There are many including this writer who have been documenting the internal decision-making divisions inside President Bush's White House.
The response that tends to be offered back is that we are misreading the situation, or that all of President Bush's people are pulling together even if there are serious differences in the debate when policy is being hammered out.
But yesterday, I learned of something that John Bolton did during the first George W. Bush term that reflects the deep hostility between warring factions in the Bush machine.
On a White House orchestrated conference call, a number of officials had been discussing a national security matter. One White House official in the phone conference apparently was supposed to go off the call before then Under Secretary of State for International Security and Arms Control John Bolton came on -- but the White House operator forgot to disconnect him (or her).
When the moderator of the meeting stated that the portion of the call with "X Person" had ended and the discussion with John Bolton would begin, Bolton allegedly said:
I want to tell everyone on this call now, do not trust [that person]."
Well, the person was still listening, in utter shock. The person quickly hung up the call.
This is yet another indication of Bolton's divisive 'with him or against him' tactics in the administration.
When Bill Frist and George Bush kept saying "Bolton is a good man" during his failed UN confirmation process, it really turned the stomachs of many inside the White House.
Now Bolton is lobbying against Bush's Law of the Sea policy. He's been trying to undermine virtually every serious project at the Department of State -- from efforts to redirect Iran, the Six Party talks with North Korea, and the coming November Israel/Palestine Summit.
Bolton is the hardest working person in Washington now trying to undermine global stability, in much the same way he has been trying to undermine his former colleagues who serve the same President he served.
-- Steve Clemons publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note
Read up on the the "Law Of The Sea" before you complain about Bolton working against it.
Mr. Bolton is just one more example. This is what happens when personal loyalty is the only test one has to pass to get a job. Right Karen Hughes? Right Condoleeza? Right Brownie?
Oh, and right, Laura?
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Kill your TV, and free your mind.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A691076
"This is the little-known second half of the 'Dead Parrot Sketch', in which John Cleese's customer travels to an identical pet-shop in Bolton to find a suitable replacement for his parrot. After that, things get so silly that only Graham Chapman's Colonel can end it..."
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"Is this Bolton or isn't it?!"
"Yes it is how can I help ya?"
"But I was just in here an hour ago and you said this wasn't 'Bolton'"
"No, no, no. That was a pun"
"What kind of a pun is that?"
"No, no. I-its one of those words that are spelled the same forwards and backwards."
"A palindrome?"
"Yes that's it!"
"But that's not a palindrome! The opposite of 'Bolton' is 'Notlob'!"
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Kill your TV, and free your mind.
I guess because I'm so old and have heard so many unsavoury politicians over the years that would never dream of saying such a thing that I'm shocked that this current crop would make their intentions so clear.
Does explain part of why he always seems to come off as some sort of ass,...
'Cause he is an ass.
http://rawstory.com/exclusives/byrne/larry_flynt_bolton_511.htm
100 years ago the United States was trying to carve a place for itself in a planet dominated by colonial powers in a master/slave relationship with the rest of the world.
In 2007 the idea is to forge a framework for a small and interdependent planet which will be advantageous (not disadvantageous, anyway) for the USA. There is a 2.5 billion strong market coming on line in Chindia and we are wasting time over a hole in the ground in the mid-east. What for I don't know but I guess wherever there is war you will find Bolton and his types, regardless of the benefit to America.
Bolton had put Cuba on Bush's plate before the invasion of Iraq, but Cuba never made the axis of evil-doers list.
Things have changed since Bolton left the administration. Cuba now has new air defenses, courtesy of Russia and Hugo Chavez. Did I mention that Cuba now has large reserves of oil deposits being tapped by the Chinese and Russians?
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Kill your TV, and free your mind.
None of these people are savoury. All you have in your article are assertions of recent activity.