If Bolton gets sent to the UN on a "recess appointment" our daunting foreign policy challenges become even more daunting.  A UN ambassador without approval of the Senate who has no institutional respect for the UN isn't going to make our diplomacy efforts any easier.

But what happens if Bolten doesn't get the job?

Does he get to go back to his old one? 

I hope not, since it seems as though (in his absence) the State Department has actually made some headway on nuclear arms issues over the past few months.

But I suppose, as a civil servant, he has to be given something to do that sounds impressive.  Impotent, but impressive.

Any ideas?

This administration believes only in creating problems for others, not in solving problems. They fight fire with fire and fear with fear, and if there isn't any fire, they'll start one.

Are they mad? Well, aren't we all? But theirs is a convenient obsession, as it fuels a state of emergency and postpones accountability into the afterlife.

What shock might be in store for this evening? Draft? A new emergency brought to our attention by the new intelligence czar?  Remember, Iraq is connected to any evil this administration decides to connect it to.

Don't overlook the possibility of some domestic pretext to tighten the screws on us. Foreign and domestic resistance is now serviced by the same permanent department.

But don't look for accountability or circumspection.  Those are liberal transgressions.

We are running short on oil, and 2/3 of the world's remaining supply is in the Middle East.  Given that sobering reality, do we really want an abrasive, un-cooperative, offensive, and arrogant person like John Bolton in the position of American ambassador to the world?

Setting aside the political and ideological aspects of the Bolton nomination and taking the most selfish, nationalistic view, it isn't even in America's best interest to have Bolton at the UN. 

Can't the Democrats filibuster a recess?

They'd only lose 4 days of vacation.

They could spin it by saying America has too many problems for congress to take a vacation.

One has to wonder if Bolton knows where too many bodies are buried; otherwise, it seems like they would have found a smoking nanny by now.

But I think it's more than proving White House power over the Senate, which is temporal; I think it's proving the Bush/Rove/DeLay cabal's power over the Republican party, which, they hope, is forever.

They build power by using power, and they use it disproportionately on everything they do. Their ham-fisted misuse of power has turned this era's politics into a real high-stakes game. They've denied themselves the ability to compromise (or stealthily back down) that conventional (and successful) politicians (and their good-faith opponents) rely upon. It used to be that questioning your opponents' patriotism--their desire to see America succeed, however different the means--was something one did not do. Last week the White House did it without batting an eye.

BushCo can't lose--not on Bolton, not on SocSec. If they lose an issue, they lose much, much more: They lose the whole myth of their power. The emperor stands naked, and the children point and laugh.

Of course, they ARE losing, so they keep raising the stakes. They're making themselves, and by extension every issue, like Chrysler--too big to let fail. They'll go down, but they'll take vital organs of our body politik with them.

But that's the truth of the White House these days, isn't it.  They're a bunch of Triumph Of The Will occultists.  That's the bottom line on all their policies.

Social Security:  triumph of the will, eventually

Iraq: triumph of the will, eventually

Bolton: triumph of the will, eventually

And that's what all the Beltway chattering nabobs don't get, never acknowledge, and fetishize.  That "Faith-based" meant Occultists.  They never admit they aided and abetted this game.  How they fell for the Astral Plane visions- Christian Whitebread America Triumphant.  How they fell for the Analogies of Above and Below- George W. Christ and Saddam H. Satan.  How the Supreme Mage Dubya cast his banal spells upon the mediocre- reevangelized them to Believe, told them the world was Manichaean and the likes of them were the front line soldiers of the Light Side.  And now it's down the Omnipotence Of The Will tenet.

That's why there are no policies, only Belief.  No right, only Might.

But occultisms are reactionary belief systems, those of groups that are dying dreaming of recovering power, the beliefs arising out of ancestor worship.  They're inviable in the world, evasions as they are of Reality.  And this particular variety is in spasms and convulsions as it has all the levers of power and yet cannot deliver Life to the slowly dying parts of colonialist American society.

Libertine:

I was actually thinking in more 'religous' terms.

John Bolton has proven himself to be tough and loyal, and he is a long time, solid conservative. He is also a Yale grad. All of these attributes are no doubt important to Mr. Bush. The fact that Mr. Bolton also has been so forcefully critical of the UN probably appeals to the president as well, for it is not hate which is the enemy of love and affection, but indifference.

Given Mr. Bush's experience of failing to win support at the UN for his invasion of Iraq, and given Mr. Bolton's experience with the subject of WMDs, I have to think Mr. Bolton's appointment might have something to do with administration plans or concerns with respect to Iran. And, who knows, oil may very well be a part of that concern.

"What we should expect of all our leaders is to accept accountability for their actions."

 To be fair, that's what we tried to do last November. A reelection campaign should be the ultimate in accountability. And in his tiny little mind, GWB passed with flying colors, with the approval (nay, mandate!) of 52% of the Americans who got off their butts and voted. Of course, that's a gross oversimplification. The accountability only goes as far as the availability of reasonable choices to take GWB's place. Kerry was an average nominee at best, and could never weather the slings and arrows of outrageous Rovescum. He was smarter, and a far better debater, but that's about it. The kids on the debate team don't win Class President. In my case, it was always the football QB or cheerleader that won the race, though in some cases of a desire to thumb noses at the office itself, the class stoner got the nod. I'm not sure which of those best describes GWB, but none of them could describe John Kerry.

A few thoughts I had posted earlier in the day:

Is this another example of Dick Cheney unable to accept defeat? Certainly.

Is this another example of this administration's callous disregard for providing leadership, tackling issues and their addiction to their own spin? Yes.

But the Bolton nomination is also quite exceptional -- it was highly controversial from the get-go -- even in a political environment as coarse and corrupt as Washington, few nominees come with videos attached to them showing them hurling obscenities and abuse at slack-jawed conference participants and furiously denying any legitimacy to the very institution they are supposed to join. 

The White House now seems poised to accept lame duck status at home and humiliation and the very real risk of being sidelined at the UN -- just so that Dick Cheney is going to have it his way?

What else can this administration possibly do to increase the overt hostility and the contemptuous rhetoric with which America is being greeted on the international stage?