Posted on 12/05/2006 10:36:35 PM PST by CyberAnt
Elections have consequences. The Democrats will control the US Senate, so, the President had to choose between either getting Robert Gates confirmed for Secretary of Defense or John Bolton confirmed for Ambassador to what is officially, if erroneously, called the United Nations.
Interestingly, it was Senator Lincoln Chaffee of Rhode Island who was defeated last month in his re-election bid, who doomed Bolton's confirmation. Bolton is officially, if erroneously, a Republican. But he determined he would not vote to confirm Bolton which effectively killed any chance of confirmation because the Democrats in the Senate were not going to be helpful.
John Bolton did a great job as the US representative to the United Nations. Outgoing Secretary-General (but continuing thug and crook) Kofi Annan could barely contain his glee at the news that Bolton had resigned.
According to the LA Times coverage: "There was near celebration on the 38th floor, where Kofi Annan and his Cabinet sit."
Here's what Bolton did which so irritated the most pampered group of useless goofballs ever to waste precious oxygen by simply breathing in and out.
-- When he was President of the Security Council Bolton insisted that meetings start on time.
-- He also insisted that Security Council members not waste each others' time by reading set speeches, but required that they actually dive into the important issues with which the United Nations is supposed to deal.
-- Attempted to reform the bloated bureaucracy which is the United Nations - which was a significant portion of his instructions from his government.
-- According to the AP he "antagonized the powerful Group of 77, which represents 132 mainly developing countries and China, by leading other wealthy countries who pay about 85 percent of the U.N.'s budget to impose a cap on budget spending."
[Those 132 mainly developing countries which do not pay about 85 percent of the U.N.'s budget, reversed the cap in the General Assembly. This was seen as a success.]
-- Bolton required U.N. bureaucrats to brief the Security Council on one important issue per day (which was discontinued after his term of President ended).
-- Got "approval of resolutions imposing sanctions on North Korea for conducting a nuclear test."
-- Pushed "for a U.N. peacekeeping force in Sudan's conflict-wracked Darfur region."
-- Publicly told Kofi Annan's deputy he was, in essence, a dope. That dope said, when informed of Bolton's resignation: "No comment - and you can say he said it with a smile."
To show you what kind of idiocy Bolton had to deal with on a daily basis, the AP quotes the ambassador from Tanzania as saying: "Bolton's approach 'sometimes abrasive' and 'too rigid,' provoked 'unnecessary controversies' and made compromise and consensus difficult."
First of all, I knew that Tanzania was in Africa but I had to Google it to find out where.
Second, Tanzania is, according to the CIA factbook: "one of the poorest countries in the world."
Third, Tanzania shares a border with Rwanda which is best known for the 100 days in 1994 when somewhere between 800,000 and 1.1 million inhabitants were killed. There is no reference to the geniuses in Tanzania lifting a finger to try and stop the violence.
Maybe the representative of Tanzania, rather than criticizing Bolton, would have better spent his time trying to rally his African colleagues to do a somewhat better job in Darfur than they did in Rwanda.
Yeah. Right. As soon as they finish cocktails on the terrace overlooking the East River in Manhattan.
According to the United Nations Encyclopedia, the United States pays 22% of the total U.N. budget - Out of every $100 spent, you and I pay $22.
Tanzania pays .004 percent of the total U.N. budget - out of every $100 spent, Tanzania pays 40 CENTS.
John Bolton will go off and make a ton of money on the speaking circuit and writing books about his time in the United Nations.
The United Nations will go back to being the bloated, corrupt, largely useless organization Bolton tried to fix.
The new Democratic Senate will have to answer for that.
On the Secret Decoder Ring today: Links to the AP coverage of the reaction at the U.N., the CIA Factbook entry on Tanzania, and a summary of the horror of Rwanda. Another in the popular license plate Mullfoto series and a Catchy Caption of the Day.
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Copyright ©2006 Barrington Worldwide, LLC
Losing Bolton does not hurt the President - IT HURTS AMERICA.
I hope Bolton runs for office somewhere, and ends up sticking it to the Dems.
Chaffee blames Bush for taking away his lifetime sinecure. His revenge. He is a dolt who will never again hold any position of importance.
I think Bolton would make a great SecDef. - he specialized in arms control.
Chaffee is just a petty pipsqueak!
If there is a silver lining, it's that Bolton will no longer have to be diplomatic about his current peers at the UN.
I can't wait to read the book..
LOL! I know - I Thought about that too.
If there is ever a conservative administration again, Bolton and Rummy will be great people to consult. Gates, Baker, Scowcroft, Bush I and II, and all their ilk, will go down in history as losers. Bush II will get some sympathy, but ultimately, he fell in with the losers.
"The United Nations will go back to being the bloated, corrupt, largely useless organization Bolton tried to fix.
The new Democratic Senate will have to answer for that."
I don't think so. The MSM will divert most people's attention away from such things, as it always does. Whether it has to whip up a scandal among Republicans, or turn everybody's attention to football, baseball, soccer or NASCAR, it will have those who depend on "the evening news" and the morning paper thinking only about what the Liberal/MSM/Communist/Muslim Terrorists/UN/ Euroweenie/DestroyAmerica complex want them thinking about. That won't be responsibility on the part of the Democrats in charge.
cspan said today that Lott was put back in the leadership by a last minut vote change by Arlen Specter.
The Senate republicans are the elitists who hurt america.
Too many RINOs not enough americans.
This is just a pipe dream, but I wish the President would just let the US Ambassabor to the UN job lie fallow for the next two years. Let the UN do what it wants, the way it wants, with no interference or discussion by the US.
Can you imagine the chaos, the screaming and finger pointing by the Demoncrats. Such fun!
How about if we just don't pay the bill.
No representation - no money! Works for me!
Very satisfying that this puke was defeated for re-election. Outrageous that he shafted Bush on Bolton after the RNC saved his sorry butt in the primary.
I'm not ready to give up on Gates. He may or may not be OK.
On Baker, you are correct, sir.
I nominate Aruba!
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