Blogging For Bolton

One of the most disgraceful acts by the Democrats during the past Congressional session was their filibuster–and coordinated slander–of John Bolton, President Bush’s nominee as United Nations Ambassador. President Bush courageously gave Bolton a recess appointment, which will expire in January unless he is confirmed by the Senate.

There are two aspects of this issue. The first is narrow: Bolton is a superb public servant who has done a great job as U.N. Ambassador. He deserves confirmation, and denying him even the right to a vote is outrageous. The second is broader: President Bush wants our U.N. Ambassador to be a man who recognizes the shortcomings of that organization, which are immense, and demands reform. He wants our Ambassador to be a man who represents the United States, and vigorously defends our interests.

The Democrats don’t. They want a U.N. Ambassador who won’t stick up for America; who won’t hold the U.N. to account; who won’t try to defend American interests, but rather will exchange fine words with the rest of the U.N. crew while nothing is done to address the pressing international problems that we face. This is, in short, a microcosm of the difference between the two parties on foreign policy.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has come up with an idea to put pressure on Democratic Senators to end the filibuster: a brand new web site called Blogging for Bolton. The site just went live today. Click the graphic below to check it out:

John Bolton Phone Bank

The site is very well done. It lists phone numbers of the Democrats who are blocking Bolton, and keeps track of phone calls made by pro-Bolton callers. Senator Frist writes:

Nearly five years after 9/11, we are well into an epic, generational struggle. A struggle that pits freedom against tyranny … hope against fear … democracy against Islamic radicalism. The men and women of our Armed Forces are fighting with heroic resolve … and they deserve to be supported in their mission by diplomats willing to call evil by its name, able to rally our friends and allies behind the global expansion of freedom and democracy, and unafraid to passionately pursue reform of our dysfunctional international institutions.

That’s why we need John Bolton’s leadership at the United Nations. Unfortunately, his recess appointment expires in January of 2007 … so we must act now to confirm him permanently.

This month Senate Republicans will do everything they can to break Democrat obstruction and give John Bolton the fair up-or-down vote that he was denied last year. But we need your help to turn up the heat on the Democrats by flooding their offices with your calls in support of Ambassador Bolton and the President’s agenda for reforming the waste and incompetence of the United Nations.

We urge all of our readers to participate in this effort. A phone call takes only seconds to make. Let’s not let the Democrats pursue their arrogant, anti-democratic filibuster without telling them what we think of them, and of John Bolton. And if you’re a blogger, we hope you’ll participate in the campaign.

PAUL adds: Here again we see the absurdity of Harold Meyerson’s claim, discussed in my post below, that the Republicans have run out of ideas. The Republican leadership and most Republicans want a U.N. ambassador who publicly recognizes the shortcomings of that organization and aggressively demands reform; the Democrats don’t. As with many (though far from all) of the Republican ideas that the Democrats reject, this is an issue where the political advantage probably lies with the Republicans.

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