thugocracy

BOLTON STUFF
* "The reason the administration nominated Bolton is that his method of operating -- the exaggeration, the bullying -- was commonplace. It was the music by which the Bush administration marched us all to war. More specifically, it was the tune played by Cheney, Bolton's chief champion...
So, in a way, I feel a bit solicitous toward the embattled Bolton. He must wonder why, of all the fibbers and exaggerators and outright liars in the Bush administration, he alone is being asked to account for what he said and what he did." LINK

* "Staff members on the committee believe that Bolton was probably spying on Powell, his senior advisers and other officials reporting to him on diplomatic initiatives that Bolton opposed. If so, it is also possible that Bolton was sharing this top-secret information with his neoconservative allies within the Pentagon and the vice-president's office, with whom he was in daily contact and who were known to be working in league against Powell... But this episode points beyond the general's revenge, Rice's fealty, Bolton's contempt or even presidential prerogative, to a gathering storm over constitutional government." LINK

* " The White House reiterated its unstinting support for John R. Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations today, declaring that a Senate vote for him would be a vote for reform at the international organization, and that a vote against him would be an embrace of an unsatisfactory status quo." LINK

* " Lawyers are now considering various mechanisms by which the Senate Foreign Relations Committee might be circumvented to take the nomination directly to the floor of the Senate, this making a mockery of the Committee, its findings, and any vote it might take...
This is incredible. The Bush administration is willing -- it seems -- to gamble everything on behalf of Bolton, even to the point of emasculating the Senate Foreign Relations Committee... This is no longer about Bolton... This is about an incredible abuse of power not by Bolton, but by the White House." LINK


DELAAY STUFF
* "DeLay has long been one of Congress' most vocal critics of what he calls Castro's "thugocracy,"" LINK
who hates cuba the most? bolton and DeLay?

* " By a vote of 406 to 20, the House today repealed all the rules passed in early January which deep-sixed the Ethics committee to protect Rep. DeLay from more scrutiny, admonishment and sanction." LINK