GOP Senator Blasts Bolton

Republican Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio delivered a scathing attack Thursday on John R. Bolton, President Bush's choice for U.N. ambassador, but said he will still vote to send the nomination on to the full Senate.

Voinovich portrayed Bolton, now the top arms-control diplomat at the State Department, as "arrogant" and "bullying."

"This administration can do better than that," Voinovich said in the first big battle of Mr. Bush's second term.

Voinovich said he could not vote for the nomination, but would agree to send it to the floor without a recommendation of approval or disapproval.

"We owe it to the president to give Mr. Bolton an up-or-down vote on the floor of the U.S. Senate," he said.

Despite Voinovich's sharp criticism of Bolton, the White House was clearly relieved that the Ohio senator had agreed to let the full Senate decide.

Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said the White House is confident Bolton will be confirmed by the full Senate.

Voinovich called Bolton "the poster child of what someone in the diplomatic corps should not be."

He said Bolton would be fired if he was in the private sector.

"That being said, Mr. Chairman, I am not so arrogant to think that I should impose my judgment and perspective of the U.S. position in the world community on the rest of my colleagues," he added.

Republicans hold an 10-8 edge on the panel. All eight Democrats have said they would vote against Bolton. Thus, a single "no" GOP vote would deadlock the panel and keep the nomination from going to the floor.

Voinovich had been the lone remaining holdout of four GOP committee members who expressed misgivings about the Bolton nomination.

He said he hoped the full Senate, where Republicans hold a 55-45 majority, would reject the nomination.

"What message are we sending to the world community?" Voinovich asked.

Even if it reaches the full Senate, it is possible that Bolton's nomination could be blocked by a Democratic filibuster, said Sens. Joe Biden, D-Del., and Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.
As Thursday's hearing began, committee chairman Richard Lugar offered his own lukewarm endorsement of Bolton.

"Secretary Bolton's actions were not always exemplary," Lugar, R-Ind., said.

But, reports CBS News Correspondent Bob Fuss, Lugar said the main point is that President Bush wants Bolton at the U.N. and there's no reason to deny him that.

"The picture is one of an aggressive policymaker who pressed his missions at every opportunity and argued vociferously for his point of view," Lugar said. "In the process, his blunt style alienated some colleagues. But there is no evidence that he has broken laws or engaged in serious ethical misconduct."

Biden, the senior Democrat on the committee, portrayed Bolton as the wrong choice for the post and opposed sending the nomination to the floor, even without a recommendation of approval.

"I think we have undermined our authority and shirked our constitutional responsibility," Biden said.

An energetic diplomat who pioneered a program to curb the spread of dangerous weapons technology, Bolton has strong ties to political conservatives inside and outside the administration and shares their skepticism about some international treaties.

The spirited debate over the last month, however, has focused mostly on allegations that he berated several U.S. officials, especially intelligence analysts who did not agree with his assessments of Cuba and Syria's military strength.

The White House made a determined fight for the embattled nominee.

Mr. Bush, trying to turn the personality issue to Bolton's favor, has called Bolton "a blunt guy" who "can get the job done at the United Nations" and "who isn't afraid to speak his mind in the post of the ambassador to the U.N."

Vice President Dick Cheney, outspoken himself, said "if being occasionally tough and aggressive and abrasive were a problem, a lot of members of the United States Senate wouldn't qualify."

And Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice endorsed Bolton as the right choice to help bring about reform in the United Nations.

By contrast, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, noting Bolton's public criticism of the United Nations over the years, said she wondered why someone who disliked the world organization so much wanted to take on a job there.

At the opening of hearings April 11, Bolton pledged to help strengthen the United Nations if confirmed. He called it an institution that had occasionally "gone off track."

A 56-year-old lawyer, Bolton became Mr. Bush's undersecretary of state for arms control and international security affairs four years ago. He also served at State under Mr. Bush's father.