Monday, August 01, 2005

Apologies in advance

George W. Bush has bypassed the Senate and has made a recess appointment of John Bolton to serve as U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

This is exactly the sort of thing we have all come to expect from the Dubya administration. First he nominated a highly controversial and extremely divisive candidate to the position; then he refused to turn over relevant documents to the people who were responsible for the approval or rejection of the candidate; then, when it looked like his candidate would not be approved, he simply exploited a loophole in the rules to get his way anyway. It's all very reminiscent of the way Dubya himself came to power in the first place.

When Clinton was president, people who didn't like him proudly displayed bumper stickers declaring that he wasn't their president. Today that same sort of bumper sticker would be considered treasonous.

Bush occupies the White House. But he doesn't represent me. He doesn't speak for me. And this clown that he was only able to appoint to the U.N. by bypassing the constitutional mechanisms for approval doesn't speak for me either.

But we're stuck with both of them for a while. Sometimes shit happens in a democracy. Please bear with us.


Apologies in advance.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Here's the Washington Post editorial, written by your own team!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/02/AR2005080200252.html

Here's some relevant quotes:

"PRESIDENT BUSH was within his rights yesterday to install John R. Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations by recess appointment. Mr. Bolton's nomination has been pending a long time, and a majority of the Senate probably would have voted to confirm him. Yet Senate Democrats denied him an up-or-down vote, holding out for the administration to release more material related to Bolton's past work...."

"Democrats had every chance to muster the votes to defeat the nomination; they couldn't do it. If Mr. Bolton is now heading to New York without the Senate's imprimatur but with a figurative asterisk beside his name, that's only because, having failed to defeat him, a minority refused to lose gracefully."