Martin Peretz in The New Republic focuses on the real issue in the
Whatever his would-be tormentors say, he is hardly being opposed because he’s a nasty man or because he delivered a speech not vetted by the State Department or because he played rough with people lower on his totem pole or because he didn’t believe some intelligence emanating from the CIA. . . .
Bolton’s offense is to believe that American democracy has enemies; that words alone will not hinder their weapons; and that the United Nations is an alliance of those too weak-willed to stand up and fight for the good. . . . Darfur just keeps happening, doesn’t it?
The Democratic opposition to
Senator Roberts, last week, reached out in a very good-faith effort and said, look, we’ll take a look at all these names — these names that you’re requesting, whether or not they were part of the information that was in question. And Senator Roberts went to the Director of National Intelligence and he said, no, none of these names are part of this information. Senator Roberts went back and reported to Democrats that that was the case. . . .
Andy Card, before the vote on Monday, reached out to Senator Biden and said, you know, look, we want to work in good faith, we want to try to resolve this, if you have legitimate questions, we want to get those questions answered, and offered to provide more information to Senator Biden. He chose to move the goalpost again and said, no, not good enough.
And then, just last night, Andy Card, again, reached out to Senator Biden and spent time with him on the phone, and said, look, we’re willing to provide you with the information that was provided to the ranking Democrat and ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee. . . . And I would point out that Senator Rockefeller, who did get that briefing, said, there’s nothing improper about these requests.
So Andy Card said, hey, we’ll make this — we’ll make this same briefing available to you. Senator Biden, again, came back with new requests, and . . . moved the goal post again.
What are Biden’s current requests? According to a report by Reuters yesterday:
Biden and other Democrats want the White House to hand over an early draft of a speech
Bolton was preparing on the state of Syria’s weapons programs.
They also demand a list of 19 names of
U.S. officials and companies that Bolton requested regarding secret intercepts of their communications by the National Security Agency. The intent is to show whether
Bolton sought to exaggerate Syria’s access to weapons of mass destruction and whether he tried to monitor officials who had differences with him, like Secretary of State Colin Powell.
He wants a draft — no, an early draft — of a speech that was never given that he suspects may have been too hard . . . on
As for the names — well, I happen to know they’re not really relevant to Biden, and wouldn’t change his mind even if he had them. How do I know? Read this exchange between Biden and Judy Woodruff on CNN on
WOODRUFF: You were asking, Senator, for more information from the State Department on John Bolton. You didn’t get it. If that information were to come forward, do you think something could potentially change your mind about him?
BIDEN: No. All it could do is say that he did not do additional things that are implied by others that he did do. Look, the fact that he dealt with intelligence analysts the way he did — and that’s not what these requests are about. We have all that information. The fact that seven major, major figures in the Republican administration said and came openly out to say, without us asking them, that this man should not be confirmed, is overwhelming.
Notwithstanding the “seven major, major figures” who allegedly came openly out,