On the one hand, Voinovich says all these nasty things about Bolton (“arrogant”, “bullying”, “should be fired”, “hopes the Senate rejects the nomination”), but he’s gonna vote to let the nomination through to the Senate? What’s the purpose of the committee if not to vet the worthiness of a candidate? Man, I’m confused.
Voinovich to Vote for ‘Bullying’ Bolton
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 11:31 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio agreed on Thursday to let the contentious nomination of John Bolton as United Nations ambassador go to the full Senate for a vote. But he issued a scathing attack on Bolton.
Voinovich portrayed Bolton, now the top arms-control diplomat at the State Department, as ‘‘arrogant’’ and ‘‘bullying.’’
‘‘John Bolton is the poster child of what someone in the diplomatic corps should not be,’’ Voinovich said. He said Bolton would be fired if he was in private business.
‘‘That being said, Mr. Chairman, I am not so arrogant to think that I should impose my judgment and perspective of the U.S. position in the world community on the rest of my colleagues,’’ he added. ‘‘We owe it to the president to give Mr. Bolton an up or down vote on the floor.’’
Republicans hold a 10-8 edge on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. All eight Democrats have said they would vote against Bolton. Thus, a single ‘‘no’’ GOP vote would deadlock the panel and keep the nomination from going to the floor.
Voinovich said he would vote for a resolution to send the nomination to the floor without a recommendation of approval or rejection.
‘‘After hours of deliberation, telephone calls, personal conversations, reading hundreds of pages of transcripts, and asking for guidance from Above, I have come to the determination that the United States can do better than John Bolton,’’ Voinovich said.
He said he hoped the full Senate, where Republicans hold a 55-45 majority, would reject the nomination.
‘‘What message are we sending to the world community?’’ Voinovich asked.
The Republican chairman of the panel, Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, defended the nomination in opening remarks, while conceding that ‘‘Secretary Bolton’s actions were not always exemplary.’’
Bolton misjudged the actions of subordinates and sometimes clashed with superiors in his current job as the State Department’s arms control chief, Lugar said. But weeks of intense Senate inquiry turned up no evidence that Bolton did anything that would disqualify him as President Bush’s choice for the United Nations job, Lugar said.
‘‘The picture is one of an aggressive policy-maker who pressed his missions at every opportunity and argued vociferously for his point of view,’’ Lugar said. ''In the process, his blunt style alienated some colleagues. But there is no evidence that he has broken laws or engaged in serious ethical misconduct. ‘’