More Reaction To Fox Recess Appointment

Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), who chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee the day that hearings were held on the nomination of major Swift-Boat donor Sam Fox to be U.S. Ambassador to Belgium, issued this response yesterday to George W. Bush going around Congress and appointing Fox while the Senate was in recess:

“It’s disappointing that President Bush would defy the will of Congress by appointing Sam Fox Ambassador to Belgium. I opposed Mr. Fox’s nomination because I had serious concerns about his candor, judgment, and qualifications for this important post. Appointing nominees that are opposed by a majority in Congress simply because they are political cronies is old style politics at its worst. Our nation's ambassadors should possess strong credibility and character so that they may effectively represent U.S. interests overseas, and I don’t think President Bush applied that test with this recess appointment.”

And here's an excerpt of the Democratic National Committee reaction, issued Wednesday night:

On the same day the Democratic National Committee issued a report chronicling the Bush Administration's consistent pattern of putting partisanship ahead of good government, President Bush did it again. Today, the president put his political party ahead of the American people by using a recess appointment to install Republican political contributor Sam Fox as Ambassador to Belgium.

Fox contributed $50,000 to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which was responsible for notoriously brutal and utterly false attack ads smearing Senator John Kerry and his Vietnam crewmates during the 2004 election. In response to Fox's nomination, 11 of Kerry's crewmates sent the Senate Foreign Relations Committee a letter saying that "those who finance smears and lies of combat veterans don't deserve to represent America on the world stage." [Associated Press, 3/28/07] President Bush withdrew Fox's nomination last week when it became clear he would not survive a vote in the
Committee.

"Faced with serious and principled objections over a nominee who funded some of the ugliest attack ads in a generation, President Bush had a choice between honoring the veterans who have served this country by distancing himself from these despicable ads and rewarding the donors who served his political goals," said Democratic National Committee Press Secretary Stacie Paxton. "Sadly, President Bush once again put the interests of his Party ahead of the American people by circumventing the Senate in a clear abuse of his power."

I've said this a million times: No prisoners. No compromise. No more reaching across the damn aisle!