| |
| | Bolton's appalling confirmation-hearings performance. By Fred Kaplan |
 | | John Bolton, George W. Bush's astonishingly brazen choice to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, came off badly at his confirmation hearings today—bloodless, evasive, and mendacious—in ways that should give senators cause to reject him, regardless of whether they agree with the president's policies or even with the substance of Bolton's views. |
 | | Bolton denied this charge, saying that his only problem with these analysts was "procedural." They engaged in "unprofessional conduct"—for instance, the State Department official, he said, went behind his back—so Bolton "lost confidence" in them and wanted them reassigned to other portfolios. |
 | | Fred Kaplan has twice made the case against Bolton; in January he described Condoleezza Rice's appointment of Robert Zoellick, rather than John Bolton, to be her deputy at State as her "first victory." In "No Relation No. 14" Chris Suellentrop explained the differences between Bush appointees Josh Bolten and John Bolton. |
| www.slate.com /id/2116567 (1156 words) |
|