Bolton nomination on the floor tomorrow

[TayTay]

Senator Frist (the weasel-chief) said on the floor tonight at the end of the Senate session that he will call up the nomination of John R. Bolton (the Bastard) to the floor for debate tomorrow after the Owens nomination concludes. (Owens will get confirmed. I think of her as three-month old moldy cheese I found in the back of the fridge one day. Yuck, what the hell is this doing in here? However, she is filet mignon compared to Janice Rogers Brown. That comforter of the comfortable and afflictor of the afflicted will be due up for a vote in the Senate some time after the recess in June. Brrrr. There is an excellent chance that she will NOT be confirmed and will have to return to her prior job of oppressing the poor and helpless as a CA State Supreme Court Justice, gawd willing and the creek don't rise.)

Bolton, yes, Bolton I forgot where I was. Bolton the Bastard should be one hell of a floor fight. The majority has 20 hours and the minority has 20 hours to fight about whether or not this guy is 'just the kick-down, kiss-up' asshole we need at the UN in order to prepare for the bombing of Iran in June or whether he is an abomination to decent people everywhere and should never be allowed out of his Hannibal Lector-type mask and straight-jacket without big guys with tasers around to keep him in check. (He just might be rabid. No one wants to get close enough to do the actual tests.)

Anyway, as we all know (or what are you doing in this group) Sen. Kerry deeply dislikes Bolton (as all decent human beings probably do two minutes after meeting him) and I deeply suspect several floor speeches by Kerry against him. Look for one tomorrow afternoon (or Thursday at the latest, in the afternoon. Sen. Kerry likes speaking in the afternoon. I don't know why. What do I look like, his mother?)

This should be a highly entertaining show. I am actually looking forward to hearing Rethugs try and speak on this nomination in a positive way without their tongues turning to sand. (Except for Allen. He is obviously a minion of Beezlebub and is immune to the tongue to sand thing.)

So, what do you think? Is Sen. Allen truly evil or just deeply dumb and feigning evil so people will like him? Can he make a floor speech tomorrow (or Thursday) without smirking in that "I'm a bully and I'm going after you next" manner or will he take his ritalin and appear calm and almost rational? Anybody want to place bets?

At least Bolton wasn't born a sharecroppers daughter in the Deep South, so I don't have to listen to how he plays a swell 'Flight of the Bumblebee' on his violin while simultaneously drinks a glass of milk and burbs bible verses or soemthing. But it should still be good.

[LittleClarkie]

1. I don't get it. Boxer has a hold on him

what happened to that?

[TayTay]

2. Frist was going to go for a vote to bring the nom up

so Boxer took the hold off. Frist wants a victory so he can use it in his quest to show that he is the toadiest Senator ever. This is the one he has chosen. Sen. Voinovich sent a letter out to all Sens. stating that 'Bolton is a wacko, don't vote for him" which all Rethugs Sens have been told not to open as it might contain anthrax or common sense. (Both analogous things to Repukes, anyway.)

Se, Bolton the Bastard gets that day pass from the asylum in Maryland (Hello Clarisse, It's good to see you again) and will probably have a private cage somewhere in the WH to wait out the vote. We knew this day would come. You can't keep it away with chants and incantations (like 'Please, Oh Great and Wonderful Condi, please show us the NSA intercepts, please. We will give you cookies.')

On the other hand, this should be a goodie. We get Allen and Coleman. (And then I'm buying.)

[globalvillage]

4. Oops, crossed posts there.

Anyone know whose on the fence re Bolton? Are we losing HolyJoe to this schmuck?

[ginnyinWI]

5. you're in top form tonight, TayTay

Interesting posts! :)

I will keep an eye on Cspan tomorrow for any JK floor speeches.

[TayTay]

6. Ahm , did I happen to mention, maybe in passing

that I can't stand John R. Bolton (aka the Bastard.) I think it might have come up before around here, but I'm so shy and retiring about expressing my inner most feelings that you might have missed the subtleties and nuances of my position.

I hope that he gets defeated. Then he can take up his natural position as the 'Dunk Me' guy at the carnival. (You know, the guy who insults people professionally to get them to spend $1 for the chance to hit the little marker that dunks the clown. Yeah. I think he has a natural aptitude for that job.)

[globalvillage]

3. Voinovich is writing his buddies

regarding his opposition to the Bolton nomination. I knew he would vote against Bolton. He looked near tears in the hearing when they voted to send him to the floor.
Conscience? Stranger things have happened.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3722668

[TayTay]

7. I have to be out for long stetches today.

If anything happens, let me know.

[whometense]

8. Steve Clemons latest on what Jay Rockefeller now knows

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/000655.html


The heads of the Senate Intelligence Committee were briefed a few weeks ago on the Bolton NSA intercepts that are still being withheld from Biden and Lugar.

Evidently that puts Jay Rockefeller in a tough spot - he opposes Bolton, but can't tell what he knows.

Rockefeller and Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Pat Roberts (R-KA) over two weeks ago from Deputy Director for National Intelligence Michael Hayden on the NSA intercept material that Bolton requested more information about during his four year tenure as Under Secretary of State for International Security and Arms Control. Specifically, Bolton requested to know the 'identities' of U.S. officials' names that are routinely scrubbed from top-secret NSA intercepts.

TWN has learned that most of the intercepts are clustered around two periods of time in 2003 and 2004. Speculation abounds that the intercepts may show patterns of serious misjudgement on Bolton's part and a 'personal vanity' trying to learn what others were saying about him -- not an appropriate justification for delving into the nation's 'most secret' secrets.

- snip -

Media with intelligence shops need to dig further into this SSCI investigation and learn what state the Bolton investigation is in.

Senator Pat Roberts does not want to proceed, but Rockefeller has failed to give his consent to any letter to the Foreign Relations Committee about Bolton that white-washes what was learned from the NSA briefing.

And note: Senator Roberts and Rockefeller did not receive the list of "names" that Bolton received. Thus, there was enough that was worrisome in the Hayden briefing to warrant further inquiry.

It seems to me to be highly unusual and wrong-headed for Frist to push a vote on Bolton when in fact there is an active investigation underway about Bolton and his former Chief-of-Staff in the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Frist should speak with Senator Pat Roberts to see "how bad" things are on Bolton. That should not be a classified revelation by Roberts.

But the worst case for the country -- for both sides of the aisle frankly -- is that Bolton makes his way forward, possibly squeaking by with a narrow confirmation -- and then leaks begin to occur about these NSA intercepts that indict Bolton and Fleitz's recklessness with sensitive national security intelligence.