Condi: Bolton Has 'Rough Edges'

Secretary Of State Defends Embattled Nominee To U.N.

(CBS/AP)  Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice acknowledged Friday that John R. Bolton has "rough edges" but said it was time for the Senate to approve his nomination to be U.N. ambassador so he can promote needed reform.

A day after Democrats forced the Republican-run Senate to delay a vote on Bolton until at least next month, Rice called him a "pretty tough person" but added, "There are many people who work for him who would walk through a wall for him."

Bolton has been accused of bullying intelligence officials whose analyses ran counter to his conservative views. His defenders have said he did not mistreat them and is entitled to disagree with intelligence estimates he receives.

Answering questions at the Commonwealth Club during a long weekend trip here, Rice cited the U.N. Human Rights Commission as a key example of why the world body needs an overhaul.

"When you have a commission on human rights and Sudan is on it, nobody can take it seriously," Rice said, referring to a country the Bush administration has accused of engaging in genocide.

"We need to send a strong voice for reform of the United Nations to the United Nations," Rice said.

Democrats have demanded that before the Senate votes on Bolton's nomination, the administration show lawmakers documents on his use of government intelligence on Syria. They also want documents about instances in which he requested names of U.S. officials whose communications were secretly picked up by an American spy agency.

The Democrats say they did this to protest the administration's refusal to give them information they demanded about some charges made against Bolton, reports CBS News Capitol Hill Correspondent Bob Fuss. Nothing angers senators more than to suggest that they can't be trusted, and Democrats say that's why they did this.