Washington Note: White House pressure on Lugar re: Bolton is "Abusive"

[BurtWorm]

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/000504.html

The White House is the driver here -- and Lugar is feeling excruciating pressure not to have his committee collapse on this nomination, and it is nearly "abusive" of the White House to be doing this to Lugar and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee because the battle will soon not be cast as one between Democrats and the White House -- but rather between the White House and the Senate on whether the President will respect the role and function of the Senate confirmation process.

While the Cheney-Bolton Opponents and the Undecided and Wavering now have more than two weeks to investigate -- the clock is ticking. There is new material on the way.

There is a story brewing regarding John Bolton's role as a disruptive force in the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom that involves a well-respected scholar, Jeremy Gunn. Dr. Gunn resigned his positions as Director of Research and Deputy General Counsel of the Commission because of matters that "related to Mr. Bolton."

TWN does not know more, but knows that Mr. Gunn has decided to share his experiences with Mr. Bolton with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee so as to have a more complete record of John Bolton's profile.

[supernova]

1. Ohh, this is gettind good..

Excuse me. Be right back with my :popcorn:

[CottonBear]

2. I watched the reruns of the Senate Hearings on Sunday morning.

It was even more fun the second time around. :)
:popcorn:
:beer:

[BurtWorm]

3. On the other hand, there may be bad signs coming from Voinovich:

First, Vice President Cheney and President Bush have continued to be loyal to their nominee, standing by a person who is divisive and offends the sensibilities of many. Bolton helped deliver Florida in the contested Presidential election in 2000 -- and they are going to the mat for Bolton, much like Bolton went to the mat in a furious, hard-headed way in 2000. That kind of support from the White House turns this battle into a big one -- but that's the problem with this White House. All battles seem to be big ones because they expect the Senate Republicans to treat Bush as infallible. Losing any battle means losing them all, some in the White House feels, and this lack of maturity and common sense, is making the battle over Bolton about much more.

Another troubling and unreported item is that Senator George Voinovich, the hero of last Tuesday's hearings, who stood before the pro-Bolton machine and said "stop," may be wavering the wrong direction and/or playing both sides of the debate for different audiences. A well-placed source has reported to TWN that Voinovich has told State Department lobbyists that while he felt he must raise questions about Bolton's character and style in the Committee hearing, he intended to "be with the administration in the end."

This is disconcerting news because Voinovich has no idea what evidence may be coming forward and to what degree the serious charges against Bolton may continue to make his confirmation something that balanced, credible, and decent people simply can't pass off on. Perhaps Voinovich made no such comment to State -- but the source is a good one. Alternatively, Voinovich may be stating this to get the State Department people off of his back to give him some space and room to maneuver. Voinovich is also being threatened by the rabidly anti-United Nations and pro-John Bolton group, Move America Forward, which has threatened to run anti-Voinovich ads in Ohio.

What I think may be happening is that Voinovich is indicating to State and the White House that he will support Bolton as things look now -- but that he expects that either a bomb shell will explode in the next two weeks, or it won't. If the bombshell explodes, then Voinovich won't be faulted for opposing the White House's nominee.

[doodadem]

4. With all the coverage of Bolton

being a psychopath, I have not heard one word mentioned in MSM about, this being typical of the caliber of candidate Bush nominates for important positions. Someone needs to be pointing out that this is a pattern of putting unqualified, even dangerous, people into positions of power.

[BurtWorm]

5. kick