Bolton Nomination May Be Sunk

Lame-duck U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-RI, said the congressional election confirmed his opposition to U.N. Ambassador John Bolton. Bush named Bolton in a one-year recess appointment that ends in December. Chafee's refusal to join other Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in voting the nomination out of committee appears to effectively dooms Bolton's chance of confirmation. Chafee said, "On Tuesday, the American people sent a clear message of dissatisfaction with the foreign policy approach of the Bush administration. To confirm Mr. Bolton to the position of U.N. ambassador would fly in the face of the clear consensus of the country that a new direction is called for." Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., the committee's presumptive chairman in the next term, said Bolton's nomination is "going nowhere."