News reports this morning and over the weekend indicate that President Bush will appoint John Bolton U.S. Embassador to the UN. Bolton was first nominated last spring, but Senate confirmation has stalled over a variety of objections raised by Democrats and moderates who find Bolton too ideological. Consider the following AP report:
"He's damaged goods. This is a person who lacks credibility," Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, a senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on "Fox News Sunday." Bush, he said, should think again before using a recess appointment to place Bolton at the United Nations while the Senate is on its traditional August break.
But Republicans appearing on Sunday's news shows said Bolton is the man the White House wants and he's the right person to represent the United States at the world body.
Bolton's appointment ends a five-month impasse between the administration and Senate Democrats.
The battle grabbed headlines last spring amid accusations that Bolton abused subordinates and twisted intelligence to shape his conservative ideology, and as White House and GOP leadership efforts to ram the nomination through the Senate fell short.
In recent weeks, it faded into the background as the Senate prepared to begin a nomination battle over John Roberts, the federal appeals judge that Bush chose to replace the retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor at the Supreme Court.
At Bolton's April confirmation hearing, Democrats raised additional questions about his demeanor and attitude toward lower-level government officials. Those questions came to dominate Bolton's confirmation battle, growing into numerous allegations that he had abused underlings or tried to browbeat intelligence analysts whose views differed from his own.
Despite lengthy investigations, it was never clear that Bolton did anything improper. Witnesses told the committee that Bolton lost his temper, tried to engineer the ouster of at least two intelligence analysts and otherwise threw his weight around. But Democrats were never able to establish that his actions crossed the line to out-and-out harassment or improper intimidation.
Read the complete story HERE.
Bolton's AP bio from myway.com:
NAME - John R. Bolton.
AGE - 56; born Nov. 20, 1948, in Baltimore.
EDUCATION - B.A., Yale University, 1970; J.D., Yale Law School, 1974.
EXPERIENCE - Undersecretary of state for arms control and international security since May 11, 2001; senior vice president, American Enterprise Institute, 1997-2001; adjunct professor, George Mason University Law School, 1994-2001; partner in the law firm of Lerner, Reed, Bolton & McManus, Washington, 1993-99; assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs, 1989-93; assistant attorney general, Justice Department, 1985-89; partner at the law firm of Covington & Burling, Washington, 1983-85; assistant administrator for program and policy coordination, U.S. Agency for International Development, 1982-83; general counsel, AID, 1981-82; associate at Covington & Burling, 1974-81.
FAMILY - Married to the former Gretchen Brainerd; one daughter.
QUOTE - "American leadership is critical to the success of the U.N., an effective U.N., one that is true to the original intent of its charter's framers."
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