Post-Bolton Hearing Update -- A Third Case of Intimidating a Subordinate. What happens now? Talked with committee staff. There is apparently a third case of alleged Bolton intimidation and bullying of a subordinate, that the committee only became aware of late last night. Will get more on this out later today.

The Foreign Relations committee staff are also reviewing a batch of classified documents they received only yesterday from the State Department including emails and other correspondence concerning Bolton's alleged mistreatment of subordinates. Depending on what they find and if it prompts them to call more witnesses, the Foreign Relations committee Senators will either vote Thursday, or next Tuesday, on whether to forward Bolton's nomination to the full Senate. After all this, it still seems to all come down to one guy. Keep watching Steve Clemons' site for analysis.

Update to the Update: Just talked to a colleague who's an ideological supporter of Bolton. He says he talked with Chafee after the hearing today and Chafee is still inclined to vote for Bolton.

Here's my feeling, and forgive the language. One could perhaps respect a bully if that bully was a bully in the cause of making the UN an institution that saved human life more effectively. Some might say Richard Holbrooke fits this model. But you can't respect a bully just because he's a bully. From Bolton's testimony yesterday about not having any particular interest in the UN intervening to stop genocide in Rwanda, even with the benefit of all that we know now that close to a million innocent people were slaughtered, it's clear Bolton's bullying is in no service to the good of making the UN save lives, or preventing North Korea from getting nuclear weapons, or Iran. His grandstanding has done nothing to prevent North Korea from becoming a nuclear power. It's just asshole for the sake of being an asshole. It's in the service of nothing. The worst you can really say about Mr. Bolton is not that he's a bully, but that he's a failure. So why vote for this guy, Mr. Chafee? [Apparently, serious pressure from the OVP.]

Posted by Laura at April 12, 2005 02:33 PM