Bolton-Day, Take 2

Day 2 of the Bolton confirmation hearings begin this morning at 9:30 a.m. They will be aired on C-SPAN3 (web-feed available here).

In case you missed Day 1, the New York Times has very helpfully provided a transcript of the proceedings. They also offer up "Nominee to UN Defends Record at Senate Panel," as well as a piece on Linc Chafee as "Man in the Middle". The Washington Post features "Bolton Assures Senators of Commitment to U.N.", and a Dana Milbank article which seems slightly surprised that Bolton didn't jump out of his chair and whack Barbara Boxer with a club (or something similar). The Los Angeles Times also runs a long piece on the hearings. USA Today wins the "warm fuzzy" headline award for "Bolton Pledges to Help Strengthen U.N."

I won't be able to follow the hearings too much today, but will try to update as events warrant.

[Update: I'm following along with Steve Clemons today since I haven't been able to watch much of the hearings myself. He reports that Carl Ford, former head of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR)

"just said that John Bolton went so far over the line in harrassing Christian Westermann that he has seen nothing like it in his entire career. Ford said that if this was just normal rough-and-tussle, blustery-faced competition between bureaucrats, Ford would not be testifying today. But he argued that Bolton, a senior official, went five or six levels into a bureaucracy and harrassed an official who reported to others. Ford called Bolton a serial abuser.'"

AP reports that Ford called Bolton a "kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy", and that he "abused his authority with little people". The story notes that Biden called such behavior "not acceptable", but that Chafee "noted calmly that analysts criticized by Bolton had 'kept their jobs.'" C'mon Linc, walk the walk! -- 11:33 a.m.]

[Late Update: The Times' article about today's Bolton session is up. Apparently during his testimony today Carl Ford used "an uncouth phrase" to describe how Bolton went after State Department analyst Christian Westerman; the language "raised eyebrows, but also chuckles, among the senators, their aides and the rows of spectators". Chafee told reporters after today's session that he had so far not heard evidence that Bolton is a "serial abuser." "I see the bar as very high. Management style - is that a disqualifier? In the extreme, yes. But probably not in this case, from what we've seen so far," Chafee said. The Washington Post runs a similar story.

The hearings are now concluded, according to Chairman Lugar, and a committee vote on the nomination could come before the end of the week. If you haven't yet, please contact Senator Chafee and urge him to oppose this nomination. He's our only hope, and he's fading fast. -- 10:05 p.m.]