Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Bush voices support for Bolton; opposition says U.N. nominee weakened RON EDMONDS/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS President Bush urged the Senate to confirm John Bolton as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations despite questions about his temperament that have stalled the nomination. Bush made the comments as he spoke to the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America in Washington on Thursday. By ANNEGEARAN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — President Bush prodded the Senate Thursday to confirm John R. Bolton as U.N. ambassador and blamed politics for holding up the vote. Bush’s 2004 presidential challenger said that if Bolton is approved he will be weakened by the allegations against him. Two days after the Republican led Senate Foreign Relations Committee abruptly postponed plans to vote on the nomination, Majority Leader Bill Frist said he strongly supports Bolton but “I can’t speak for all of leadership” of the Senate GOP. No top Senate Republican has voiced opposition, but unexpected cracks in his support by some GOP senators have put the nomination in question. The White House is lobbying three Republicans on the Foreign Relations panel whose reluctance derailed Tuesday’s planned vote and set in motion three more weeks of probing into questions including how he treated subordinates who disagreed with his views. Before speaking to a meeting of insurance agents about Social Security, Bush described Washington as a place where “sometimes politics gets in the way of doing the people’s business.” “John’s distinguished career and service to our nation demonstrates that he is the right man at the right time for this important assignment,” Bush said. As it resumed digging into Bolton’s past, the Foreign Relations panel received a new accusation of abusive behavior by the nominee, according to a Democratic committee staff member who spoke on condition of anonymity. The latest allegation dates to the Reagan administration, when Bolton was general counsel for the U.S. Agency for International Development, and concerns reports that Bolton berated another agency employee and tried to get the person fired, said the aide, who would provide no further detail. In addition, Thomas Hubbard, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea who served under Bush, challenged Bolton’s testimony to the committee that he had praised Bolton for a 2003 speech denouncing Kim Jong II, the leader of North Korea, as a “tyrannical dictator.” In an interview with The Associated Press, Hubbard said he advised Bolton against making the speech, which prompted North Korea to denounce Bolton as a “bloodsucker” and which roiled already difficult talks over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. “I asked Bolton to tone the speech down,” Hubbard said. Bolton agreed to some factual changes but went ahead with his denunciation of the North Korean leader. Hubbard, now with a Washington law firm, also said Bolton berated him for failing two years ago to arrange a meeting for him with the president-elect of South Korea, Roh Moo-Hyun. “He hung up on me,” Hubbard said. “He was very angry.” An account of Hubbard’s complaints first appeared ot» Newsweek’s Web site on Wednesday. On the Senate floor, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said a hiatus is prudent while the committee explores allegations and questions about Bolton’s fitness for the job. If Bolton has not been candid about accusations against him, Kerry said, “that is a serious problem, it’s not politics.” Kerry also said if Bolton were to get the job “with proof that there is in fact a retribution system for not providing. the intelligence according to what that person wanted ... that’s a problem, it’s a serious problem.” Republicans tried to shore up the nomination on the Senate floor, where both moderate and conservative lawmakers came to Bolton’s defense. Moderate Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., likened Bolton’s ordeal to a death by a thousand cuts. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz„ who has sometimes been at odds with the Bush White House, followed a short time later with a strong endorsement, saying Bolton’s reputation as having a volatile temper should not disqualify him ^ from a job where he could help steer needed reform at the world body. “I believe John Bolton could provide the medicine the United Nations needs,” McCain said. . The Senate committee reached no consensus Thursday on whether to ask Bolton to return for more questioning. Bolton testified for eight hours last week and answered more questions in writing, but has been unable to stem a stream of allegations that he mistreated people he worked with and let his temper get away from him. Bolton himself has not commented since his testimony. