It doesn't have to make sense...

it just has to sound good.

Mark Steyn has again managed to plummet off the radar to new depths in the art of making his predictibly standard issue US administration rhetoric arguments. In this case, he 'debates' the validity of the nomination of John Bolton for the position of UN Ambassador. Apparently a man without any positive attributes, if Mr. Steyn's piece is anything to go by. The technique employed by Mr. Steyn to fight Mr. Bolton's corner is not new to him, it is unfortunately the staple diet of any Steyn reader. Instead of making the case, that Mr. Bolton represents the best man for the job, he opts for the easier task of attacking those that criticise Mr. Bolton, thereby neither adressing the issue or providing any evidence for the man's suitability. So the Democrats get a bashing, Barbara Boxer gets a socking and our intelligence gets an insulting.

Since the 'great political commentator' Mr. Steyn cannot put togeather a defense or convincing proposal for Mr. Bolton's nomination, perhaps it might be appropriate to allow him to speak for himself. Mr John Bolton, in his own words:

“It is a big mistake for us to grant any validity to international law even when it may seem
in our short-term interest to do so—because, over the long term,the goal of those who think that international law really means anything are those who want to constrict the United States.”

"[M]any Republicans in Congress--and perhaps a majority--not only do not care about losing the General Assembly vote but actually see it as a 'make my day' outcome. Indeed, once the vote is lost… this will simply provide further evidence to why nothing more should be paid to the UN system." The Washington Times, 1998

''If the UN secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference.''
1994 Global Structures Convocation, New York, NY.

“There is no such thing as the United Nations. There is an international community that occasionally can be led by the only real power left in the world and that is the United States when it suits our interest and we can get others to go along.''
1994 Global Structures Convocation, New York, NY.

General Assembly Resolutions and international conference declarations, (such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Agenda 21, and the Millennium Declaration) are “mind-numbing.”
Policy Review. Bring Back the Laxalt Doctrine, 2000.

"If I were redoing the Security Council today, I'd have one permanent member because that's the real reflection of the distribution of power in the world."
National Public Radio with Juan Williams, 2000.

"Support for the International Criminal Court concept is based largely on emotional appeals to an abstract ideal of an international judicial system."
Statement before the House International Relations Committee, 2000.

http://www.stopbolton.org/

Just what the UN needs, a hip kind of guy

Opinion: Boy, this confirmation battle over John Bolton is really heating up, writes Mark Steyn.

Mr Bolton is the president's plain-spoken nominee for UN ambassador ("There is no such thing as the United Nations") and the Democrats in the US Senate are reluctant to confirm him for anything other than the title role in the next Incredible Hulk movie. Senator Barbara Boxer, the Democratic Party's comely California obstructionist, has charged that Bolton needs "anger management lessons".

continued...

The Irish Times