Bush Appoints Bolton To The UN

[Don Rizzle]

Well thats democracy for you the sentate couldn't agree on bolton so bush just appointed him anyway

[J Bananas]

that is democracy you fuck

[Macaframa]

hahaha wth ur an idiot

[7even]

well fuck Bush.

[Woodrow]

I don't expect you to understand Don Rizzle, because frankly, you're a fucking moron...

It's every president’s power to use recess appointments.

Presidents from George Washington to Bill Clinton have used this power to get their appointments past the senate.

[Ant]

"I am truly concerned that a recess appointment will only add to John Bolton's baggage and his lack of credibility with the United Nations." Sen. George Voinovich R-Ohio

"A recess appointment would weaken not only Mr. Bolton but also the United States." Sen. Pat Roberts R-Kansas

[Woodrow]

And?

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/wire/sns-ap-recess-appointments-glance,1,3699037.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

By The Associated Press

August 1, 2005

Presidents since George Washington have made appointments during congressional recesses to fill positions in the executive and judicial branches. Under the Constitution, the president can make temporary appointments while the Senate is in recess, without Senate approval. The appointment lasts through the end of the following one-year session of Congress.

Following are some of the more notable recess appointments:

President Bush: 106 recess appointments, including Bolton, mostly to minor posts. Among them:

Anthony J. Principi, chairman of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, April 2005. Bush used the recess to also appoint the panel's other eight members, circumventing a move by Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., to delay the base closings.

William Pryor, 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, February 2004. The Alabama judge's re-nomination and Senate approval this June was part of a deal struck by centrist senators to avoid a judicial filibuster battle.

Charles Pickering, 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, January 2004. First nominated in 2001, he was blocked by Senate Democrats. He retired when his temporary appointment expired last December.

Eugene Scalia, Labor Department solicitor, January 2002. Bush extended Scalia's term by naming him acting solicitor in November 2002, with the intent of re-nominating him before a GOP-controlled Senate. But Scalia, son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, resigned in January 2003.

Otto Reich, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere, January 2002. The former Reagan White House aide left when his recess term expired the following November.

President Clinton: 140 recess appointments over two terms. Among them:

Former Sen. Wyche Fowler, D-Ga., ambassador to Saudi Arabia, August 1996. Put in the post two months after a bombing that killed 19 American soldiers stationed there, he received Senate confirmation in October 1997 and served until March 2001.

Mickey Kantor, commerce secretary, April 1996. He replaced Ron Brown, who died in a plane crash, but left in January 1997 before his nomination went before the Senate.

Roger Gregory, 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, December 2000. He was later re-nominated by Bush and confirmed by the Senate.

Bill Lann Lee, assistant attorney general for civil rights, August 2000. Blocked by Senate Republicans, he was appointed acting assistant attorney general in 1997, then received the recess appointment to serve out Clinton's term.

James Hormel, ambassador to Luxembourg, June 1999. A gay philanthropist whose nomination was blocked by Senate Republicans, he remained ambassador until near the end of Clinton's term.

Other recess appointments of note:

The first President Bush made 77 recess appointments over one term, and President Reagan made 243 over two terms.

President John F. Kennedy appointed Thurgood Marshall to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in October 1961, getting around opposition from Southern senators. Their resistance had weakened by the following September, and the Senate approved him 54-16.

President Dwight Eisenhower made three recess appointments to the Supreme Court: Chief Justice Earl Warren (1953) and Associate Justices William Brennan (1956) and Potter Stewart (1958). Each later received Senate confirmation.

President George Washington appointed John Rutledge of South Carolina as chief justice during a 1795 recess. The Senate rejected the nomination and his appointment expired after he served one term.

[Mr. O]

It's going to hard for John Bolton...but he has to do it.
I have some doubts about how he, as an ambassidor, will reform the u.n.

[Lieutenant Abdul-Shakur]

someone smart xplained this the best........"the president's a bush.......the vice president is a dick.....so theres a whole lot of fucking tht we dont get"............

[Fuck You, Pay Me]

DON RIZZLE, LET US KNOW WHEN HE ABUSES HIS POWER AGAIN... LIKE LET'S SAY HE ACCEPTS HIS SALARY OR SOMETHING...

[Don Rizzle]

it wasn't an abuse of power i was just commenting on how good yoour democracy when your senate doesn't want to appoint bolton to the un as top diplomat because hes about the least diplomatic man in america the man behind the current spread of democracy and freedom ignores his senate and just cashes in on his political capitol

[J Bananas]

^^
OK, here's democracy, you have a bunch of elected officers to rep the people, when not everyone can agree on a course of action, the majority of influence towards one course of action wins. Like lets, say, choosing an ambassador, not everyone wanted him, but enough people did. Democracy.

[Thirteen]

yep, it's still democracy... the senate was sitting there arguing about bolton, nothing was getting done so bush used his power to appoint him... it's not like everybody besides 1 person in the senate voted against bolton. it was pretty close

[Don Rizzle]

for a post like this shouldn't you pick someone that everyone agree is fit for the job and someone shadowed with so many doubts?

[Ant]

All the White House had to do was release requested documents on Bolton and he would have received a vote, but they refused to do so.  There was bipartisan agreement that Bolton was the wrong man for the job, but Bush appointed him anyways.

Sure all presidents use recess appointments.  That doesn't mean such a procedure can't be abused.  Recess appointments are allowed to make sure things get done when the Senate is in recess, but this recess appointment had little to do with efficiency.  If the president wanted Bolton to be nominated in an efficient manner he would have complied with the requests of the Senate.  The actions of the White House stalled the vote, they are to blame for diminishing the efficiency of the review process.  To say just because something is allowed means its also beyond criticism is ridiculous.