Dems Win, Dems Win, Dems Win! Holy Cow!

...well, sort of....

Before I get started, as an aside, I spent more time watching C-Span today than I think I ever have in all the 29 years I have been alive. Good stuff. No, really.

What am I so excited about? Well, the John Bolton nomination just got very interesting. The Dems, who are in the minority on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 8 - 10, successfully delayed the vote to nominate John Bolton out of committee for three more weeks, giving time for allegations of abuse of power to be fully investigated. Basically, they convinced one Republican, George Voinovich (Ohio), that there were more questions yet to be answered about the nominee, including an allegation that he used information contained in national intelligence intercepts, which are ultra-top-secret, to punish political adversaries.

With the vote being effectively split and fearing that the President's candidate would not be moved out of committee, the Republicans moved to postpone the vote until the allegations could be fully investigated. The Chairman, Dick Lugar (R - Indiana) even left open the possibility of calling Bolton back to testify.

Now what does this mean in the big picture? Well, in some sense, it is a victory for the Dems: the truth about Bolton will receive more scrutiny. On the other hand, two scenarios are likely:

1. The Whitehouse will withdraw the nomination
2. All questions about Bolton will be answered, the committee will vote along party lines, and the nomination will move to the Senate, where again the vote will be along party lines and Bolton will be confirmed.

Let me let you in on a little secret, I think there is a greater chance of Carl Rove admitting he was serviced by Jeff Gannon than there is that the Whitehouse will go along with option 1. But, hey, at least today the Dems put up the good fight and won a small victory. We should savor it because tomorrow they have to go back to work to prove the case against Bolton because maybe, just maybe, there is a chance 1 Republican on the SFRC or 5 Republicans in the Senate will stand up for what is right. Well, at least a man can dream...

By the way, I just found a great website for all things John Bolton: www.thewashintonnote.com. Steve Clemons is doing an oustanding job covering the ins and outs of the nominations. I highly recommend it.