Daily Bolton

Saw this in the comments thread for this Steve Clemons post, The Battle over Bolton: The Costs of Winning are Going to Be High for Either Side. These people really scare me. It's all one big game of high-stakes poker to them. And that includes such possible psy-ops posts as this.

You missed the point completely-- this is, to the White House and the activist base of hte GOP, just a continuation of the 2004 election by sore losers. My brother is a high school and college class mate of one of the modreate GOP Senators on your list. They went hiking-- just the two of them- over the break. John Bolton will be the next UN Ambassador-- if he does not clear the FRC, he will be recess appointed at the next opportunity. If he clears the FRC and the votes are not there to confirm him on the floor, Frist simply will not bring it up and he will still be recess appointed. Only the impending debate over the "nuclear option" kept that from happening over the break. The White House is all in. If the Dems put more chips in, Bush does not care one iota. For him, victory is Bolton at the UN, confirmed or not, period. It did not start out this way-- the UN was not what Bolton wanted, and was not viewed as any great prize award to him by the WH. But, once opposition surfaced, Bush figured he could win, and by his terms he will.

In the same post, Clemons says,

But the real achievement of those who have worked hard to oppose John Bolton's nomination on the grounds that we should be sending someone with impeccable credentials, someone with a brilliant vision of an effective and reformed United Nations, and someone that Americans can feel instantly proud of is that John Bolton is now part of pop-culture. John Bolton is a household name. I'm flying back to Washington from Europe with a group of American rugby players -- and all of them know of the Battle over Bolton -- and only one of the twelve or so I have chatted with here -- all from Florida -- thinks Bolton should get the U.N. post. Of the twelve on the plane, ten are Republicans.

While not scientific, it's patently obvious to any serious observers that the battle over Bolton is really NOT a battle between Democrats and Republicans. It does reflect an internal battle inside Republican circles. Bolton has been reckless on many fronts -- national security and work place ethics -- and it is those behaviors which have teased a fault line that exists between people like George Allen, Norm Coleman and Dick Cheney on one hand -- and folks like Lincoln Chafee, Richard Lugar, Chuck Hagel, Lamar Alexander and Lisa Murkowski on the other. In the end, the Republicans may get Bolton out of Committee, but I still hope that the conscience of these Senators triggers real resistance. But the price that will be paid for these votes will be high.

If this is so, the payback may come due in 2006.