"A vote against him is a vote for the status quo at the United Nations," said White House press secretary Scott McClellan.
The preceding is from a CNN article in which they try (and, naturally, fail) to introduce some sort of balance to the John Bolton fiasco. Even those whores are sensing the blood in the water, though, and they are starting to point out the damage to be done to Bush if this doesn't go through the mill.
But I have a question: How is it that in a country of 275 million people, Bolton is the only one that can reform the UN? More after the fold...
Is it just me or is it that the Republicans have presented no qualifications for the man that they are so eager to ship off to NYC to cause trouble in the UN? The only evidence that we've been given that Bolton is qualified to represent us to the UN is that he is a toughminded diplomat. To the rest of the world that seems to be coded language for: asshole. We've seen no treaties that he has been a part of and we've seen no great treatises on arms control that he's penned
In fact, the only thing that we have been told about John Bolton is that he has been removed from negotiations with Libya at the behest of a senior UK official; that he allegedly chased a woman down the hallway of a hotel on the other side of the world; that more than one of his peers believes him to be unfit for the position Bush is so eager for him to fill.
Why is it, then, that such quotes as the one at the beginning of this entry are even uttered with any seriousness? We have, literally, thousands of people in this country that have qualifications that meet or exceed Mr. Bolton's own. There are analysts, professors, hell- janitors that have more diplomacy than him. Yet they would tell us that he is the Jesus that the UN needs?
Bush is collapsing the middle and we need to be mindful of it. During this recess the blogger attention on Bolton has abated. The major venues are picking up the newer stories and maybe that's what should happen. Maybe blogs should only be guages of opinions that drive national media coverage. I don't think so, however. We've got to stay on this pony and ride it through the committee vote.
Call your Senator; write your Senator; send a strippergram. However you get the message to them is irrelevant. But they must know that their constituents want a strong healthy UN -and- a capable representative. That we believe you cannot have the former with the latter.
Furthermore- given Bolton's record as a treaty obstructionist with little regard for international law or the institution to which he is being sent, I would have to say that if he is the only man in all of America who can save the UN then the UN has been dead and gone for a long time. Tell your Senator that we deserve better than this. We can reform the UN -and- not make asses out of ourselves with nominees such as Bolton.