Congress Needs to Assert Itself

As our ambassador to the UN, John Bolton has been noted for his arrogance and lack of achievement. It should be remembered that he never was confirmed by the Senate in the first place. He is a recess appointment. It's time for Congress to use a word Bush needs to hear more often when he's trying to get his way: 'no.' Raw Story reminds us that John Bolton is up for confirmation once again:

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will consider whether or not to support the nomination of John Bolton to be the US Ambassador to the United Nations this Thursday, according to Elizabeth Alexander, spokeswoman for Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE), the ranking Democrat on the committee.

Last year, the Republican leadership opted to send the nomination to the Senate floor without a recommendation despite holding a 10-8 majority in the committee.

In campaigns around the nation, Republicans claim to be distancing themselves from Bush's failed foreign policy. Democrats should fight Bolton's nomination and make it clear that Americans are tired of Bush's arrogance and lack of accomplishment. Scott T. Paul of TPM Cafe believes the Democrats have the votes to stop the Bolton nomination:

With some colleagues, I have completed a real whip list, and the Republican leadership and the White House are wrong again this year. Based on conversations with individual Senators and their aides, I can say confidently that they don’t have the votes.

Republicans need 60 Senators to win a cloture motion and end debate. Without tipping my hand completely, I can say that the Republican leadership has 53 votes it can count on, and another 4 who are leaning in its direction but uncertain. On a sunny day, that makes 57. Even if they capture the 2 truly undecided votes, that still leaves them a vote short of the 60 they need. It’s simply not going to happen.

Democrats need to wake up and realize they have the votes to defeat the Bolton nomination. They’ve been lulled to sleep by the August recess and psyched out by the Republicans' phony show of confidence in Bolton's confirmation chances.

It will be interesting to see if any Republicans vote for a return to sanity by turning down Bolton's nomination. Even without Joe Lieberman, the Democrats can probably defeat Bolton's chance of being confirmed (though it will be interesting to see which way Senator Lieberman goes). It should be pointed out again that the confirmation hearing on Bolton was left hanging more than a year ago because of question that were left unanswered; one of the questions was whether Bolton was spying on other members of the State Department when Colin Powell was in charge, but the Bush Administration blocked the investigation. But the real question is this: will Congress have to courage to stand up to George W. Bush?