Date set for next Bolton hearing

[whometense]

There's a lot of new info surfacing about John Bolton, even though the NSA has still not turned over the intercepts and Lugar is apparently locking horns with Biden over how much investigation should be done.

The Washington Note has it all. And then some.

Next Bolton Hearing Formally Announced; 10 a.m., 12 May 2005

From the Senate Foreign Relations Committee:

Thursday, May. 12, 2005

10 a.m.
Foreign Relations

Business meeting to consider the nominations of
John Robert Bolton, of Maryland, to be the U.S.
Representative to the United Nations, with the
rank and status of Ambassador, and the U.S.
Representative in the Security Council of the
United Nations, and to be U.S. Representative to
the Sessions of the General Assembly of the
United Nations during his tenure of service as
U.S. Representative to the United Nations.

SD-419

More later.

-- Steve Clemons

[whometense]

1. Laura Rozen says,

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/002004.html

A major showdown seems to be looming in the Senate Foreign Relations committee, as the clock ticks to the scheduled May 12 vote on Bolton's nomination. In short, the committee has still not yet received several key pieces of information from the State Department and the NSA, Sen. Lugar has suggested to Secretary Rice that certain pieces of information that would purportedly document Bolton's alleged exaggeration of Syria WMD intelligence are not priorities, and now Lugar, as well as Senate Select Intelligence committee leadership, are also getting snookered by the White House on the NSA intercepts. Steve Clemons has all the gory details. Meantime, Biden is now suggesting that if Lugar doesn't come through on his commitments to secure the material needed for a complete committee investigation by the time allowed, then he may not be held to his commitment to deliver the Democrats for a vote. Are there more shoes to drop? This is a regular centipede.
Posted by Laura at 02:56 PM

[whometense]

2. This is like a suspense novel.

Latest:

Word from Senator Lugar on Bolton Evidence Questions

I'm about to board a plane. This is just in from Andy Fisher, Press Secretary to Senator Richard Lugar:

We anticipate that sufficient discovery, information and due diligence will be completed in a timely manner for the vote to occur next Thursday as agreed.

I appreciate the responce from Senator Lugar's office, but many watching this process see major trouble brewing.

More later....much more.

-- Steve Clemons

[whometense]

3. GOP nixes Bolton request

Democrats seek State Department papers on nominee

By DOUGLAS JEHL
THE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON -- The Republican who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has declined to endorse a Democratic request that the State Department turn over documents related to a long-running dispute between John Bolton and U.S. intelligence agencies over assessments about Syria and its weapons program, congressional officials said yesterday.

The move was a blow to Democrats on the panel, who have focused on the dispute as a central part of their effort to defeat Bolton's nomination as ambassador to the United Nations.

- snip -

In his letter to Rice, Lugar did not specifically say why he was not endorsing some of the Democratic requests. But he suggested that some of them "are extremely broad and may have marginal relevance to specific allegations."

The committee is facing a deadline of Friday to complete its inquiry into Bolton's record, in advance of a vote scheduled for May 12. In his letter, Lugar said he was "hopeful" that the State Department would "quickly accommodate" the committee's requests for five categories of documents.

They sought information on Bolton's roles in the ouster of a CIA analyst in a dispute over Cuba, in having a State Department lawyer removed from an assignment, in denying an assignment to a State Department officer with whom he had clashed, in seeking information about American officials mentioned in conversations intercepted by the National Security Agency, and in a dispute related to China's missile program.

[LittleClarkie]

4. Later in the article Lugar says he doesn't know how much relevance

the other documents would have. So, if he doesn't know, why not find out? Like Kerry said, they don't want to know. They WANT to be in the dark.

[TayTay]

5. So, Rethugs are blowing up the Sen Foreign Relations Comm

This is so sad. That Committee had a good record of being bipartisan in following it's mandate to investigate America's foreign policy pursuits. The Rethugs are about to blow the place up and poison the atmosphere so that nothing can come out of that committee. (They are also going to blow Chafee out of the Senate. Rhode Islanders are getting completely fed up with him and his wimpy support of The Idiot King.)

I think this is going to be a very big press thing next week. That hearing should be packed. (I wonder if they will get the small conference room again in order to minimize actual live bodies who can say they were there when the democratic process got stuffed by Lugar and Allen?) Expect some deep and passionate Dems to be making the Talking Heads rounds next week. (I hope that Sen. Kerry is one of them. This issue is tailor-made for him. And he is so articulate in making the case that the Rethugs are trying to give Bolton the Bastard a pass just because * wants him.)

