Bolton nomination's death knell: Colin Powell

Colin Powell... I love him to death right now. His conscience and willingness to depart from partisan politics is simply amazing. Stellar. I can't even come up with adjectives and synonyms (and ya'll know that's rare). Simply astounding. I sincerely believe that without his precedent, Secretary Rice would have been more polarizing as Secretary of State. Powell's quite presence is amazing, and his honest opinion on John Bolton (Washington Post) is very, VERY important.

Former secretary of state Colin L. Powell is emerging as a behind-the-scenes player in the battle over John R. Bolton's nomination as ambassador to the United Nations, privately telling at least two key Republican lawmakers that Bolton is a smart but very problematic government official, according to Republican sources.

Powell spoke in recent days with Sens. Lincoln D. Chafee (R.I.) and Chuck Hagel (Neb.), two of three GOP senators on the Foreign Relations Committee who have raised concerns about Bolton's confirmation, the sources said. Powell did not advise the senators to oppose Bolton, but offered a frank assessment of the nominee as a man who was challenging to work with on personnel and policy matters, according to two people familiar with the conversations.

The only analyisis this new bit of news needs is "Bolton is going DOWN."

Now, this comes after Thomas Hubbard's statement on Bolton's questionable temperament (LA Times)

A former U.S. ambassador to South Korea said Thursday that John R. Bolton, President Bush's choice for U.N. ambassador, might have misled the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about a provocative and controversial 2003 speech on North Korea.The former ambassador, Thomas Hubbard, also described Bolton yelling and slamming down a telephone on him during a confrontation. It was the latest example of the allegedly confrontational behavior that had helped stall Bolton's nomination.

I caught this on CBS Evening News, and they actually showed a clip of that speech in question. John Bolton says, in his usual arrogant tone, "Life in North Korea is a hellish nightmare." Of course, being the tactical, diplomatic man that he is, this speech was given in South Korea. During the Senate testimony, Bolton justified his speech by saying that Thomas Hubbard, then the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, had ok'ed it. The fact that Thomas Hubbard is now saying that he actually opposed the tone and language of the speech, a blatant contradiction to Bolton's testimony.

John Bolton, looking positively evil.

Apparently, the Bush administration doesn't realize why Bolton's attitude and personality is so crucial. Aside from the President himself and Condoleeza Rice, John Bolton would represent America to the international community. Someone who demands an unnecessary meeting with the president of South Korea, then confronts the U.S. ambassador who justified his rejection of such demand, is not fit to be the chief diplomatic figure in U.S. foreign policy. I'm ecstatic that Senators Barbara Boxer and Joseph Biden have led the Democrats in presenting a convincing case, and I couldn't be happier that Senators George Voinovich, Lincoln Chafee, and Chuck Hagel had the courage to look past party affiliations to see the reason and logic behind the democrats' arguments.

Speaking of partisan politics, President Bush defended his troublesome nominee as being "the right man at the right time." Well, that certainly confirms that his foreign policy is indeed "Screw the world, it's mine." He also blamed the democrats of depriving his worthy candidate for the UN post for political reasons. HELLO? Mr. President, you just renominated 10 federal court judges the Senate had already rejected. If anyone's provoking political warfare, it's you. Next thing we know, you'll be declaring a "War on Liberalism". You haven't given the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee (in which the Republicans outnumber Democrats 10:8) ONE good reason to support Bolton.

So my giddy conclusion? Bolton's dead. Unless somebody can manage to disprove countless claims from State department workers, policy analysts, and coworkers of his mismanagement of both his temper and position... AND manage to discredit warnings from a respected former Secretary of State... The Bolton crisis is over. Now the GOP can start crying over other mistakes, like trying to revamp the Senate to stop a fillibuster.