Voinovich Slams Bolton but OKs Senate Vote (AP) WaPo
In a tense atmosphere, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee debated John Bolton’s fitness to be United Nations ambassador on Thursday. A critical Republican senator, George Voinovich of Ohio, agreed to let the nomination go to the full Senate but he called the diplomat “arrogant” and “bullying.” “This administration can do better than that,” Voinovich said in the first big battle of President Bush’s second term.
Voinovich said he could not vote for the nomination, but would agree to send it to the floor without a recommendation of approval or disapproval. “We owe it to the president to give Mr. Bolton an up-or-down vote on the floor of the U.S. Senate,” Voinovich said.
Despite Voinovich’s sharp criticism of Bolton, who now serves as the top arms-control diplomat at the State Department, the White House was clearly relieved that the Ohio senator had agreed to let the full Senate decide.
Voinovich Says He Won’t Back Bolton as U.S. Ambassador to UN (Bloomberg)
Republican Senator George Voinovich of Ohio said he won’t support John Bolton’s nomination to be U.S. ambassador the United Nations when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee votes today. Voinovich’s opposition would bar the panel’s approval. “Bolton would have been fired if he worked for a major corporation,” Voinovich said as the panel opened final debate on the nomination. Bolton is “the poster child for what someone in the diplomatic corps should not be,” Voinovich said.
Presumably, Voinovich Bolton has the votes he needs. The question is whether the Democrats will find this worth filibustering over.
Correction noted.
