Borking Bolton

Bolton
Originally uploaded by RHarris.

John Bolton is in the Democrats' crosshairs as they salivate at an opportunity undermine the Bush administration. This longtime diplomat has now been confirmed four times by the senate, most recently as a deputy secretary of state. Which makes one wonder: What change has occurred since the last confirmation that justifies making this confirmation hearing a battle instead of a formality?

Not much, though, if confirmed, his new position at the UN will definitely put him front and center before the world. And what are the accusations? Basically, that John Bolton is a bully -- though these accusations seem trumped up, if not outright fabricated.

One accuser, a Mr. Westerman, claims Bolton berated him, and then tried to have him fired. But that's not really true, Bolton only tried to have Westerman removed from his portfolio of intelligence officers -- not fired -- and this requesting was made for good reason: Bolton had submitted a speech for clearance, and Westerman had altered the speech to include some of his own prejudices.

And then there is another accuser, Melody Townsel. She possibly met up with Bolton in a hotel in Moscow, where they were working for the same company, and where, according to her, Bolton one night got angry and chased her down the hallway, throwing things at her. The problem is that no one was there to witness it, and those who were there, or where in the know, say that such and episode was very unlikely to go unnoticed. In addition, Townsel, who complained to her supervisor about trivial things all the time, never mentioned anything about the alleged Bolton explosion.

Townsel it seems has plenty of motivation to hinder the Bolton nomination. While working in Biskek and Moscow, she was under audit for misappropriation of company funds, as well as trying to steal a company contract. Bolton was asked by his supervisor to look into these questions, a reason Townsel may harbor a grudge against him. She also founded the Dallas chapter of Mothers Opposing Bush.

But where was she during the previous nominations? Why is Townsel coming forward with this all too vital information (sarcasm intended) so late in the game? She claims that she was to busy to come forward at earlier hearings; preoccupied with raising here child, who, apparently now, at the age of 4, is raised. But, despite being to busy for earlier confirmation hearings, Townsel was not too busy to work at Ogilvy, a large public relations firm, and, at the same time, work on "Whistleblower" issues for the Androvett Legal Media and Marketing firm, and run her own Townsel Communications firm.

In short, all of this smacks of Anita Hill.

And anyway, what is the relevance of all of the above accusations (though far from proven) even if they are true? There is NONE! Are democrats trying to claim you can't be a great diplomat or public servant if you rub people the wrong way, or worse, are a jerk? Certainly their own leadership doesn't clear this bar (i.e., Howard Dean; Bill Clinton et. al.) The late great Daniel Patrick Moynahan, and Jeanne Kirkpatrick were known to be a bit prickly now and again -- yet are still counted among the greatest diplomats the US has had. Shouldn't we be talking about Bolton's view of the UN, or his approach to diplomacy, (which, by all accounts, are impressive) or something else that has real importance and goes to the heart of Bolton's qualifications to represent us at the UN?

Yes, we should, but such is the case with today's politics, that substance doesn't count for as much as the appearance of impropriety.

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