Blogging For Bolton

Posted on November 14, 2006

Nearly five years after 9/11, we are well into an epic, generational struggle. A struggle that pits freedom against tyranny … hope against fear … democracy against Islamic radicalism. The men and women of our Armed Forces are fighting with heroic resolve … and they deserve to be supported in their mission by diplomats willing to call evil by its name, able to rally our friends and allies behind the global expansion of freedom and democracy, and unafraid to passionately pursue reform of our dysfunctional international institutions.

That’s why we need John Bolton’s leadership at the United Nations. Unfortunately, his recess appointment expires in January of 2007 … so we must act now to confirm him permanently.

This month Senate Republicans will do everything they can to break Democrat obstruction and give John Bolton the fair up-or-down vote that he was denied last year. But we need your help to turn up the heat on the Democrats by flooding their offices with your calls in support of Ambassador Bolton and the President’s agenda for reforming the waste and incompetence of the United Nations.

So call as many Senators as you are able … check off the offices that you’ve called and then click below to register your calls… forward this website to your friends, family, and co-workers so we can keep up the momentum … and return to the site to see the climbing numbers of calls placed in support of John Bolton.

Thanks to Atlass Shrugs for this video.

Hot Air is video blogging for Bolton.
If he can’t get confirmed through the lame duck Congress he could still serve through a second recess appointment but would have to do so without pay. Claudia Rosett proposes a fundraiser to pay his salary.

So, in the interest of fighting fire with fire, I wonder if anyone will start a campaign to scrap the UNICEF cans (they are not all about feedling wide-eyed children; they double-billed and padded their budgets in Iraq), and start collecting for Bolton.

I’m on board! Go Get Involved Now!
Steven Taylor thinks we should recognize the Democrat majority and bow down to what they think instead of fighting for what we believe is right. He thinks it is all about partisan point scoring. I think that is insulting to those of us that support Bolton from our convictions. The world seems to be in an appeasing mood lately and we need someone like Bolton to counteract this.

Update: Steven Taylor responds. This time I will quote so I portray accurately “exactly” what he says. Read the whole thing as a link is provided.

For what it is worth, I opposed the recess appointment in the first place, so I am being consistent. I didn’t see this as a “the” fight that many seem to think it was then, and I don’t see it as such now.

Given that most of the time no one gives a wet slap who the Ambassador to the UN is, it is impossible to ignore that a substantial part of this fight is very much about partisan point-scoring. Especially when one considers that the Right (who currently sees Bolton as vitally important to the war on terror) normally considers the UN to be worthless and would likely freak out if the UN actually was empowered. As such, I just don’t get Boltonmania.

Further, and perhaps at the core of this for me, I am a pragmatist. A snowball has a better chance in Hell than Bolton does of being confirmed. The facts are clear: the current Senate, which goes out of existence in six weeks, couldn’t get him confirmed when the Reps were in far better shape than they are now, so there is no way they can get him confirmed now. Further, once the 110th is sworn in the Democrats are in the majority.

What, then, is the point of this fight?

The point of the fight is that we do find John Bolton vitally important in the War on Terror. While the UN is worthless it is still recognized unfortunately. John Bolton has done a lot of good to keep them from being empowered and many want to see him continue to do so. The point that I found insulting is the part about it being partisan point scoring. Maybe you are right about that with some people, but it isn’t a partisan issue with me, it is about someone doing a good job and me wanting him to continue to do so.

The New York Post lists a few of his accomplishments:

…John Bolton has been too good an ambassador – at a time when America sorely needs an effective envoy at Turtle Bay – to be tossed on the scrap heap because of the Democrats’ short-sightedness.
* It was Bolton who recently organized the majority coalition that blocked Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela from winning a seat on the Security Council.

* It was Bolton who worked with France to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah (flawed as it was).

* It was Bolton who took the lead in pressing for comprehensive reform of the U.N.’s rotting institutional infrastructure.

* It is Bolton who has refused to play the game of diplomatic double-talk, refusing to participate in the new – and already discredited – Human Rights Council, which he memorably called a case of “putting lipstick on a caterpillar and calling it a butterfly.”

…Last week, Tehran called Tueday’s elections a victory for Iran, Chavez called for Bush’s execution, al Qaeda in Iraq said it wouldn’t rest until it blew up the White House, and former Gitmo detainees moved to bring criminal charges in Germany against top Bush administration officials.

Much of this, of course, is little more than a postelection pile-on against a president seen as a powerless lame duck. But it may also represent a genuine belief that the Democrats, who campaigned against every aspect of Bush’s foreign policy, will go soft in the War on Terror.

Democrats have an obligation to demonstrate conclusively to America’s enemies that they don’t have allies on Capitol Hill. By moving so swiftly to torpedo John Bolton, they’ve sent precisely the opposite signal.

Bi-partisanship is a two way street. I’m just standing up for what I think is right period.