Adult supervision

Bolton eyes a chad
Originally uploaded by vegacura.

Slate's Fred Kaplan writes that Lincoln Chafee's cowardice in the face of what must have been intense White House pressure, may be just the thing that will bring him down in his first real election in Rhode Island.

Which has me scratching my head. I understand Voinovich has a secure seat, despite an Ohio electorate that was very closely divided in 2004. But Chafee, as a Republican in an increasingly Democratic state, is certainly not secure. I just can't figure what leverage conservatives have over him; if he continues to carry water for this administration, isn't that the very thing that will land a Democrat in his seat in 2006?

Anyway, I did enjoy this from Kaplan's piece:

Voinovich said today that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice assured him that Bolton would be firmly supervised in his new job. Voinovich wondered, "Why in the world would you want to send somebody up to the U.N. that has to be supervised?"

Good question.

But the picture at right is the equivalent of a thousand words. It explains why Bush and the Senate Republican leadership would risk losing a seat next year over such a cretin. Bolton guaranteed himself a plum position in the Bush White House when he went to Florida in December 2000 and exclaimed, "I'm with the Bush-Cheney team, and I'm here to stop the count."

Just the guy to lead efforts to spread democracy around the world.

Under supervision, of course.