress.org/?tag=Congress

Bush Bypasses Senate Foreign Relations Committee To Install ‘Loyalist’ In Arms Control Position

In the Washington Times this morning, Bush administration officials are boasting that they “outmaneuvered” the Senate Foreign Relations Committee “to install a loyalist in the top arms control post” at the State Department.

In Feb. 2007, President Bush nominated John C. Rood as Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, a position previously held by former UN Ambassador John Bolton. Rood’s Senate confirmation stalled, however, after Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Joe Biden (D-DE) and Ranking Republican Richard Lugar (R-IN) objected to his nomination.

The administration considered installing him as a recess appointment, but Biden said they would “not get another single nominee for anything at all” if they did. So instead, Bush simply appointed him as “acting” undersecretary, which doesn’t require confirmation:

But the White House then realized there was a way to put Mr. Rood in the position and still honor its commitment to the Senate. “In late September, the president decided to designate Mr. Rood as acting undersecretary,” an administration official said. <…>

The main issue now appears to be the length of the appointment. According to the 1868 Vacancies Act, it should not exceed 120 days. But the law allows for a longer period if the Senate takes no action on a pending nomination.

The installation of “loyalist” Rood is only the latest chapter in the Bush administration’s efforts to avoid Senate confirmation for positions that require it. In June, the Washington Post reported that Bush used recess appointments to place 105 people in full-time positions and 66 in part-time slots, which is more than Bill Clinton installed in his entire presidency. The New York Times notes:

[frogcycle]

1. When, when, when

Are the dems going to wake up to the fact they are dealing with a schoolyard bully.

Just as bush refuses to negotiate with anyone on anything, whether foreign or domestic, they need to just flat-out stonewall him on EVERYTHING. Like embargoing a rogue state, with warships interdicting any traffic to/from.

My fondest memory has become an image I saw in the late 60's during the attempt to shut down DC. They had parked old DC Transit buses bumper-to-bumper in a ring around the White House and Exec Office Building, to prevent any "dirty hippies" doing them harm. It was like "circle the wagons" in an old western movie.

I WANT BUSH TO FEEL THAT WAY NOW!!! I want the government brought to a halt if necessary. Don't fund ANYTHING. Send all the bureaucrats home (oh, I'd pay them retroactively once the crisis was over - don't want to punish hardworking middle class honest patriotic folks).

But just as Newt Gingrich was able to shut down the government in his petulant hissy fit because he wanted to cut taxes, we need to shut it down because it is a runaway train of "loyalists" raping and pillaging in every freaking department.

The EPA and the National Park Service and the Commerce Dept. and the Labor Dept. and the IRS and all the rest will survive a short hiatus. The only truly critical departments are Defense, State, and Justice. Justice could go on hold for a few days with no major loss; so could State, for that matter. Might be embarrassing internationally if embassies can't pay the phone bill, but so what? Defense would function - they could be put on a day-to-day "allowance". Congress could treat bush like you would a misbehaving child that is grounded except for certain supervised activities. They could say "send us the bills; we'll decide which ones to pay" and then do emergency funding bills on a case-by-case basis. Feed the troops, pay for bullets, pay for getting them out. Period.

But don't fund the WH. Send the chef and the groundskeeper home. Ground AF One. Declare the entire administration to be a rogue state.

Somebody needs to read the freaking Constitution. We The People are supposed to be in charge. We send Representatives (House and Senate) to do our bidding. They are presumed to be our chosen leaders, to sort out the conflicting opinions of the masses and come up with laws to govern that reflect some sort of middle ground, making some accommodation to the individual rights of those at the ends of the spectrum. The Executive branch is SUPPOSED to be the bureaucrats who EXECUTE those laws. The Chief Executive is the head of THAT branch. The head bureaucrat, carrying out the laws passed by the people's representatives, with oversight by those representatives. THAT IS THE WAY IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE!!

He is NOT supposed to make policy contrary to the will of the people, NOT supposed to dodge that oversight, NOT supposed to need "loyalists" - since he is SUPPOSED to be loyal to the Constitution and doing as he is freaking TOLD by congress, then anyone who agrees to do that is by definition a "loyalist."

This petulant schoolyard bully who wants to be a dictator has no clue what our government is supposed to be, and there is no reasoning with him or his crowd. THEY SHOULD BE EMBARGOED! There is no Constitutional remedy for letting the fox into the henhouse, as happened when bush was installed illegally into the WH. Impeachment is intended to remove an individual for malfeasance. In this case it would just be whack-a-mole. There is an entire band of these PNAC traitors, and the only way to get them out is by taking them on.
Just as Edwards says w/respect to the big business interests on matters of healthcare, labor, trade, etc., you can't negotiate with them. Well, its the same crowd! The ones Edwards says we can't negotiate with are IN CHARGE. So lets quit pussyfooting around and call them out.