Bolton Debate Begins

The Bolton confirmation fight has now reached the Senate floor. While it doesn’t look overly probable, the anti-diplomat’s confirmation can still be thwarted. Public opinion can help push those senators on the fence to the side of reason and Rockefeller, who’s up now (from what I hear, unfortunately I’m deprived of C-SPAN 2), can drop some hefty information on the chamber if he so wishes. Contacting your senator on this before the final vote is essential. I recently finished up a stint as an intern in a senator’s office, and while it’s widely known that this particular senator will be voting against Bolton, I still found it disheartening that the vast majority of calls were from right-wingers clamoring for the death of the UN, Kofi Annan’s throat firmly compressed by Bolton’s own hands, instead of a nay vote.



Over at Digital Dissent I have a run-down of links and commentary on where exactly the confirmation battle stands. A cloture vote is set for tomorrow evening, so Democrats have a lot of time to get their point across (as Republican Senator Voinovich already has.) Looks like this might be closer than some expect.