I wonder what else will be leaked on Bolton this week? After all, the Senate Finance Committee, according to that retard Allen, leaks like a sieve. I hope it leaks reall good all over the pages of the NYTimes, the LATimes and the Boston Globe. Serve the Rethugs on the Comm right. That bastard Bolton was using his position and power to get NSA intercepts and use that info to go after certain individuals he didn't like. I hope the press gets something really bad on him out this weekend. I want to see him twisting in the wind.

[whometense]

6. I was hoping you'd see this

and comment. I was starting to think I was making a bigger deal of this story than was warranted.

It seems like a very big deal to me. Clemons is hinting that there's a lot more coming, and I'm wondering if Biden is planning to make a statement or just let it play out at the hearing.

Clemons seems to think the biggest bombshells are hiding in the NSA intercepts story. I wonder if we'll ever know the truth on that one?

[TayTay]

7. This story is huge! Huge!

It is a precursor to the the whole 'nuclear option.' What you see in that committee and how acrimonious it becomes is what will happen to the Senate if Frist detonates the nuke. That last unbelievable hearing that the SenForRel held was just un-friggin-believable. First it was a bag job, then it was a free-for-all, then it was Lugar trying to save face. Can you imagine if this becomes the permanent reaction of the SenForRel comm to all future business? We are in wingnut hell. I have nothing but sympathy for the Dems on that Comm. I really feel for them. This is wrong. You don't ram incompetent people down the throats of recalcitrant Senators. Except in wingnut-land.

Bolton is being opposed most vocally right now as a bad diplomat. This is, unfortunately, a weak argument. This allows the wingnuts to portray the guy as some sort of bad-ass cowboy who will go to the UN and beat up the little bastard nations who are screwing over the good ole USA. Wingnuts will claim that Bolton can clean up the oil-for-food thing (which will give that idiot Coleman a huge Mr. Happy Moment in committee. Watch for him to start spewing on this next week. And Allen, that evolutionary throwback, will probably start sprouting even more inane stuff than his moronic 'sunshine meetings' thing he used last time. What a dickwad.)

I bet someone drops a dime on Bolton (again) and releases some of the serious bastardly things he has done. This guy is a vindictive pr*ck who will stop at nothing to advance his own little agenda. He was wrong about Cuba, wrong about the WMD estimate in Iraq and wrong about everything else. He shouldn't be representing the United States at tiddlywinks contest, never mind at the UN. I hope the press gets something good on him and he gets wasted in public.

[karynnj]

8. That meeting was awful until the last 10-15 minutes

I was shocked at the difference from the relatively genial Lugar of the Dr. Rice confirmations, who let Democrats go over their time to complete points (including Boxer) and seemed to be actualy supportive of a few things Kerry and others said about bipartisanship, to the tyrant saying "NO!" to each Democrat who asked to speak. I don't think Biden could have gotten any angrier and even Kerry was visibly angry.

If the entire Senate becomes like that, it will be a very unpleasant place.

[ginnyinWI]

9. it seems to me

that even if Lugar holds up some of the info on Bolton, the Dems can cause damage just by telling what he did in Committee. It will make it look like he's hiding something--and protecting Cheney's nominee.

We can only hope that what the Dems dredge up will be enough to give the less partisan Repubs on the committee reason to vote no.

[saltpoint]

10. Posters in this thread have completely gotten it on Bolton.

The comments here in this thread, you guys, are just great. They should be sent to the Dems and Rethugs on the Foreign Relations Committee.

I've been sending the GOP members of that Committee email letters daily, especially to Lugar, trying to paint Bolton as a horrible choice for that post.

Hagel, Voinovich, Lugar, and Chafee are the Republicans we may want to target. I think Biden, Kerry, Boxer etc. will hold tight against this nomination.

I would LOVE to see John Bolton's nomination defeated in Committee.

[whometense]

11. Thanks, Old Crusoe!

We are on the case. I know Kerry (and I think Boxer as well) has been really putting the pressure on Chafee.

I had thought Lugar had some moral center, but I keep wondering what on earth they (Cheney et al) are threatening him with. It must be intense.

[Pirate Smile]

12. What an incredible dispappointment Lugar has been!

[whometense]

13. Biden hints at delaying Bolton vote

Update via AP (via Salon)
http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2005/05/06/bolton/print.html

May 6, 2005 | WASHINGTON (AP) -- The senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee indicated Thursday he might try delaying a vote on John R. Bolton's nomination as ambassador to the United Nations if the State Department does not provide more documents about the embattled nominee.

Responding at a news conference, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice promised to cooperate. "We have every desire to have the committee have the information that it needs," she said.

She said the State Department would respond "as rapidly as possible," but she did not indicate whether the department would give Biden all the documents he requested.

