Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Voinovich vs. Bolton

Senator George Voinovich of Ohio is urging his fellow Republicans to vote against John Bolton's nomination to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations according to tomorrow's New York Times. In a letter and in phone calls to his colleagues, Voinovich has sought to persuade at least five more Republican senators to resist pressure from the White House to confirm the controversial nominee. The Times reports that in Voinovich's letter, the senator said "that while he had been 'hesitant to push my views on my colleagues' during his six years in the Senate, he felt 'compelled to share my deep concerns' about the nomination."

"In these dangerous times, we cannot afford to put at risk our nation's ability to successfully wage and win the war on terror with a controversial and ineffective ambassador to the United Nations," Mr. Voinovich wrote. He urged colleagues to "put aside our partisan agenda and let our consciences and our shared commitment to our nation's best interests guide us."

It is not at all clear that there are five other Republicans in the Senate capable of acting independently of the White House, which, in recent months, has sought to make the Senate a wholely-owned subsidiary of the executive branch.