Bolton: Can Someone Explain Posted by Suzanne Nossel

Caitlyn gave a good explanation for my earlier question about why Dems did not simply go ahead with a vote once Voinovich raised his reservations about Bolton:  upshot is he could have abstained in which case the nomination still would have made it out of Committee.  Many thanks.

I still find it telling that Lugar continued to press for a vote at that moment:  was his secret gameplan simply to get the nomination over with one way or another, with no love lost if Bolton got turned down?

Apart from that and all in all, I have to say the Democrats were amazing.  The day Bolton was first nominated a couple of months back I remember talking to Derek on the phone (at the time Democracy Arsenal was but a twinkle in my eye) and speculating that the Democrats would not fight hard on this one.  My calculation was that with Supreme Court nominations in the offing, the Dems would not want to risk the capital on something most of America doesn't much care about.

But they've gone for a full court press, and - as of tonight - come a lot closer to blocking Bolton than many of us thought possible.  No matter the outcome, we've shown we're alive and kicking.  Bravo.

Comments

[Caitlyn]

If Voinovich abstained, there still would have been a 9-8 majority in favor of Bolton (there is a two vote Republican majority in the committee membership). Voinovich said he was not comfortable voting FOR Bolton, not that he would vote against him. That was left uncertain, which was a good reason for Lugar to give in, especially since he doesn't want long term harm to th4e bi-partisan operation of the committee.

Since there is a good chance that a vote could have led to Bolton being voted out with approval, the dems were right in not calling for the vote.

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