The Russert Watch -- May 29, 2005

Another Sunday morning, another case of serious reality disconnect on Meet the Hacks Press, brought to us by Tim Russert.

The full hour of today's edition was dedicated to exploring the dangers of nuclear proliferation and the threat of nuclear terrorism. A mildly important topic, wouldn't you say?

The guests included Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, former Sen. Sam Nunn, head of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, and former Sen. Fred Thompson, the lead actor in "Last Best Chance," a new docudrama about nuclear terrorism.

The discussion was serious, informative, and scary as hell, with much talk of potential alliances between North Korea and al-Qaeda (which Thompson termed "very realistic") and the fact that our intelligence agencies know disturbingly little about the nuclear programs in places like North Korea and Iran.

But almost nothing was said about the giant red-faced elephant in the middle of the room: John Bolton, who as the current Undersecretary of State for Arms Control has played a key role in many of the failures singled out by the panelists on the show. And whose qualifications for promotion remain one of the hottest political issues.

Consider the following:

Problem: The failure of the U.S. delegation to reach any agreements at last week’s Non-Proliferation Treaty conference in New York. Bolton’s Role: He headed the delegation, but, according to Newsweek, has been so focused on his attempts to secure his UN job that he did almost no diplomatic groundwork for the conference. Newsweek quotes a former senior Bush official as saying "John was absent without leave," and another former government official as claiming that "Bolton stopped all diplomacy on this six months ago." Though given Bolton’s diplomatic skills, it’s tough to say whether he does more damage when he actually bothers to do his job, or when he just blows it off for some resume polishing.

Problem: North Korea. Bolton’s Role: He apparently thought his job was to drive North Korea away from the bargaining table, having given a speech in which he called Kim Jong Il a "tyrannical dictator" who had turned his country into a "hellish nightmare." While true, these statements are hardly the rhetorical smooch to be delivered just before the start of talks designed to deal with North Korea’s nuclear-weapons program. Given the choice of saber-rattling, or doing one's job to make the world safer, he chose the former. Thanks, John.

Problem: Inadequate intelligence about the nuclear programs of our enemies. Bolton’s Role: He has been shown to be one of the major manipulators of the intelligence process, willing to twist arms and bang heads to get the desired intelligence.

Problem: The failure to secure Russian nukes. Bolton’s Role: He has failed to resolve an ongoing dispute over "liability" questions that threaten to undermine US-Russian cooperation on the issue. In fact, Bolton botched things so badly that a Republican senator, Pete Domenici, said he was "not sure that [Bolton] is up to" resolving the problem.

So, given all this, how many times did Russert raise the issue of Bolton? Once. At the last minute... and even then only to ask the standard, inside-the-Beltway, horse race-y question: "Will John Bolton be confirmed by the United States Senate to be ambassador to the U.N.?"

Nice work, Tim. Way to keep asking the important questions of our time.