Why Voinovich Hates John Bolton

from my newsmax emaiL update. such maggots! turning on a guy when he does not toe the Line every time.

1. Why Voinovich Hates John Bolton

We were not shocked when Ohio's Republican Senator, George Voinovich refused to recommend John Bolton to the full Senate as America's next U.N. ambassador.

We were surprised, however, by the Senator's performance on the floor of the Senate when, as the Cleveland Plain Dealer put it, he "choked back tears on the Senate floor as he pleaded with colleagues to vote against John Bolton's nomination for United Nations ambassador. "

Crying over John Bolton's appointment? Perhaps they were crocodile tears.

"This appointment is very, very important to our country," Voinovich concluded after a 45 minute speech denouncing Bolton. "At a strategic time when we need friends all over the world, we need somebody up there that's going to be able to get the job done.

Voinovich's stated reason for opposing Bolton: "I know, some of my friends say, 'Let it go, George. It's going to work out,' " said Voinovich, the only Republican opposing the appointment. "I don't want to take the risk. I came back here and ran for a second term because I'm worried about my kids and my grandchildren. And I just hope my colleagues will take the time and...do some serious thinking about whether or not we should send John Bolton to the United Nations."
His kids and grandkids?

Had the Senator been so worried about his children and Bolton's nomination, he might have shown up for most of the Foreign Relations Committee hearings about Bolton. But the Senator missed almost all the meetings.

The real reason Voinovich is angry was a series of TV ads played by a conservative group in Ohio criticizing the Senator for not backing Bolton early.

Bolton and the White House had nothing to do with the ads. But insiders say Voinovich was so ticked off by the local pressure he vowed to get Bolton.

It would seem, if he really wanted to bring up a case against Bolton and shake a few more skeletons out of the Bolton closet, why would he vote to close the discussion?? If he was that passionate about not wanting this destructive force sent to the UN, why did he press for the vote? Did he think he really had the votes to keep Bolton from being appointed?

His tears on the Senate floor confuse me too.

Malloy made a good point too about the speech he gave in the relations committe. He said how it sounded like something he was just reading and that a democrat wrote up. I think something is up too. Especially if he wasn't at all of the meetings. If he really cared and was serious he'd at least show up for 90% of the meetings don't you think?

but I did watch both the Foreign Relations hearing in which he spoke against Bolton, his speech against Bolton on Thursday and the vote and here's what I think.

First of all, Voinovich vote against cloture early on in the voting. Then, towards the end of the vote, during the roll call when they were calling the names of those who hadn't voted yet, he changed his vote to yes and Frist voted no.

I think that Frist engineered a swap with him. Frist needed to vote no so for proecedural reasons so that he could request that the nomination be re-considered. Swapping with Voinovich kept balanced out the yeas and nays so that Frist got to do what he needed to do without giving us an extra vote.

A cloture vote is very often not an indication of how a senator will vote on the actual nominee or legislation. It is not uncommon for senators to vote "yea" on cloture for the purpose of bringing a matter to a vote and then voting "no" on the actual vote for the nominee or legislation. This is done all the time in the senate and actually makes sense - senators often who are actually opposed to something want to vote against it, or senators who want to have it on their record that they voted against something.

I don't know if my hypothesis is true about Frist and Voinovich swapping votes is true or not, but I think that it is a plausible explaination. Several others voted "yea" on cloture who will vote against Bolton when the vote comes - Landrieu, for instance, issued a statement to that effect.

I have to admit, I was very moved when I saw Voinovich's speach - but then when the votes were counted for cloture, I was dissappointed to hear that he voted yay.

Wasn't he one of the people the RW ran ads about with the French flag flying behind him when he did not support the budget or something else? They play for keeps these guys and that explains why a lot of people you would not expect to tow the line so vehemently are doing just that.

gave a very heartfelt speech. RW radio, pundit, Tony Snow, made so much fun of him on the air, Friday, playing the choked-up sounds of his, emotional plea, not to vote for Bolton. Snow, kept up the oh boo hoo, poor little grandchildren, oh boo hoo. I just can't get over how downright mean these people are. (Good post, Sniffa, glad you are back. It wasn't the same in the lounge without, ya.)

:)

i have my issues w/ voinovich, but i thought his speech was heartfeLt and i praise him for it.

i've been hearing that some of the cLassier pundits, have been questioning his sexuaLity and his 'manLiness'.

that rush kiLLs me.

This is the first I've heard of such ads. This deserves some investigation.

Links to the group's website / streaming video?

Surely some Ohio DU'er saw at least one of the ads, perhaps there is a prior post I missed? Perhaps there has been discussion in the Ohio forum. Links, anyone?

unsubstantiated anger at unspecified ads is the best NewsMax could do?

I would have expected them to accuse him of antisemitism, or is that coming next...

heard Malloy and I was very turned off.

I have no respect for Republicans who are cornered and threatened by PNAC and the Fed Society who are the main people calling the shots in this administratiaon.

Because of their lock-step, unthinking, unpatriotic unanimity and their duck following performances and obedience, I end up despising them.

It is a pretty obvious to me that Voinovich was earnest and bothered.

I don't know why we can't recognize that there are some older politicians who were ingrained in some of the same patriotic beliefs as we slightly older patriots were - which means waht - that we recognize that we are not the only people on this planet and that we must get along.

The key belief here that I agree to is that our contry does not exist to bully and rule over other countries on this planet. If we abandon diplomacy and if we make further moves to destroy and rule we are going against what this country and its original inhabitants were/are all about it.

I connected with what he said and it is a lame idea to me that he would be angry at a series of TV ads. You don't make that kind of speech for something like TV ads.

We have a mission to get along with all the other people on this planet. I believe he was sincere.

And if you are an adult politician you don't become emotional when referencing your children unless you know how threatening PNAC is. After all, Bolton is a male freak who is just a PNAC operative. The anger at his nomination is not just him - it is the PNAC Fed Society who are trying to take this country down and rule the rest of the world.