The confirmation of John Bolton has been delayed again by U.S. Senate Democrats. Read the story here:

Democrats forced a postponement Thursday in a confirmation vote for John R. Bolton, yet another setback for
President Bush’s tough-talking choice as U.N. ambassador and a renewal of intense partisanship in the Senate after a brief respite.

The vote to advance Bolton’s nomination to an immediate confirmation vote was 56-42 — four short of the 60 votes needed.

Within minutes, aides to Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist said Democratic leader Harry Reid had offered assurances earlier in the day that obtaining the 60 votes would be a mere formality.

“I never said that,” Reid told reporters as he ducked into a post-vote meeting in Frist’s office.

Democratic aides said that despite the vote, Bolton’s nomination did not appear to be in jeopardy.

Yeah, right! The Lefties haven’t found anything damning yet but want some classified material to leak so they can claim some fabricated issue.

By the way, Bolton has been confirmed by the Senate three times previously.

A final vote on Bolton, whom Bush has called strong medicine for corruption and inefficiency at the
United Nations, will not take place until at least June, after the Senate returns from a Memorial Day recess.

The dramatic roll call raised questions about Bush’s ability to win confirmation of some of his more ideological appointees as he begins his second term in the White House. And it was a setback for Frist, R-Tenn., who was hoping to end nearly three months of delays and investigation and finally deliver Bolton’s nomination for the president.

Frist said the Bolton matter soured the air of cooperation the two parties’ centrists forged just days ago after months of wrangling over judges.

“John Bolton, the very first issue we turned to, we got what looks to me like a filibuster,” Frist said. “It certainly sounds like a filibuster … it quacks like a filibuster.”

Flap reported on that DEAL previously here and here.

This DEAL is a short-lived exercise in futility and Harry Reid should be held accountable by Bill Frist.

The Nuclear Constitutional Option is back on the table – the Democrats have abrogated the DEAL.

Will Bill Frist have the intestinal fortitude to call it up? Or will he be John McCain’s lackey – again?

Democrats contended the White House had stiff-armed the Senate over classified information on Bolton’s tenure in his current job as the State Department’s arms control chief, and demanded more information before the Senate can give Bolton an up-or-down vote.

Bush has called Bolton strong medicine for corruption and inefficiency at the United Nations, but Democrats said he is an ideologue who lacks the diplomatic touch to advance U.S. interests at the world body and repair the American image abroad.

Sen. Joseph Biden D-Del., said Democrats do not want to postpone an up-or-down vote indefinitely.

“We are willing to vote 10 minutes after we get back in session, if in fact they provide the information,” Biden said.

The material Democrats have sought for weeks involves Bolton’s use of government intelligence on Syria, and instances in which he asked for names of fellow U.S. officials whose communications were secretly picked up by a spy agency.

Senator Biden speaks wrongly and with a shovel.

What a plagiarising moron!

Bolton deserves confirmation not delay.

H/T: Huffington Post

Update #1

Hugh Hewitt supports the notion that the DEAL has been breached:

So much for the new era of bipartisanship Monday’s “deal” was supposed to kick off. The Democrats filibusterd John Bolton today, obliging America’s U.N. seat to remain vacant during the looming elections. Earlier today, in a speech at the National Press Club, Reid had promised a new era in the Senate: “Ameicans want us to put the commmonsense center ahead of nonsense.”

Right.

Indeed.

A Democrat opponent of President Bush’s designee for United Nations Ambassador, John Bolton, argues that the White House is stiff-arming Democrats over classified information and the Senate should put off a vote on the embattled nominee until next month. Read the story here:

We should delay this until we see that information; it’s a matter of right and wrong,” Sen. Barbara Boxer (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., maintained at the start of a second day of Senate debate over John R. Bolton’s fitness and qualifications. “It is right for us to get that information, it is wrong for the administration to withhold it.”

The Senate planned a procedural vote Thursday that Democrats hoped to win and force postponement of a confirmation vote until June. Democratic Sens. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and Joseph Biden of Delaware asked other senators in a letter Thursday to support a delay. If Republicans win the initial vote, the Senate was expected to quickly approve Bolton, whom President Bush says would reform the United Nations.

Flap thought the “DEAL” on Priscilla Owen et. al precluded these tactics except in extradordinary circumstances.

Oh yeah, this is not a judicial appointment but just an executive one – so obstructionism is fair game.

Such a deal Gang of Seven?

The New York Times has this:

The Senate was scheduled to vote at 6 p.m. on whether to end the debate over Mr. Bolton. Shutting off debate requires 60 votes, and if Mr. Bolton’s supporters can muster at least that many, the Senate will then vote immediately to confirm him.

Should Mr. Bolton’s supporters fail to amass the 60 votes to end debate, a vote on confirmation may be put off until after the Memorial Day recess, meaning a decision would come on June 6 or later.

Republicans have 55 votes in the Senate, so if they can force a yes-or-no vote on the nomination Mr. Bolton is virtually assured of confirmation. On the other hand, Democrats can win a temporary victory by mustering 41 votes, enough to keep debate going for a while.

Democrats who oppose him have made it clear that they are not threatening a filibuster, or extremely prolonged debate, in an attempt to stymie the nomination. Rather, the Democrats say, they oppose an early end to debate, and they want the Bush administration to provide more information on Mr. Bolton’s handling of intelligence.

“I don’t think we’re being treated as a co-equal branch of government,” Senator Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat who has been a leader of the opposition to Mr. Bolton, said in debate today. Mr. Dodd and Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., Democrat of Delaware, sent a letter to their Senate colleagues today urging them to support a longer debate.

The Senate has had enough time to consider this nomination.

President Bush is entitled to choose his own foreign policy team – after all he won the election. A fact unfortunately beyond the pale for Senate brain-donors like Senator Biden and Dodd.

Bolton deserves an up or down vote.

So, GET BUSY and VOTE!

H/T: Huffington Post