Voinovich now backs Bolton as U.N. ambassador

Algorem

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Fri Jul-21-06 08:38 AM
Original message

Voinovich now backs Bolton as U.N. ambassador

Edited on Fri Jul-21-06 08:58 AM by Algorem

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/election/election.php?story=200205

Ohioan pushing confirmation before temporary appointment ends

By Jonathan Riskind
The Columbus Dispatch
Friday, July 21, 2006

WASHINGTON — Sen. George V. Voinovich now says John Bolton is the right man for the job as America's top diplomat at the United Nations.

The Ohio Republican hopes his change of heart will prompt Senate GOP leaders to move as early as next week to confirm the U.N. ambassador before a temporary appointment by President Bush expires.

But while Voinovich will no longer stand as the sole Republican on the foreign-relations committee blocking Bolton from receiving Senate confirmation — as he did last year — some Democrats aren't yet shelving their opposition.

Voinovich held a news conference yesterday to announce that he thinks Bolton is doing a good job representing U.S. interests at the U.N. amid a raft of crises, from fears about North Korea's and Iran's nuclear programs to the bloody Middle East conflict in Lebanon and Israel...

There You Go Again, Mr. President

http://www.tcf.org/list.asp?type=NC&pubid=1357

Jeffrey Laurenti, The Century Foundation, 7/20/2006

Ever alert to exploit tragedy, political strategists inside the White House see the current deadly spiral of violence in the Middle East as their opening to…press for John Bolton’s belated confirmation as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

This became clear in a Washington Post opinion article Thursday by Ohio senator George Voinovich, the sole Republican member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to have voted against Mr. Bolton last summer. Rumors that Mr. Voinovich had struck a deal with the White House to vote for Mr. Bolton’s confirmation before his recess appointment—and possibly Republican control of the Senate—expire at year’s end have been flying for weeks.

But no one expected a renewed effort to legitimize the administration’s brash and polarizing ambassador to be wrapped in the mantle of combating Hezbollah and terrorists everywhere. Once again, its critics underestimated the chutzpah of the administration’s political operatives.

In recent years the White House has compiled a notably tawdry track record of squeezing political advantage from death and destruction. The leveling of the World Trade Center by a handful of Saudi nationals armed with boxcutters became, in its skilled hands, the administration’s pretext for renouncing the antiballistic missile treaty, embarking on a crash program of “Star Wars” deployment, and launching an invasion of Iraq...

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_4075917

Why I'll vote for Bolton
By George V. Voinovich
Special to The Washington Post

WASHINGTON - As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I have had the rare opportunity to witness firsthand how the diplomatic process works and, in some cases, how it fails. Recently, despite our nation's best efforts, the world - and particularly the Middle East - has become a more dangerous and volatile place.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, and our nation's initial response in Afghanistan, the global war on terrorism has taken many twists and turns.

First, Iraq became the primary focus of our troops and our public attention. Then, the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea reached critical mass, followed by the quickly changing and deteriorating situation with Israel, Hezbollah and Hamas.

Meanwhile, the administration nominated John Bolton to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations...