Reply #17: So, it's the DEMOCRATS who played politics with this nomination??????? [View All]

Bush gave Bolton the job temporarily in August 2005, while Congress was in recess. Under that process, the appointment expires when Congress formally adjourns, no later than early January.

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While Bush could not give Bolton another recess appointment, the White House was believed to be exploring other ways of keeping him in the job, perhaps by giving him a title other than ambassador.

December 4, 2006

"I am deeply disappointed that a handful of United States Senators prevented Ambassador Bolton from receiving the up or down vote he deserved in the Senate," Bush added. "They chose to obstruct his confirmation, even though he enjoys majority support in the Senate, and even though their tactics will disrupt our diplomatic work at a sensitive and important time. This stubborn obstructionism ill serves our country, and discourages men and women of talent from serving their nation."

Bush nominated Bolton in March 2005 for the U.N. post, but the choice quickly ran into opposition from Democrats and a few Republicans over allegations that he tried to spin intelligence to support his political views and bullied subordinates who disagreed with him. Some critics also made an issue of his sometimes prickly personality, arguing that he was too combative for international diplomacy.

After opponents succeeded in blocking the nomination, Bush circumvented the confirmation process by appointing Bolton on a temporary basis during a congressional recess on Aug. 1, 2005.

With the appointment nearing its expiration, Bush resubmitted the nomination Nov. 9. But Democrats remained opposed to the choice, and Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), the incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, labeled it a nonstarter. Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee (R-R.I.), a moderate Republican who lost his reelection bid in the Nov. 7 elections, also expressed opposition to the new appointment.

Bolton drew fire from Democrats in 1994 when he said at a Federalist Society forum that "there is no such thing as the United Nations."

"If the U.N. secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference," he said.

Several officials from U.N. Security Council member states expressed astonishment that Bush would name someone they believed had a known antipathy toward the United Nations, according to a Reuters report.

But one senior council envoy, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, also spoke of the value of Bolton's high standing in the administration. "It's like the Palestinians having to negotiate with Ariel Sharon. If you have a deal, you know you have a deal," he told Reuters.