- snip -

Biden, of Delaware, told Rice he wants the documents and hinted he might try to delay the committee's scheduled confirmation vote on May 12 if he does not get them.

"My Democratic colleagues and I would consider the failure to produce the requested documents in a timely manner a lack of cooperation," according to the letter, which was made available to The Associated Press.

Those documents include an accounting of instances in which Bolton sought names and details of U.S. officials whose communications were intercepted by the National Security Agency.

Biden also sought records regarding Bolton's assertions that Cuba and Sudan were bent on developing weapons of mass destruction and on China's proliferation of weapons technology. Bolton has been the State Department's arms control chief.

Biden sent an initial request to Rice for the documents last Friday.

"I hope and expect that the department will respond in full by the end of this week and in any event reasonably in advance of the committee's meeting to consider the nomination scheduled for May 12," Biden wrote in his second letter Thursday.

The committee planned to vote on Bolton on April 19, but unexpectedly postponed it after Democrats -- joined by several Republicans -- said they wanted more time to study allegations against him. At the White House, spokesman Scott McClellan said the State Department "has been working to make sure that the questions are responded to, and they've been very responsive to the committee." "There's a difference between responding to legitimate concerns and just people trying to go down the road of a fishing expedition," McClellan said. Bolton has been accused of trying to remove subordinates whose intelligence information he opposed and of having a fiery temper inappropriate for a U.N. ambassador. Biden reminded Rice that he agreed with Lugar that the committee would vote on May 12, "predicated on my expectation ... that the executive branch will cooperate in providing access to witnesses and documents." A close vote is expected. While Republicans hold a 10-8 advantage, several Republican senators have indicated they were still weighing Bolton's credentials.

And speaking of damning by faint praise,

Bolton also was endorsed by former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who told a reporter, "John Bolton is eminently qualified. He's one of the smartest guys in Washington."

Armitage is close to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who did not sign a letter sent last month to Lugar by all other former living Republican secretaries of state backing Bolton.

Asked if Bolton was a good choice, Armitage replied carefully, ``It was the president's choice and I support my president.''

[whometense]

14. Actual letter from Biden to Rice

Courtest of Steve Clemons:

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/May%205%202005%20Biden%20to%20Rice.pdf

[whometense]

15. FT following Bolton story

Also through Steve Clemons,

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/d405f46e-bd8e-11d9-87aa-00000e2511c8.html

US accord on Bolton vote faces collapse
By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington
Published: May 5 2005 19:01 | Last updated: May 5 2005 23:50

The Democrats' commitment to vote next week depended on co-operation from the administration. “I would consider the failure to produce the requested documents in a timely manner a lack of co-operation,” Mr Biden wrote.

- snip -

Democrats admit they have no evidence of wrongdoing related to the intercepts. But they say they need to examine them to see whether Mr Bolton had legitimate reasons to request the identities of government employees.

More in related stories at the bottom of the page.

[whometense]

16. Bolton's behavior hinders confirmation

http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2005/05/07/bolton/print.html

By Anne Gearan

May 7, 2005 | WASHINGTON -- If they agree on anything, backers and critics of John R. Bolton seem to acknowledge that the embattled U.N. nominee can behave like a bull in a china shop. The question for moderate Republican senators with qualms about Bolton is whether his temperament or behavior should disqualify him as the Bush administration's ambassador to the United Nations.

The job itself, representing the United States among allies and opponents alike at the world body, has been overshadowed during weeks of debate about Bolton's rough-edged personality and allegations that he abused co-workers and his government position.

The White House is trying to turn attention back to the world body as a new Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation vote on Bolton's nomination looms next Thursday. President Bush himself has made a public show of support, and the White House has led a quiet lobbying campaign among wavering Republicans.

The crux of the White House case is that a vote against Bolton is a vote against badly needed institutional reforms at the United Nations, making the fight less a referendum on the nominee than on bloat and corruption at the world body.

[TayTay]

17. The meeting on Thursday has been allocated 5 hours

It will start at 10 AM. I don't know if it will be on C-Span 1 or 2 or 3. At the very least, the SFRC has it's own web feed, so we can watch it.

Ther ewas an item in the paper that mentioned that Voinovich has yet to meet with Bolton. This is interesting. Voinovich has been travelling during the break, but his staff has not done anything extraordinary to arrange a meeting. The Idiot King's staff has been trying to arrange some face time for their nominee and the Ohio Senator. And the Admin has been doing everything possible to keep Bolton from meeting with or answering questions from the Dems on the Committee. This is going to be an interesting week.

