The Daily Background

The walrus will be leaving by year’s end. NYT, a short time ago:

President Bush said that he accepted “with deep regret” Mr. Bolton’s decision to end his service.

“I am deeply disappointed that a handful of United States Senators prevented Ambassador Bolton from receiving the up or down vote he deserved in the Senate,” Mr. Bush said. “They chose to obstruct his confirmation, even though he enjoys majority support in the Senate, and even though their tactics will disrupt our diplomatic work at a sensitive and important time.”

Mr. Bush, who is expected to meet with Mr. Bolton later today, said in his statement that this “stubborn obstructionism ill serves our country, and discourages men and women of talent from serving their nation.”

In a letter to the president dated Dec. 1, Mr. Bolton wrote that he concluded “after careful consideration” that his service should end when his recess appointment expires.

Obviously this is a major win for diplomacy. And an embarrassment for the Administration. The man who once said that there is “no such thing” as the United Nations is no longer… well… Representing us at the United Nations. By the way, video of that “no such thing” outburst can be found here. His recess appointment in the first place was a slap in the face to the international community, and in his time there he managed to wreak havoc and further alienate our allies.

If outgoing Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee was here, I could practically kiss him. Chafee, as you’ll recall, almost single handedly held up Bolton’s appointment because of his position on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. And this was even after the GOP poured 6mil into his failed bid for re-election in Rhode Island (Chafee- a liberal Republican- lost to Democratic challenger Sheldon Whitehouse). Chafee still wouldn’t let Bolton get a vote on the Senate floor because John Bolton (not to be confused with Josh Bolton, the White House Chief of Staff) was a complete horror-show of a UN ambassador.

Update: The Center for American Progress (the thinktank that runs the excellent ThinkProgress blog) has some initial reations in video (YouTube).

Update 2: I just read the full letter (you can read it here). I couldn’t help but notice that it was uncharacteristically short for this type of thing. 102 words. Usually resigning Administration officials write long, windy letters about all the things they’ve been able to accomplish in their time serving a the pleasure of the President… Err, he he didn’t get much done though. Well, that explains that.

Update 3: Oh, this is rich. Here’s what McCain says in reaction: “For over a year, Democrats blocked his nomination in the Foreign Relations Committee, preventing an up or down vote on the Senate floor.” Well, I guess the Senator from Arizona considers Lincoln Chafee a Demorat then. Yeah, they’re all sticking to the same stupid line. Frist says “While Ambassador Bolton was vigorously advancing America’s interests at the United Nations, the Democrats were playing politics with his nomination.” Man, this is really rich. Democratic Senator Biden (who I’m not normally a fan of) reacts to this idiocy “Mr. Bolton did not have the votes to secure the recommendation of the Foreign Relations Committee under Republican leadership.”

Update 4: I want to slap these idiots. Drudge invented the headline “WHITE HOUSE: Blocked by a Democrat filibuster.” This is really getting absurd.’

Update 5: Bush won’t be able to appoint another extremist right-wing wacko like Bolton because he won’t be able to recess-appoint in the incoming Democratic majority. Says Raw Story:

A plan engineered by “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to eliminate all extended recesses except for the traditional August break during the 110th Congress may have an added benefit for Democrats,” Roll Call reports.

“It could be a back-door way of preventing President Bush from unilaterally installing controversial nominees in key executive and judicial branch posts through recess appointments, a favorite tool of the president over the past six years,” John Stanton writes.

Further, Novak (the Prince of Darkness^tm himself) writes that Reid’s plan will make it “difficult, if not impossible, for President Bush to give recess appointments to nominees blocked for confirmation.”

Update 6: Bolton to go on an ultra-conservative speaking tour and blast Bush for not living up to right-wing extremism?

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