Key senator now "less likely" to support Bolton

[Sauron]

This is interesting...maybe the neo-cons wont' get their way on trashing the UN:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2005Apr21.html

Sen. Chafee 'Less Likely' to Support Bolton

By Charles Babington and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, April 21, 2005; 2:34 PM

A key Republican senator signaled yesterday that he is less likely to support the embattled nomination of John R. Bolton to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations after a dramatic meeting Tuesday, but President Bush today urged the Senate "to put aside politics" and confirm Bolton.

In a speech to insurance agents in Washington this morning, Bush briefly diverted from his planned topic of revamping Social Security to complain about the delay in Bolton's confirmation. "John's distinguished career and service to our nation demonstrates that he is the right man at the right time for this important assignment," Bush said.

Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee (R-R.I.), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee that is weighing the nomination, "is less likely right now" to vote to confirm Bolton, his spokesman Stephen Hourahan said in an interview yesterday. The senator, he said, "wants to get to the bottom" of new allegations about Bolton's dealings with subordinates and classified information. Until Tuesday, when committee Democrats attacked Bolton's record and won a three-week extension to investigate it, Chafee repeatedly had said he was reluctantly inclined to vote for Bolton.

A negative vote by Chafee could deeply wound the nomination because it would prevent the committee -- which Republicans control 10 to 8 -- from recommending Bolton to the full Senate. With all eight committee Democrats opposed to Bolton, a Chafee defection would lead to a 9 to 9 tie at best. The nomination then could reach the Senate floor only with "no recommendation" from the committee, a dubious status that might make it easier for unenthusiastic Republicans to vote against it.

Two other committee Republicans -- Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and George V. Voinovich of Ohio -- said Tuesday they also want to probe the new allegations before deciding whether to support Bolton. Voinovich's change of heart prompted the committee to spend three more weeks investigating allegations that Bolton mistreated subordinates, threatened a female government contractor and misled the committee about his handling of classified information.

Bolton, the undersecretary of state for arms control, is a sometimes brusque lawyer whose sharp criticisms of the United Nations are popular in many conservative circles. But Democrats and some Republicans have questioned whether his temperament is suitable for the U.N. post.

When reporters in the Capitol asked Chafee yesterday whether Bush should withdraw Bolton's nomination, he said: "It's too early for that. We all need to talk." When asked the same question later by CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Chafee replied: "We have to discuss that among ourselves, Republicans, I think," and he named the committee's GOP members. Blitzer said, "And you might pass a quiet message to the White House after a discussion like that?" Chafee replied: "Yes, I think that would be advisable."