[whometense]

18. I saw that article.

Can't wait for the meeting. I have no idea what to expect. If the latest news (Comments: Dick Cheney's Incredible, Imperial, Infallible Vice Presidency: White House Defies Biden and Lugar on Bolton Intercepts) serves to reconcile Lugar and Biden, it may be more quiet intensity than open fury like the last one.

It will be very interesting to see how Lugar handles all this. Cheney has certainly put him in a nasty little box.

[TayTay]

19. there was a great post on DKos that I'm stealing

as it explains the NSA Intercepts issue:

Minor clarification (4.00 / 2)

I think what the Foreign relations committee was asking for was not the actual NSA intercept contents themselves, which would probably be classified even to committee members, but rather the NSA intercept request documents.

As I understand it, anytime a govmt official with proper authority wants the NSA to essentially do a wire tap on someone, they must submit a request form listing:

* the subject's name,

* the scope and time limits of the monitoring

* the reason the requestor is desiring the search on the subject(s).

In the case of Bolton's requests, rumors are he was requesting wire intercepts on his own boss, Colin Powell, Armitage, and/or their staffs. These people got wind of it, and told Biden et al of the existence of the NSA wire tap requests.

This all fits with the scenario that Bolton was a Cheney/Bush/neocon plant in State, to keep an eye on, be a foil, and undercut when possible Powell's efforts at State that Powell's opposition did not care for.
shumard

Wow! That's very interesting. Cheney is a friggin cancer on the US government. There has to be a way to expose him for the lying, imperialist bastard that he is.

[whometense]

20. That item you posted on the other thread

from Steve clemons was a whopper. Keeping in mind that he's an independent, and not a dem, that makes bits like this:

Dick Cheney's Incredible, Imperial, Infallible Vice Presidency: White House Defies Biden and Lugar on Bolton Intercepts

The word is out.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will not get the much-wanted National Security Agency intercepts in which John Bolton expressed so much interest during his tenure as Under Secretary of State for International Security and Arms Control. Under Secretaries with questionable intentions can get the transcripts -- but Senators with Constitutional oversight responsibilities seemingly cannot.

Dick Cheney and John Bolton's protectors are ever more committed to an imperial presidency -- unchallenged by other institutions of the U.S. government...

all the more intriguing.

[TayTay]

21. BTW, thanks for posting on this all week

I had one of those weeks and could not keep up with all the current scuttlebutt. (I felt bad about that because I am so passionately opposed to Bolton.) You were wonderful and kept me up-to-date. Thanks!

Cheney is behind this. Why am I not even able to pretend that I am surprised. That bastard is a danger to the Republic in the worst way. He installed Bolton at State to check on Powell and now that Condi the Puppet is at State he wants Bolton at the UN to bang his shoe on the table and make the case for war against Iran. (A war we are woefully unprepared to fight. There will have to be a precipitating incident that give * the power to go to Congress and ask for a draft. Otherwise, we can't fight in Iran.)

That any talk of this is immoral goes almost without saying. (Certainly without being listened to. This Admin has no morals.) I pray that the Dems are able to persuade the moderate Repubs to vote against Bolton. This is so important. But I fear that the hearing may become another version of the last one. Beware of Allen and Coleman trying to cook up ways to limit debate and keep the Dems from bringing up uncomfortable truths about Bolton. It could get real testy as the Rethugs try a power play. We shall see if they have the actual power to do this. It's going be fascinating.

I know that power corrupts but the idea that Cheney had his vile minions doing NSA intercepts to keep track on other Cabinet Members is awful beyond belief. Everything I read about this Admin requires the taking of a shower afterward.

[whometense]

22. Oh, thanks ;-)

You get credit for getting me really revved up about Bolton. I was kind of afraid I was stepping on your turf a bit, so I'm glad you didn't mind. Eyes on the prize, though, right??

They have no morals. I wrote a blog post on this yesterday afternoon after listening to Ed Schultz in the car. He's got the message on DeLay boiled down real well. I think the same message would do just as well for any of these creeps. Phony Christians. I wonder how that would play to the sensible Christian middle? They call themselves Christians, but they don't VOTE like Christians.

What do you think?

[TayTay]

23. Wonderfully.

The vast bulk of religious people in the USA believe in their principles. We both heard, (I think) the CNN interview (or the Keith Olbermann one) with the man who was expelled or quit his Baptist Church in NC over the Democrats voting for Kerry. That man is a moral human being who genuinely believes that * is a real Christian. I think that guy can be reached and Dems need to go after him. He strikes me as a 'gettable' voter. He certainly acted on principle in walking out of that Church.

Go for it. Christian values mean helping your neighbor, helping the poor and caring about the least among us. * and Cheney couldn't care less. We need to get that message out there, that the good people in the US who want to be moral citizens are being lied to at will.