It has been a brisk and lovely morning, getting phone calls from friends as far away as Spain about the decision by one of America's most highly rewarded sociopaths, John Bolton, to leave the UN -- with all floors of the building yet intact.
There's no question in anybody's mind, of course, that Bushco knew well that getting Crazy Von Mustache through the Senate would be, yet again, a non-starter. Thanks to the election and Chaffee, the writing -- per the famous Biblical story -- was on the wall.
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Leave it to the Shrub, of course, to try to paint Senate Dems with derailing the train wreck that was the administration's second Bolton nomination. (This, on the heels of leaked memos aimed at rehabbing Rumsfeld's reputation.)
Before I toast and cabbage-patch myself into a celebratory tizzy, let's review the facts. Bolton was, without doubt, the most dreadfully ill-qualified candidate ever to be nominated/recess-appointed as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Even with a solid Republican majority, the Shrub couldn't put enough polish on this turd -- and was, thusly, forced to sneak him through the door.
Over the last 15 months, we've seen nothing from Bolton that would change any opinions. He blew in like the roaring, hard-core, neocon lion he is, and by all accounts, continues to roar. The page containing the word "multilateral" appears to have been removed from his dictionary. Don't believe me? Ask Lincoln Chaffee. (That's Republican Lincoln Chaffee, George, since you're keeping score at home.)
Beyond that, let's review some of the highlights of Bolton's busy, busy 2005/2006. My favorite of the Bolton hit parade came in October of this year, when Roh Moo-Hyan, president of longtime ally South Korea, refused to meet with Bolton in 2006. He just couldn't find the upside in sitting across the table from a hostile walrus.
Then, there was the magic month of September 2005, when Bolton threw a record 750 proposed amendments at the draft final report from the World Summit. The stuff he proposed was so hard-line, sweeping and nutty that, according to the UK's The Guardian Newspaper, Britain's Jack Straw petitioned Condi to muzzle Bolton and force him to withdraw the nominations. Rice reportedly put her Ferragamos on Bolton's neck, but, in the end, the world community was so damned baffled by what the US position was, or wasn't, that the agreement fell through. That's right, folks. By being a complete and utter dick, Bolton destroyed a solid chance at achieving an agreement that could have pulled the UN into the new millenium.
I could go on and on, but I'm a working single mother with a car that needs new brakes, so I've got to cut this short.
Stubborn Dems block the Bolton nomination? Hardly.
If you translate "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin," the mysterious Biblical riddle that magically appeared on the wall at Belshazzar’s feast, the Aramaic words translate literally as, "It has been counted and counted, weighed and divided." According to biblical scholars, Daniel interpreted the riddle to mean that the king’s deeds had been weighed and found deficient and that his kingdom would, therefore, be divided.
Bolton? "It has been counted and counted, weighed and divided."
Bolton's outtie.
Because of Senate Dems? Hell to the no.