failing to get Bolton in place

* clemons:

"Senior staff at the Department of State have told me that the juice behind Bolton's nomination is "100% political and 0% from the State Department."

The question people should ask is not whether this push on Bolton will get him confirmed by the Senate -- it is why the White House continues to push this pugnacious Ambassador after the elections that took place and what they think they "gain" from losing this battle in the Senate.

Remember, it is not the Democrats who have sunk Bolton -- it has always been Republicans who have provided the tipping point leverage in undermining his confirmation.

The White House can't blame the Democratic-controlled Senate for failing to get Bolton in place."

* Digby:

"One thing seems quite clear to me: it's the conservative movement that has been discredited with most people, not just George W. Bush. The majority of people in the country don't see a difference between the two and for good reason: the conservative movement worshipped Bush like he was the second coming and they greedily (and very publicly) sucked up the credit for his elections. They own his ass whether they like it or not and they have from the very beginning.
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Karl Rove's alleged genius has been celebrated for one simple thing the last six years --- his "play to the base strategy." Please don't come crying now that he wasn't adequately kissing your asses. That's pretty much all he did and everybody knows it.

George Bush may have been the guy who killed the movement, but it's dead nonetheless and everyone saw the movement robots wildly cheering him on their television screens as if he was the second coming. Their old "conservatism can never fail, it can only be failed" just isn't going to work this time no matter how much they prop up its dying corpse and pretend it's a fresh new face. The vast majority of the public know very well that George W. Bush is the most conservative, rightwing president in American History. That's what they don't like about him.

So go ahead, run a bunch of firebreathing, social-security-privatizing, stem cell illegalizing wingnuts next time, please. And fight as hard as you can to get the most conservative, Christian right presidential candidate you can find. Demand your due. I'm begging you."

* raymcgovern:

" But it is virtually certain that Bush vetted with Cheney the nomination of Robert Gates to succeed Rumsfeld and, if past experience is precedent, it is a virtual certainty that Gates will continue to earn an A+ for “loyalty.” Look for a “Cheney-Gates cabal.”

Gates has been getting unduly positive press treatment since the announcement of his nomination. This is in part due to his participation in the realist-led Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel tasked with devising plans to stabilize Iraq. There’s hope that Gates will help push through the group’s recommendations.
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All those quoted in the press yesterday and this morning regarding the Gates nomination seem blissfully unaware of this history—all, that is, but Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., who sits on the House Intelligence Committee. Pointing out Gates’ reputation for putting pressure on analysts to shape their conclusions to fit administration policies, Holt told the press yesterday that the nomination is “deeply troubling,” and stressed that the confirmation hearings “should be thorough and probing.”"