John Bolton's renomination to his seat as ambassador to the United Nations -- where he was initially given a recess appointment to get around the Senate's disapproval -- has been dead ever since it was first proposed last week and outgoing Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., declared that he would vote against Bolton.
But the administration's not about to let the subject die: As the New York Times reported last week, "In this situation, the usual next step would be for Mr. Bolton to withdraw from consideration and for Mr. Bush to nominate a less polarizing candidate ... But Mr. Bolton is keen to stay at the helm of the American team at the United Nations, administration officials say, and White House officials, including the legal adviser, Harriet Miers, have been looking into whether Mr. Bush can somehow bypass the Senate and save Mr. Bolton. Administration officials said that Vice President Dick Cheney is backing the exploration of such a move."
And if the administration holds out hope, then its supporters in the blogosphere certainly won't give up. Last week, Pamela Geller Oshry of the right-wing blog Atlas Shrugs, who has interviewed Bolton, tossed out the possibility of bloggers and like-minded thinkers raising money to pay Bolton's salary. (If the administration gave Bolton a second recess appointment, he could not, by law, be paid.)
Today, Hugh Hewitt jumps on the bandwagon, writing, "If Ambassador Bolton is refused an up-or-down vote by the Senate, I will join [Pajamas Media blogger Claudia Rosett] in the necessary fund-raising drive to collect and donate his salary to him."
For reference, what Rosett wrote was this:
"Its enough to make a person want to suggest that if you really care about trying to do some good in the world via the UN, stop sending your kids out to collect for UNICEF, and start sending them out to collect donations to keep John Bolton in office."
Shares