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As featured on p. 218 of "Bloggers on the Bus," under the name "a MyDD blogger."

Friday, September 08, 2006

Things To Look At In Washington That Are Dead

In addition to the dead "anmesty for illegal wiretapping" bill, and the dead-on-arrival "kangaroo court" military commissions bill, it's been an awfully tough week for other Bush Administration priorities as well, as his unpopularity in an election year has left Congress scurrying for the exists.

First of all, John Bolton apparently won't be the UN Ambassador much longer:

Several well-placed sources close to the Bolton nomination process have reported to me that the Bolton confirmation process is now dead.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is "highly unlikely" to reconsider Bolton's confirmation again as things now stand.

One insider reported, as far as the Committee is concerned, "we consider the confirmation over. It's dead."


I assumed this was just a delay for Linc Chafee to get his electoral house in order, but apparently his refusal to confirm along with the expected filibuster led by Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, has sent Bolton down in flames. Enjoy your new office at the Heritage Foundation, dude.

That's actually a pretty big deal given the "march to Iran" currently egged on by the neocons. To remove one of its leading hawks from power on the global stage is significant.

Also dead is any hope for compromise on immigration this year, despite this issue's importance to voters. Or perhaps because of, as there's nothing more useful to the GOP than righteous anger.

Righteous anger from Democrats is what got Congress to reinstate Alec Station, the CIA office devoted to capturing Osama bin Laden. Of course, they'll have to negotiate that whole Pakistan-bin Laden peace treaty to get that kickstarted.

In other words, the Democrats are running the debate in Washington, the GOP is running scared, and the White House is bellowing down a cavernous hole, while polite people refrain from mentioning their irrelevance.

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