Thursday, May 12, 2005
BREAKING NEWS: Bolton will get up-or-down vote on the Senate floor
The Washington Post is reporting that Senator Voinovich, Ohio Republican, has come out in opposition of John Bolton's nomination as U.N. Ambassador. HOWEVER, Voinovich will show that he isn't all bad like the obstructionist Senate Democrats and will offer a "no recommendation" vote in the effort of seeing Bolton pass out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and on to the entire Senate. Either a "no recommendation" vote or a 9-9 tie (a party-line vote with Voinovich abstaining) sees the Bolton nomination going to the Senate floor. You can watch streaming video of the SFR hearing on The Washington Post's website - kudos to them.
For all of you worrying that a conservative won't run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008, check out the last two paragraphs of the story. I think this man is positioning himself for a run...
UPDATE: As predicted, Bolton heads to the Senate floor without a recommendation from Senate Foreign Relations. Yes, Voinovich's criticism was stinging, but I knew Bolton was in the clear when Murkowski gave an excellent defense of Bolton through debunking specific criticisms of his past actions (Murkowski was a Bolton critic when the accusations first surfaced, but she stated that researching the issues showed that the stories weren't entirely accurate). Senator Joe Biden was just on CNN with Judy Woodruff, blasting away at the Republicans for sending Bolton to the full Senate. Woodruff asked him how come Bolton didn't deserve an up-or-down vote, especially given Voinovich's acceptance of that outcome in spite of his own feelings regarding the U.N. nominee. Biden, never one to give an actual answer, asked Woodruff, "Well, Judy, then what are Senate committees for? I know I'm not supposed to be asking the questions, but.... Senate committees insure that not every little thing gets voted on by the Senate. If we are going to pass everything on to the Senate as a whole, why even have committees?"
Nice to see Joe coming around and abandoning the Dark Side. Will someone let Senate Majority Leader Frist know that Biden's for eliminating committees altogether? Now THAT is a Democratic recommendation that I can get behind!
For all of you worrying that a conservative won't run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008, check out the last two paragraphs of the story. I think this man is positioning himself for a run...
UPDATE: As predicted, Bolton heads to the Senate floor without a recommendation from Senate Foreign Relations. Yes, Voinovich's criticism was stinging, but I knew Bolton was in the clear when Murkowski gave an excellent defense of Bolton through debunking specific criticisms of his past actions (Murkowski was a Bolton critic when the accusations first surfaced, but she stated that researching the issues showed that the stories weren't entirely accurate). Senator Joe Biden was just on CNN with Judy Woodruff, blasting away at the Republicans for sending Bolton to the full Senate. Woodruff asked him how come Bolton didn't deserve an up-or-down vote, especially given Voinovich's acceptance of that outcome in spite of his own feelings regarding the U.N. nominee. Biden, never one to give an actual answer, asked Woodruff, "Well, Judy, then what are Senate committees for? I know I'm not supposed to be asking the questions, but.... Senate committees insure that not every little thing gets voted on by the Senate. If we are going to pass everything on to the Senate as a whole, why even have committees?"
Nice to see Joe coming around and abandoning the Dark Side. Will someone let Senate Majority Leader Frist know that Biden's for eliminating committees altogether? Now THAT is a Democratic recommendation that I can get behind!
Permalink posted by Rob Huddleston @ 2:17 PM 
