Fixing the Bolton mess

There has been much blame spread around in the Bolton fiasco. Some blame Voinovich, calling him a 'maverick,' or as I did "near-treasonous," because he failed to show up at the Bolton confirmation hearings and catewhauled to Democratic pressure. Others blame the White House for failing to count the votes as well as not fighting properly for Bolton's nomination. Still others blame the Democrats for their obstructionist tactics. Others also blame a weak Frist.

I agree mostly with the latter. Why did the Seante Republicans, or the leadership, appoint the unsteady Voinovich, Lugar, and Chafee onto the Senate Foreign Relations' Committee? The War on Terror is Pres. Bush's signature issue, and the one for which he will be remembered. Placing conservative stalwarts onto the comittee would fix the whole problem. Place the 0ther three on the Dog-catcher/postmaster-general appointee committee. The Democrats plan on doing nothing but obstructing Pres. Bush's agenda. Tantrums, obstructions, and filibusters will be their weapons of choice. GOPers need to recognized this fact and not allow the Dems to destroy the foreign policy successes of the Bush administration. Lugar and the other two want to get their faces on TV and their names in the biggest newspapers in the hope of being recognized for the successes that they have become. Media trumps policy. This is a Frist failing for nt seeing this train-wreck in advance.

Lately McConnell has bragging about his counting ability as Senate Whip. He has been touting that he has the necessary 50-votes to implement the nuclear option on judges. Senate Democrats are offering a comprimise, which would seem to back up such a claim. That is bunk, because if McConell can not count 10 republicans in the Foreign Relations Committee, he will have an infinitely harder time counting 50 in the Senate-at-large.

Secondly, The White House should do some counter-leaking about DeLay and Bolton. The President's visusal gestures supporting DeLay as well as Rove's stories to the NYT about how Bolton will be confirmed are vast improvement, but these are reactions instead of the preactions that they should be. Coordinate with Kay Baily about how if Hutchinson plans to run for Texas' governor, the White House would strongly support a DeLay move to the Senate. Have Hutchinson make noises about becoming governor. This would place the ball squarely in the Dems court requiring of them a response in addittion to throwing them off their game. Such leaks would also send a message to linguini-spined Republicans that they need to be more resistant to the temptations and mirages of a friendly WaPo, NYT, and NBCCBSABC.

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