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Bush was not doing any personal lobbying on the matter. Conservative Democrats disappearing in party V once-solid South By JEFFREY McMURRAY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON—In consecutive days last month, Alabama lost two legends from a disappearing movement Southern Democrats powerful in Washington because of their party’s majority and powerful back home because of their tendency to buck it. Look around Congress these days and you’ll find few conservative Democrats in the mold of the late Sen. Howell Heflin or Rep. Tom Bevill. Those who remain are almost as likely to represent the Midwest or Great Plains as the once-Solid South. According to Congressional m : : :: Observer Publications, only one current member of the U.S. House voted against his party at least a third of the time last year. That was Democratic Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota. In 1998, there were 13 in that category including eight Southerners, and three of them opposed Democratic leaders more than half the time. “The Southern Democratic wing of the party has been dying since the 1960s,” said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist, “It’s not comatose. It’s dead. It’s buried.” Virtually all those maverick more-than-not lawmakers have either joined the Republican Party or retired. Most dramatic of ail was retired Democratic Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia, the keynote speaker at the 2004 Republican National Convention, who voted with President Bush’s party a staggering 94 percent of the time last year. Remaining Southern Democrats with the most conservative voting record would argue that the movement made famous by Heflin and Bevill and resurrected by Miller is alive and well. But even they acknowledge times are different. For one thing, Republicans have ruled the chamber for more than a decade. Thus, some conservative Democrats in search of majority . clout have found it through switching parties. Others scoff at the idea. “I’d rather be in the minority the rest of my life than sell my convictions down the river,” said Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark. If Democrats really want to broaden their base in the South, Arkansas provides a perfect model. In 2000, the state’s six-member congressional delegation was split three Republicans and three Democrats. But Ross and Sen. Mark Pryor upset Republican incumbents, giving Democrats their current 5-to-l majority from that state. Arkansas and West Virginia are now the only Southern states where congressional delegations aren’t dominated by Republicans. Now in their ninth terms, John Tanner of Tennessee and Gene Taylor of Mississippi are two of the longest-serving conservative Democrats from Southern states. But by the numbers, even their voting records seem to be trending less conservative. Taylor bucked his party about 32 percent of the time last year, compared to 53 percent in 1998. Tanner explains the change in his voting record, less dramatic than Taylor’s, is because Democrats havq heeded the wisdom of successful Southerners and moved to the right, particularly on financial matters. “The party" has shifted I haven’t,” Tanner said. “You have liberals now talking about balancing the budget. They’re not doing it for the same reasons I am, but the vote looks the same on paper.” One vote, however, will always separate conservative Democrats and Republicans: the vote for speaker. Many Southerner Democrats complain their party hurts its chances of expanding their ranks in the South by electing more liberal leaders such as Nancy Pelosi of California. Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., a leader among the new breed of conservative Democrats, challenged Pelosi for the party’s top job in 2002. Despite that defeat, Ford says it’s not the leaders who are the problem but the failure of Southern Democrats to adequately make the case that they’re not in lockstep with those leaders. “The national image of the Democratic Party does not sell well in the South,” Ford said. “However, the position of national Democrats on fiscal matters, ironically, is more in line with where voters are. We have to do a better job of telling that story.” To do that, contends Rep. Bud Cramer, party leaders need to loosen the reins on Southern Democrats and allow them to vote their conscience. “Sometimes I don’t think my leadership gets it,” said Cramer, D Ala. “If they’re to really stand the chance to take the House back, they’ve got to leave those members plenty of room to vote where their district is coming from rather than where the national party is coming from.” Cramer’s Alabama colleague, Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, has nudged him for years to follow in his footsteps and switch parties. However, Cramer says he’s not uncomfortable enough with his party right now to take that drastic leap. in some states, KepuDiicans have reduced the comfort level for conservative Democrats by redrawing their districts. Eight from Texas resigned, switched parties or lost their seats last year because of GOP-controlled redistricting, and Georgia’s Republican Legislature is pushing the same process now with hopes of adding to their party’s 7-6 advantage in the House. Rep. Jim Marshall, a moderate Democrat who represents a middle Georgia district that could be affected, says he is confident he can win back his seat regardless of the form. The losers, he says, are the voters because districts that once were considered tossups are being drawn to extremely benefit one party or the other. As a result, the South is arguably no more likely to elect a Democrat to Congress from a Republican leaning district than anywhere else. 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