The nomination of John Bolton is in a little disarray. His record is tending to shock even other Republicans. Yesterday Voinovich put his nomination on hold while numerous other allegations of imperious behavior were investigated. The Washington Post and other Newspapers have been running a series on this nomination.
Nevertheless I believe the President should get his man. John Bolton is a team player. He follows the lead of his party and is a true believer in the doctrines of "Neo-Conservativism" / "Neo-Liberalism"; might makes right, security through strength, and to paraphrase; "it doesn't matter what the enemy is actually doing all that matters is that they might be doing something nefarious and they are nefarious -- so if the facts don't fit the allegations then fire the fact checker."
And if Bolton were all that the Republicans were offering us right now in the way of Petty tyrants I probably wouldn't worry so. But we also have the shennanigans in the Congress, where Republican Senators are running rough shod over Democrats on the time-honored tradition of the filibuster, while DeLay and company are running rough-shod over Congressional Ethics with it's three partisan rule changes and efforts to nix that committees Bi-Partisanship and power of investigation. Things are so bad that the good "Doc" Hastings who is in charge there even offered to investigate DeLay if only the Good Congressman from West Virginia -- Alan B. Mollohan -- who is opposing these unethical ethics rules would accept the rules. But of course if the Good Congressman were to actually do such a thing the Congressman from West Virginia notes he'd probably lose his job too.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5124-2005Apr20.htmlThe Fight isn't about whether DeLay is a crook or not. If the Ethics Committee were still able to do it's job they'd be able to clear him if he is innocent without all the negative publicity of the current trial by Press he is undergoing. These rule changes need to be opposed because they are rules that make it almost impossible to investigate legitimate complaints if there is any kind of partisan disagreement on the Majority Party side -- that is why. A little partisanship and an ethics violation is ignored. A little stone-walling and a violation is automatically dismissed. This is what DeLay wanted because the previous ethics committee had reprimmanded him three times and was about to reprimmand him again. It's chair was a Republican.
The issue isn't about Tom DeLay except in it's Genesis. Tom DeLay fired the previous Republican on that committee because he dared to reprimand him for petty rules violations. And Tom DeLay is a bit more than a Petty Tyrant. He is a big time one. Anyone doubts that should remember how he managed to orchestrate mid cycle gerrymandering in Texas and tried to get the Democratic minority arrested there in the process. Hastart is now taking his lead in the Senate with efforts to force up or down votes on Judges that Democrats don't like.
If the shoe was on the other foot the voices would be even louder. Republicans made a lot of hay from Jim Wright. I remember from when the Repubs were the minority always acting sure that every Democrat was a crook needing to be impeached. And of course they used to battle liberal judges regularly at one time. Now they seem to want to just impeach them without trials (that was last week and I should have created a blog entry on it). It makes me long for the days when Jim Wright was Majority leader -- compared to the current bunch he was squeaky clean.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52506-2005Apr14.htmlAnd of course, the "Grand Ole Party" isn't going to come clean about their reasons for those rules changes unless they are pressured to. Instead they'll trumpet to the Red Press (no Blue Press allowed) how the Dems are being unfair to them:
'The only way I can be cleared is through the ethics committee, so they don't want one,' Mr. DeLay said yesterday in an interview with editors and reporters of The Washington Times in his office at the Capitol. He also offered a second reason why Democrats want the ethics committee to be hobbled.'
Both Houses and the Administration seem to have plenty of petty tyrants who, have been using their positions to punish their opponants of either party, "discipline" their own party, and use any means possible to get and keep power and advance their goals; cheat steal or lie included. If allowed to win on these seemingly "small" things they seem to be poised to go on to maybe graduate to even bigger and better petty tyrannies. One party state anyone?