Bolton and Hubris

Elisabeth Bumiller has an..., well, an Elisabeth Bumiller piece on the Bolton fight in the New York Times. Now there is no reason to think that she is not just writing what the Bush administration wants her to but it's worth a read anyway.

The White House is intensifying its campaign to rescue the nomination of John R. Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations, administration officials said on Tuesday, as Republicans close to the West Wing acknowledged that a rejection of Mr. Bolton would be politically damaging for President Bush.

The White House continues to defend him.........................

But Republicans close to the administration also said that a powerful motive for the White House was simply showing strength and an unwillingness to back down, particularly after Colin L. Powell, the former secretary of state who often warred with the hawks, expressed private doubts to Republican senators last week about Mr. Bolton.

"It would mean that Colin Powell had influence to block someone," said a Republican close to the White House. "It's a troubling sign if the president can't get him confirmed."

The Bolton nomination and fight is as like the battle over judiciary nominations. "We will get our way because we have the power"! aka hubris. A defeat on Bolton would indicate that the administration is not "all powerful" and would have an affect on everything the administration wants to do in the second term.

The next few weeks will determine who's in charge, Bush and Cheney or the Republicans who are thinking about what's best for the party. I suspect that the idea of a neutered Bush is not something that would bother many in the Republican party. It was interesting that the day after Bush embraced DeLay the Republicans agreed to reverse the rules that had been put in place to protect him.