April 28, 2005
THE PLACE IS, AFTER ALL, A SWAMP:
Unleash John Bolton (Maureen Dowd, APRIL 28, 2005, The New York Times)
Why are they picking on poor John Bolton? Everyone knows the man is perfect for the UN job. For one thing, his raging-bull temperament is ideally suited to an organization steeped in global pettifoggers and oil-for-food pilferers.
The uncombed, untethered Bolton is fabulously operatic - the Naomi Campbell of the Bush administration, ready at a moment's notice to beat up on underlings.
Who doesn't want to see Old Yeller chasing the Syrian ambassador down the hall, throwing a stapler at his head and biting at his ankles?
Who doesn't want to see him foaming at the mouth - yes, it will be hard to tell - at the Cuban delegate over Castro's imaginary weapons of mass destruction?
Who doesn't want to see him mau-mauing the Iranian mullahs?
Who doesn't want to see him once more misusing National Security Agency eavesdropping technology, this time to spy on Kofi and son?
Who doesn't want to see him outrage North Korea by calling Kim Jong Il a fat, maniacal munchkin?
Even if his suave statesmanship were not so perfectly suited to high-level diplomacy, Bolton should still get the job.
A ruthless ogre who tried to fire intelligence analysts who disagreed with his attempts to stretch the truth on foreign weapons programs deserves to be rewarded as other Bush officials have been.
To begin with, you'd think someone who tries to be so hip would know that we all like ogres these days, but, more importantly, the things she lists are exactly what Americans want to see at the UN (if forced to see the UN). Posted by Orrin Judd at April 28, 2005 8:55 AM
Wow. Two columns pro-Bolton columns from MoDo. She must be getting her medicines from a new Internet supplier.
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at April 28, 2005 9:21 AMIn the Bush 41 era, good manners and judiciousness were prized. In Bush 43's Washington, bristle and bullying are the cardinal virtues.
Not only that, Bolton doesn't know the difference between a clear soup spoon and a cream soup spoon.
It really is toooo...humiliating.
OJ's right - the reasons MoDo and other libs don't want Bolton in is the exact reasons Bush, the GOP, and other UN skeptics want him in.
Posted by: AWW at April 28, 2005 10:37 AMBiden Claims Bolton Staring at Him During Hearing
by Scott Ott (2005-04-19) --
Sen. Joseph Biden, D-DE, today asked the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to prevent President Bush's nominee for U.N. Ambassador, John Bolton, from staring at him during confirmation hearings.
"Mr. Chairman, he's looking at me again," said Sen. Biden. "Make him stop looking at me."
Indeed, a review of the video indicates that Mr. Bolton had directed a scowling gaze at several Senators during the hearings...
Posted by: at April 28, 2005 10:59 AMWe're the Democrats. We're soft and nice. We get along. We know how to make the UN better. We'll protect you. We love you.
Please start voting for us. Please.
Posted by: jim hamlen at April 28, 2005 11:40 AMFunny thing is Mo-Do doesn't even realize that her attempt to smear Bolton actually sells him to most Americans. We want an Ambassador who is more concerned about the US than the UN.
Posted by: LargeBill at April 28, 2005 12:05 PMWow. I read that and had to keep reminding myself that it was MoDo righting it. MoDo obviously keeps the same company as Pauline Kael, which of course begs the question: How disconnected from reality do you have to be, to be a member of the reality based community?
Posted by: Robert Modean at April 28, 2005 1:27 PMrighting -> writing
Preview is our friend...
Preview is our friend...
Preview is our friend...
Even if everyone knows MoDo is being sarcastic in her "support" for Bolton, it would be fun to be snarky right back, and flood her e-mail box with messages congratuating her for finally seeing the light and writing a fantastic column outlining why we need Bolton at the U.N. Odds are if the e-mails were subtile enough, she's just think the dweebs out there are too dense to get her wit, and would feel obliged to pen another column directly slamming Bolton show she could show the dumb hicks what she really believes.
Posted by: John at April 28, 2005 4:02 PM