According to today's Washington Post, it's just about time to stick a fork in the Bolton 2.0 nomination.
"It's dead as far as the Senate is concerned," the paper quotes a GOP official at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee saying.
But the Bush administration refuses to accept the diagnosis (maybe the White House should send some video of Bolton over to Bill Frist so he can weigh in). Condi Rice led the attempt to resuscitate -- performing a political Heimlich maneuver on Lincoln Chafee in an effort to get him to cough up a yes vote. And Frist launched BloggingforBolton.com, a site designed to "turn up the heat" on Democrats by prompting visitors to flood the offices of Democratic Senators with calls in support of Bolton, "a man who isn't afraid to proudly defend America, our foreign policy and our allies in the War on Terror."
In case those efforts fail, the White House is also "exploring other ways" to keep him at the UN even without Senate confirmation. Among the options being considered: Bush could give Bolton a second recess appointment (although, according to federal law, this would require Bolton to serve without pay -- a move prohibited by a different federal law banning full-time employees from volunteering their services). The president could also appoint Bolton to a lower post that doesn't require Senate approval and then name him "Acting UN Ambassador" (a move that would only buy Bolton another 210 days on the job -- the maximum length of "acting" appointments).
Once the again the administration is not showing sufficient imagination. What's required is real outside-the-box thinking. So here are some other Senate-circumventing strategies the administration might want to consider:
Surgically removing Bolton's brain and placing it into the body of a less controversial nominee. WH's dream combo: Bolton's brain, Ryan Seacrest's body.
Having Bolton serve as the "off-site UN Ambassador," transmitting bellicose anti-UN rants through a small speaker implanted in the molar of an actor acting the part of acting Ambassador.
Bolton undergoes an emergency sex-change operation and is brought before the Senate as the kinder, gentler, more estrogen-driven, and more diplomatic "Janice Bolton."
The White House has Bolton killed, then nominates spiritual medium James Van Praagh -- who, upon being confirmed, proceeds to channel the spirit of Bolton.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.