The Bolton Affair

The President has nominated John Bolton to be the Ambassador to the U.N. and the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee has failed to confirm his appointment so it can go to the full Senate. Best I can tell, his greatest sin according to the public comments from the democrats is that over the past 11 years, he was abusive to people who worked below him on the organization chart at the Department of State. He yelled at someone and in another case he asked that a guy who had lied to him about some intelligence report be transferred so he wouldn't be around Bolton anymore. Nobody can argue that a boss who is abusive to his underlings is a good guy, but some of the senators who are particularily excercised by Bolton's behavior (like Senator Dodd) were highly supportive of President Clinton of Monica Lewinsky fame. Maybe you can argue that their relationship wasn't abusive. The real problem, of course, is that Bolton is not a great fan of the way the U.N. has functioned and has suggested as much publically. Liberals can't stand that.