Bolton's chances brighten as vote nears
GOP fence-sitters drift toward embattled U.N. nominee
Thursday, May 12, 2005 Posted: 8:56 AM EDT (1256 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton's chances of winning Senate approval to be U.N. ambassador appeared to brighten as Republican fence-sitters drifted in his direction.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee scheduled a daylong session Thursday to culminate in a vote while Democrats scrutinized last-minute documents from the State Department to bolster their claims that Bolton is unfit for the diplomatic post.
The committee's final action -- to vote on whether to approve the nomination and send it to the full Senate for a confirmation vote -- would amount to a dramatic test of President Bush's ability to muster support for an embattled nominee and of the limits senators place on their own constitutional authority to "advice and consent" to his selection.
The Democrats' chances rested on converting Republicans, who hold a 10-8 edge in the committee and a 55-45 majority in the Senate itself.
One of their targets, however, Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-Rhode Island, told The Associated Press on Tuesday he reluctantly would vote for Bolton. Two other Republican fence-sitters, Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, said they too were inclined to vote for him.
A fourth Republican, George Voinovich of Ohio, declined to tip his vote in advance.
An energetic diplomat who pioneered a program to curb the spread of dangerous weapons technology, Bolton has strong ties to political conservatives inside and outside the administration and shares their skepticism about some international treaties.
The spirited debate over the last month, however, has focused mostly on allegations that he berated several U.S. officials, especially intelligence analysts who did not agree with his assessments of Cuba and Syria's military strength.
Dozens of retired American diplomats signed a letter sent to the committee chairman, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Indiana, opposing Senate confirmation. Dozens of others endorsed Bolton for the U.N. post in competing letters to Lugar.
Bush, trying to turn the personality issue to Bolton's favor, has called Bolton "a blunt guy" who "can get the job done at the United Nations" and "who isn't afraid to speak his mind in the post of the ambassador to the U.N."
Vice President Dick Cheney, outspoken himself, said "if being occasionally tough and aggressive and abrasive were a problem, a lot of members of the United States Senate wouldn't qualify."
And Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice endorsed Bolton as the right choice to help bring about reform in the United Nations.
By contrast, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, noting Bolton's public criticism of the United Nations over the years, said she wondered why someone who disliked the world organization so much wanted to take on a job there.
At the opening of hearings April 11, Bolton pledged to help strengthen the United Nations if confirmed. He called it an institution that had occasionally "gone off track."
A 56-year-old lawyer, Bolton was senior vice president of the American Enterprise Institute before he became Bush's undersecretary of state for arms control and international security affairs four years ago.
He had been assistant secretary of state for international organizations under President George H.W. Bush, playing a leading role in organizing support for the U.S.-led coalition in the 1991 war against Iraq.
He also helped nullify a U.N. resolution that equated Zionism, the philosophical underpinning for Israel, with racism.
In his current post, his hard-line stands against North Korea and Iran and outspoken pronouncements did not always sit well with former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who was more moderate in his views.
Powell's one-time chief of staff, Larry Wilkerson, told the committee staff last week that Bolton was ordered to clear his speeches in advance with Powell's office or that of Powell's deputy, Richard Armitage.
"When people ignore diplomacy ... in order to push their pet rocks in other areas, it bothers me," Wilkerson said. |
