Weekly Shredder 47:
John Bolton's Big Day
by James Norton

It's been another exciting week at the Bush White House. With Marines dying by the dozen in a war touched off by cooked intelligence, one of the many chefs has been promoted to an ambassadorial appointment.

Congratulations, newly appointed UN Ambassador John Bolton.

For archives, audio, and background about the column, click here.

Let's hear what the president has to say about America's new chief UN diplomat.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Nearly five months ago, I nominated John Bolton to be America's ambassador to the United Nations. I chose John because of his vast experience in foreign policy,

This vast experience includes almost single-handedly tanking sputtering talks with North Korea by describing its tyrannical dictator as a "tyrannical dictator." Reasonable move for an opinion columnist; not so reasonable for a State Department employee. Diplomats are employed to help the US negotiate, not fling insults at foreign leaders — no matter how much they may deserve them.

his integrity,

Which led him to demonize Cuba as a bio-weapon threat... despite the fact the charges were unconnected to substantiated facts.

and his willingness to confront difficult problems head-on,

particuarly when those difficult problems are junior intelligence analysts who insist on reporting politically inconvenient facts.

The United States Senate held thorough confirmation hearings, and a majority of United States senators agree that he is the right man for the job. Yet, because of partisan delaying tactics by a handful of senators, John was unfairly denied the up or down vote that he deserves.

And yet: We don't actually know that he would have received enough Senate support, because there was no actual vote. Moreover, the "partisan" delaying tactics were touched off by Ohio Sen. George Voinovich — a normally loyal Republican who couldn't give Bolton a vote of approval in committee becauase he's so clearly unfit for the post.

It's also worth noting that when Democrats and Republicans get together to stop a nomination because they feel it would work against America's best interest — and this may be a silly, antiquated tradition — that's traditionally known as a "bipartisan" action. Not a "partisan" one, even if it makes you angry and is inconvenient.

As a result, America has now gone more than six months without a permanent ambassador to the United Nations. This post is too important to leave vacant any longer, especially during a war and a vital debate about UN reform.

That's right. Bolton, whose hair-trigger temper makes Yosemite Sam look like the Dalai Lama, needs to be confirmed quickly to a critical diplomatic post because we're in a war. A war that's killing our men and women in uniform, and some of the best and brightest Iraqis, made possible by intelligence cooked by government officials who put partisan politics ahead of good policy.

Makes sense. Hurray for recess appointments.

John's father was a firefighter; his mother was a homemaker who took her son to the public library to show him the value of education. I know that Jack and Virginia Bolton would be proud today to see the boy they raised in Baltimore appointed to serve as our permanent representative to the United Nations.

Suddenly, the hostility of Democrats, independents, and responsible Republicans fades; John Bolton has a mom and a dad. And his dad's a firefighter.

Once again, it's a feel-good slam dunk for America, without our advice and consent.

E-mail James Norton at jrnorton@flakmag.com.

— graphic by Derek Evernden (derek@ocellus.net)