It's a little like nominating a felon to be police chief. Yesterday, President Bush nominated John Bolton, one of the most active opponents of U.S. multilateralism and diplomacy, to be ambassador to the U.N. But Bolton doesn't believe in international law, or in the U.N. In 2000, Bolton said, "If I were doing the Security Council today, I'd have one permanent member [the United States] because that's the real reflection of the distribution of power in the world." And he's gone on record saying that all international laws are invalid, meaningless attempts to constrict American power.
The whole idea of the U.N., of course, is that it's a place for the world community to work together on the problems that face us all. And at a time when we need other nations' goodwill and cooperation to deal with the mess in Iraq and to fight al Qaeda, confirming an inflammatory unilateralist like John Bolton as our ambassador to the rest of the world is a terrible idea. Even Republicans on the Foreign Relations committee in the Senate are nervous--according to the New York Times, Senator Lugar, who chairs the committee, advised Secretary of State Rice not to nominate Bolton.

If all the Democrats and one Republican on the Senate's Foreign Relations committee vote against Bolton's nomination, it'll stop there. But the committee will vote soon, and your Senator alone could make the difference. Please take a moment to call your Senator.

 

Can he sing?