Tomorrow's Hearing Live at Bolton Watch
Against the advice of doctors and my better judgment, I'm going to cover tomorrow's nomination hearing live on Bolton Watch. At the hearing, Bolton will appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and do his best to defend his record to a panel of skeptical senators.
Some quick predictions:
- Senator Lugar will play the good soldier, not praise or criticize Bolton too much, and ask him some wonky but important questions.
- Senator Hagel, a true champion of U.N. reform and a strong U.S.-U.N. relationship, will confront Bolton about his habit of alienating allies.
- Senators Biden, Sarbanes, Dodd, Feingold, Boxer will really turn the heat up and hold Bolton accountable for his year of failure.
- Senator Coleman will be Bolton's best friend at the hearing. Senator Allen may not show up, but if he does, he'll back Bolton 100% and reiterate whatever talking points the White House happens to be using at the moment.
- Senator Voinovich will urge Bolton to 'continue' on his multilateral course. At some point in the future, he'll reiterate that Bolton's not the best guy for the job, but say we need continuity at the U.N.
- Finally, for his part, Bolton will try to deflect blame for his missed opportunities on the U.N., developing countries, rogue states, etc. When asked about his approach that has alienated other countries, he will talk about the need to "try something different and creative" and "shake things up." Senator Coleman will defend him.
Watch the hearing on C-SPAN and visit Bolton Watch tomorrow to stay in the loop. And don't forget to visit www.stopbolton.org!
Leave a comment