Well, I see everyone is just ecstatic about Gates confirmation 95-2...Senate approves Gates as defense secretary
POSTED: 0220 GMT (1020 HKT), December 6, 2006
• NEW: Two senators criticize Gates for wanting to talk to Iran
• Senate approves Robert Gates as President Bush's new defense secretary
• Defense secretary nominee says next "year or two" will determine Iraq's fate
• Senate Armed Services Committee unanimously approved Gates' nomination
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Senate voted 95-2 Wednesday to approve Robert Gates as President Bush's choice to replace Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary.
The vote came a day after the nomination sailed through the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Gates, a former CIA director, will be sworn in December 18.
Two Republican senators -- Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Jim Bunning of Kentucky -- cast the only no votes.
"He's the right guy at the right time," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina.
During Wednesday's debate on the nomination, it seemed Democrats had been successfully wooed by Gates.
Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said he was "favorably impressed" by Gates' candor and forthrightness.
Sen. Ted Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat who has been a vocal critic of Bush's Iraq policy, added that he believes Gates will be "an independent thinker and give candid and frank advice to the president about a way forward in Iraq."
However, Kennedy warned, the American people "are demanding a lot more than a change of faces at the Pentagon ... They're demanding -- and they deserve -- a comprehensive change in our policy."
The vote comes a day after Gates was confirmed by the Senate Armed Services Committee 24-0 on Tuesday.
No significant opposition to Gates' nomination surfaced during the confirmation process. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said before the Wednesday vote that Gates would be confirmed unless something "untoward" turned up during the hearings. (Watch why Gates was expected to be approved )
Bunning and Santorum, however, were very critical of Gates.
"Mr. Gates has repeatedly criticized our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, without providing any viable solutions to the problems our troops currently face," Bunning said in a statement entered into the Senate record.
"I am concerned with the message he is sending to our troops and our allies around the world."
Bunning also said Gates "believes in directly engaging rogue nations such as Iran and Syria that are known sponsors of terrorist groups in Iraq, Lebanon and the West Bank and Gaza."
"I do not support inviting terrorists to the negotiating table," he said.
After Gates was confirmed, Santorum -- who lost his seat in the November election amid a wave of unhappiness about the Iraq war -- took to the Senate floor.
He delivered a nearly hourlong speech, warning of the dangers of not confronting "Islamic fascism" and its budding alliances with anti-American countries such as Venezuela, North Korea and Cuba.
"We are sleepwalking through the storm," Santorum said. "How do those who deny this evil propose to save us from these people? By negotiating through the U.N. or directly with Iran? By firing Don Rumsfeld, (and) now getting rid of John Bolton? That's going to solve the problem?"
He said he felt Gates is not "up to the task."
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