Spare Us, Senator McCain

Not again!

From the New York Times:

McCain Urging Accord on Bolton and Secret Documents

WASHINGTON, May 27 - One of John R. Bolton's leading Republican backers, Senator John McCain of Arizona, signaled his support on Friday for a compromise in which the White House might allow Senate leaders access to highly classified documents in return for a final vote early next month on Mr. Bolton's nomination as United Nations ambassador.

The conciliatory signal from Mr. McCain came as Senate leaders traded blame over who was responsible for the miscalculation that led to Mr. Bolton's nomination being blocked Thursday. But the White House showed no sign that the Bush administration might change course.

"The Democrats who are clamoring for this have already voted against John Bolton," Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, said in a telephone interview. "This is about partisan politics, not documents. They have the information they need."

Appearing on the Fox News Channel, McCain said, "I think that we can resolve this over the recess and get this thing done and get John Bolton to work. I'm sorry there is going to be a delay."

...Mr. McCain's comments on Friday suggested that he might once again see himself as playing a broker's role, though he did not say what he believed a compromise might entail.

I'm not surprised that McCain wants to grab the spotlight and claim responsibility for working with those on both sides of the aisle. He wants to build on that role in preparation for his 2008 presidential run.

However, any Republican senator willing to follow McCain's lead should be wary. That blew up in the faces of six of McCain's colleagues on Thursday.

Another interesting tidbit from this article involves Frist and Reid and how the Dems managed to filibuster Bolton.

A senior aide to Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader, said Friday that Dr. Frist was told by Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, his Democratic counterpart, on Wednesday that enough Democrats would join Republicans to invoke "cloture," allowing a final vote on Mr. Bolton.

The aide, who would speak only without being identified when discussing conversations between the two leaders, also said Dr. Frist had intervened with the administration to try to get an intelligence briefing that would satisfy opponents of the nomination.

Jim Manley, a spokesman for Mr. Reid, said the Democratic leader had not provided such specific guidance about a vote count

On Thursday afternoon, both sides agree, Mr. Reid and other Democrats warned Republicans that critics of Mr. Bolton had made headway and could potentially block a vote.

Republicans say it was then too late to pull back the nomination vote, and the embarrassing defeat was the result. While Dr. Frist was being criticized for his handling of the nomination, a fellow Republican said the fault also lay with Mr. Reid.

Naturally, the NYT calls the defeat to invoke cloture an embarrassment for Republicans. Far more than making Republicans look bad, I think it shows the under-handedness of the Dems. It shows they aren't trustworthy. They are backstabbers, and unwilling to work with Republicans. This would be an embarrassment for Dems if they had any sense of shame.

In effect, the Dems prove themselves to be obstructionists through their deceitful behavior.

McCain proves himself to be an opportunistic, double-dealing disgrace as a Senator.