More on the Bolton nomination - good read

[housewolf]

From Steve Clemons "The Washington Note"

Sunday, 4/17/05

Any Senator -- any and all -- who votes to confirm John Bolton on Tuesday this week (though there may be a further delay) not only has to sign off on the issue of Bolton's pattern of abusive behavior, they must also sign off on the connection of such abuse to the mismanagement of intelligence and his habitual role as a "loose cannon" undermining delicate and high-stakes national security efforts of other diplomats.

In addition, they must sign off on the fact that he lied under oath. Bolton got very pointed with Senators Dodd, Obama, and Biden -- as well as Boxer -- that he never sought to have an intelligence official removed or fired and that issues of difference with staff were over "management questions," not "substance." There is overwhelming evidence bubbling out in the national press that this is simply not true.

<snip>

I would really like to hear Senators Norman Coleman or George Allen explain to the American public, to the media, and to me why they can abide by testimony that is at such odds with what is clearly the troubling truth about Mr. Bolton. Do they think that such lies before their committee are acceptable.

<snip>

I am presently at a foreign policy conference called the CSIS Think Tank Summit organized by Simon Serfaty and Robin Niblett at the Wye Conference Center on the Eastern Shore of Maryland with a broad array of intellectuals who think about Transatlantic issues, the National Defense University, NATO, and national security strategy. I am here with people from AEI, the Monterey Institute, Harvard's Kennedy School, CSIS, the Washington Institute on Middle East Policy, NATO, SWP in Germany, IISS, RAND Corporation, the German Marshall Fund, the Hoover Institution, and more. The spectrum of perspective here is very wide -- but I have not found a single defender of John Bolton. . .not one. And I have tried. One of those who might have defended his appointment did not show to the conference. No one here supports Boltonism at the U.N. -- and many of these folks are wrapped fairly tightly into the inner circle of neo-conservatives thought that his appointment was a good move for the Bush administration.

But now that Bolton has clearly "lied" to Congress about his past -- Cheney needs to pull back, offer Bolton a job on his Vice Presidential staff and offer someone else the position.

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/000471.html


Besides Chafee, we should contact these senators on Monday and Tuesday expressing our concern about the Bolton nomination -
Lisa Murkowski of Alaska,
Lamar Alexander of Tennessee,
George Voinovich of Ohio,
Chuck Hagel of Nebraska,
Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island

You can find the phone numbers at senate.gov

[pinto]

1. Seconding a call/email to the Senate Committee members' offices. n/t

[efhmc]

2. Sorry, but I just cannot bring myself to do anything any more,

and living in Texas, I am without a voice. The evil just keeps acoming and acoming and the few who care are making not one iota of difference.

[housewolf]

3. Make phone calls Monday n/t