Bolton to UN.

[ObiwanGinobili]

Today W used his constitutional authority to promote Bolton as UN ambassader temporarily.

[SWC Bonfire]

From what I understand, it was a recess appointment and carries out to what would have been a full term (2007).

[MannyIsGod]

Thank god for checks and balances. Constitutional authority my ass.

[SWC Bonfire]

Thank god for checks and balances. Constitutional authority my ass.

Tell that to the Federalists & John Adams.

This was debated over 200 years ago. Lots of historical precedent.

[MannyIsGod]

I actually don't mind Bolton as an appointment, but the manner in which it has been done is bullshit.

[smeagol]

Michael Bolton?

"Tell me how am I suppose to live with out you,
Now that I've been loving you so long
Tell me how am I supooooose to live with out you . . ."

[SWC Bonfire]

Michael Bolton?



The official haircut of the United States' UN representatives will now be a balding mullet.

[Nbadan]

Let's face facts. If there was a secret vote in the Senate on Bolton, he would only get a handful of votes. Almost every Senator, Republican and Democrat can see that Bolton is not qualified to be the US ambassador to the UN, but the WH knows that when push comes to shove they can control the Senate - including the 15 Democratic Senators who voted for CAFTA.

[Nbadan]

The Bolton nomination is yet more proof, as if we needed any, that the Bush team always payes back favors in spades...


Bolton was one of the pack of lawyers for the Republican presidential ticket who repeatedly sought to shut down recounts of the ballots from Florida counties before those counts revealed that Gore had actually won the state's electoral votes and the presidency.

The December 9 intervention was Bolton's last and most significant blow against the democratic process.

The Florida Supreme Court had ordered a broad recount of ballots in order to finally resolve the question of who won the state. But Bolton and the Bush-Cheney team got their Republican allies on the U.S. Supreme Court to block the review. Fearing that each minute of additional counting would reveal the reality of voter sentiments in Florida, Bolton personally rushed into the library to stop the count.

Bolton was in South Korea when it became clear that the Nov. 7, 2000, election would be decided in Florida. At the behest of former Secretary of State James Baker, who fronted the Bush-Cheney team during the Florida fight, Bolton winged his way to Palm Beach, where he took the lead in challenging ballots during that county's recount. Then, when the ballots from around the state were transported to Tallahassee for the recount ordered by the state Supreme Court, Bolton followed them.

It was there that he personally shut down the review of ballots from Miami-Dade County, a populous and particularly contested county where independent reviews would later reveal that hundreds of ballots that could reasonably have been counted for Gore were instead discarded.

Miami-Dade County Elections Supervisor David Leahy argued at the time that 2,257 voters had apparently attempted to mark ballot cards for Gore or Bush but had not had them recorded because they had been improperly inserted into the voting machines. A hand count of those ballots revealed that 302 more of them would have gone for Gore than Bush. That shift in the numbers from just one of Florida's 67 counties would have erased more than half of Bush's 537-vote lead in the state.

But attempts to conduct a hand count were repeatedly blocked by the Bush-Cheney team, culminating with Bolton's December 9 announcement that, "I'm here to stop the count." A few days later, the U.S. Supreme Court would stop the count permanently, with a pro-Bush ruling in which five Republican-appointed justices, in the words of noted attorney Vincent Bugliosi, "committed the unpardonable sin of being a knowing surrogate for the Republican Party instead of being an impartial arbiter of the law."

Bolton was a key player in the fight to delay the Florida count long enough to allow for the Supreme Court's intervention, and he got his reward quickly. Despite his record of making controversial and sometimes bizarre statements regarding international affairs, he was selected by the Bush administration in 2001 to serve as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control. And he is now in line to become the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

Before he is given that position, and charged with the job of promoting the spread of democracy around the world, however, senators would do well to consider the disregard John Bolton showed for democracy in Florida.

Common Dreams (http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0414-25.htm)

[samikeyp]

Michael Bolton?

Michael Bolton: Yeah, well at least your name isn't Michael Bolton.
Samir: You know there's nothing wrong with that name.
Michael Bolton: There was nothing wrong with it... until I was about 12 years old and that no-talent ass clown became famous and started winning Grammys.
Samir: Hmm... well why don't you just go by Mike instead of Michael?
Michael Bolton: No way. Why should I change? He's the one who sucks.

[jochhejaam]

It's a very popular means of appointing nominees. Clinton used recess appointments 140 times during his time in office and Bush used it over 100 times during his first term.

The Bolton recess appointment is what happens when the dems abuse the filibuster. Let the appointee come up for a vote for pete's sake!!


Quote: Originally posted by Nbadan: Let's face facts. If there was a secret vote in the Senate on Bolton, he would only get a handful of votes.

What facts? There are no such facts! I don't buy that "he wouldn't pass a secret vote" rationale. I think most of our elected officials want a tough ambassador representing us in the U.N especially in light of the "food for oil" scandal that Kofi tried to cover up! Many of the dems that feel compelled to vote along party lines would have crossed over. IMO

[Ocotillo]

Bush to America and the rest of the world:

F*&# You!

[The Ressurrected One]

Yeah, Clinton only did 240 recess appointments...

[gtownspur]

the only people who are upset about this are the partisan democrats and ignorant closet liberals like Manny.

[The Ressurrected One]

Bolton's opponents are saying he is "damaged."

If that's true, it's because a minority of Democrat Senators have for months been working assiduously to damage him.

Bolton's opponents say he will be less effective because he doesn't have Senate approval.

If that's true, it's because a miniscule minority of Democrat Senators prevented their colleagues from having an opportunity to vote for him...which, we know, would have happened even if by a slim margin.

Bolton's opponents say without Senate approval, Bolton won't represent the Congress.

He will, however, represent the President of the United States.

The fact that he may not represent Chris Dodd should not be terribly debilitating.

[The Ressurrected One]

Let's face facts. If there was a secret vote in the Senate on Bolton, he would only get a handful of votes. Almost every Senator, Republican and Democrat can see that Bolton is not qualified to be the US ambassador to the UN, but the WH knows that when push comes to shove they can control the Senate - including the 15 Democratic Senators who voted for CAFTA.
Ah, Nbadan got a new tin foil hat!