Bean-Counting on Bolton

Steve Clemons reports on Dick Cheney's "Larry King Live" appearance last night (transcript here), in which the VP continued to express confidence that John Bolton will be confirmed by the Senate after Congress returns from its Memorial Day recess. Clemons notes, I think correctly, that unless the Administration provides the information Democrats have requested for examination, the likelihood of achieving cloture on Bolton right away is in fact rather slim.

Cheney called the Democrats' requests for more information on the NSA intercepts and Syria intelligence debates "just an excuse," to which Clemons responds: "There may be nothing there. There may be a great deal. It is not up to the Vice President of the United States or the White House spokesman to determine whether there is something there or not. The Senate investigators are the ones who can best connect dots between Bolton's objectives and behavior in one arena - and his interest in U.S. officials' names in NSA intercepts in other arenas."

As I've been saying all along, even if there isn't anything earth-shattering in the information that has been requested, it is worth allowing the leadership of the Foreign Relations Committee to look at. I agree with Senator McCain's assessment, and hope that he's able to persuade the Administration to turn over the requested materials so that we can finally resolve this nomination once and for all. If the State Department continues to refuse the requests for more information, I cannot help but voice support for continued delays.