Scott "Lyin' King" McClellan Hints At Bolton Appointment
It's a bit hard to tell what's going to happen with President Bush's prerogative of flat-out going around the confirmation process and appointing John Bolton to U.N. Ambassador during the upcoming Senate recess. But the Lyin' King himself, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, seems to be trying to prepare the press for that possibility.
Here's McClellan at today's press briefing when asked about it:
Q John Bolton, will there be a recess appointment announced before the President goes to Waco?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, first of all, any decision on any recess appointment would be made by the President of the United States. That's his decision to make and it would be his announcement to make when he's ready to do so. Now, in terms of this position, there is a vacancy at the United Nations for our ambassador. We need our permanent representative in place at the United States at this critical time. There is an effort underway to move forward on comprehensive reform. We have outlined the comprehensive reforms that we want to see put in place to make sure that the United Nations is an effective multilateral organization. And it's a critical time to be moving forward on this. The United Nations will be having their General Assembly meeting in September, and it's important that we get our permanent representative in place.
Go ahead, Carl.
Q First on Bolton, and then another question about today's discussion. Is the President concerned about the apparent error on Mr. Bolton's questionnaire to the Senate, in which he said that he had not been questioned in a federal investigation in the preceding five years, when now it has been revealed that, in fact, he was at least interviewed in the context of the Inspector General-CIA investigation of the uranium potential sale from Niger to Iraq?
MR. McCLELLAN: No, I think the State Department addressed that last night and it was John Bolton who pointed that out.
Q Is the President concerned about this?
MR. McCLELLAN: Do you have a follow-up?
Q So is the President concerned about it? (Laughter.)
MR. McCLELLAN: No. I just said, no.
Given that there's not a snowball's chance in hell that Bolton will receive a Senate vote before the next U.N. General Assembly meeting, it's pretty clear that a recess appointment is being seriously considered by the White House.
What's that you say? It would be the height of arrogance for the president to do that given what a cloud is over this nomination and the fact that his Supreme Court nominee is about to go before the same Senate he would have just undermined?
Where have you been the last five years?
And a happy summer Friday to all!
Here's McClellan at today's press briefing when asked about it:
Q John Bolton, will there be a recess appointment announced before the President goes to Waco?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, first of all, any decision on any recess appointment would be made by the President of the United States. That's his decision to make and it would be his announcement to make when he's ready to do so. Now, in terms of this position, there is a vacancy at the United Nations for our ambassador. We need our permanent representative in place at the United States at this critical time. There is an effort underway to move forward on comprehensive reform. We have outlined the comprehensive reforms that we want to see put in place to make sure that the United Nations is an effective multilateral organization. And it's a critical time to be moving forward on this. The United Nations will be having their General Assembly meeting in September, and it's important that we get our permanent representative in place.
Go ahead, Carl.
Q First on Bolton, and then another question about today's discussion. Is the President concerned about the apparent error on Mr. Bolton's questionnaire to the Senate, in which he said that he had not been questioned in a federal investigation in the preceding five years, when now it has been revealed that, in fact, he was at least interviewed in the context of the Inspector General-CIA investigation of the uranium potential sale from Niger to Iraq?
MR. McCLELLAN: No, I think the State Department addressed that last night and it was John Bolton who pointed that out.
Q Is the President concerned about this?
MR. McCLELLAN: Do you have a follow-up?
Q So is the President concerned about it? (Laughter.)
MR. McCLELLAN: No. I just said, no.
Given that there's not a snowball's chance in hell that Bolton will receive a Senate vote before the next U.N. General Assembly meeting, it's pretty clear that a recess appointment is being seriously considered by the White House.
What's that you say? It would be the height of arrogance for the president to do that given what a cloud is over this nomination and the fact that his Supreme Court nominee is about to go before the same Senate he would have just undermined?
Where have you been the last five years?
And a happy summer Friday to all!
posted by Bob Geiger at 7/29/2005 04:55:00 PM
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