The Borking Of Bolton

Reposted as history. Originally posted in April of 2005

by William Kristol - From the May 02, 2005 issue of The Weekly Standard

To dismiss the assault on John Bolton as farcical and inconsequential is to miss its real meaning, and its impact if successful.

THE MISREPRESENTATION of Robert Bork's views and character in 1987, and his subsequent defeat by the Senate for a Supreme Court seat, may not have risen quite to the level of tragedy. But a serious blow was delivered to the political health of the nation, and to the prospects for restoring sound constitutionalism to the Supreme Court.

The assault on John Bolton, on the other hand, seems to be a farce. The notion that bureaucratic infighting and occasional abruptness of manner should disqualify one from high office is laughable.

The tactics of democrats have long been one of the most egregious affronts to civility in our political system. It is one thing to insult your opponents in a political campaign. It is quite another to start a campaign of lies and disinformation about a Citizen to strip him of his reputation. Though democrats scream McCarthism about any criticism of anyone in their party, they are regularly guilty of more contemptible behavior than McCarthy was ever accused.

The latest recipient of their venom is John Bolton, an honorable man whose only transgression appears to be that he does not think the U.N. works well. For democrats who think that our foreign policy should be dictated by anti-American globalists at the U.N., this is unthinkable. They have thus started a smear campaign based on ...... nothing.