Voinovich Goes Both Ways

From AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) - In a tense atmosphere, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee debated John Bolton's fitness to be United Nations ambassador on Thursday. A critical Republican senator, George Voinovich of Ohio, agreed to let the nomination go to the full Senate but he called the diplomat "arrogant" and "bullying."

"This administration can do better than that," Voinovich said in the first big battle of President Bush's second term

Voinovich said he could not vote for the nomination, but would agree to send it to the floor without a recommendation of approval or disapproval.

"We owe it to the president to give Mr. Bolton an up-or-down vote on the floor of the U.S. Senate," Voinovich said.

...Voinovich called Bolton "the poster child of what someone in the diplomatic corps should not be."

He said Bolton would be fired if he was in the private sector.

"That being said, Mr. Chairman, I am not so arrogant to think that I should impose my judgment and perspective of the U.S. position in the world community on the rest of my colleagues," he added.

Voinovich later told reporters he planned to vote against Bolton in the full Senate. Will Bolton win eventual confirmation? "I have every faith in my colleagues. No one really is excited about him. We'll see what happens," he said.

...He said he hoped the full Senate, where Republicans hold a 55-45 majority, would reject the nomination.

"What message are we sending to the world community?" Voinovich asked.
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Voinovich, thy name is FENCE SITTER!

He will vote with his party, though I do question whether it's accurate to refer to the Republicans as his party.

After stating that he will not block Bolton's nomination in committee, Voinovich proceeds to bash him. He goes so far as to say he has faith in his colleagues, presumably meaning he hopes they will not confirm Bolton.

Voinovich asks, "What message are we sending to the world community?"

We are sending the message that the United States will not tolerate the corruption and incompetence that have plagued the UN in recent years.

As Bush has said, Bolton is "'a blunt guy' who 'can get the job done at the United Nations' and 'who isn't afraid to speak his mind in the post of the ambassador to the U.N.'"

Bolton is not, as Voinovich claims,"the poster child of what someone in the diplomatic corps should not be."

He's exactly what the UN needs at this critical time, when the world is grappling with war and peace, tyranny and freedom.

Read Bill Kristol's column, "The Borking of Bolton."