The Deal's Off!

As you all know by now, the Democratic Caucus in the Senate mustered forty-two votes last night and refused cloture on the nomination of John Bolton to be UN Ambassador. Here is the Associated Press account.

That so-called deal on President Bush's judges laid the groundwork for this set-up. The only surprise is that the betrayal would come so fast. But I'm not surprised. I have the direct experience with agreeing to a "compromise" with "moderates" in an organization to which I once belonged, only to have the other person betray my trust. I could have predicted the day that deal was struck that the Democrats would break their word and then hold that their betrayal fell legitimately under the heading of "extraordinary circumstances."

When that happened to me, I flat-out told the person involved, and the head of the organization, that they ought to "choose this day whom [they would] serve." [Joshua 24:15ff] They chose to serve the world, and I chose God, though it meant breaking some friendships. But I learned a hard lesson that day, and that is that sometimes you find out who your real friends are, and that those whom you called "friend" are not your friends at all.

So it is today in the United States Senate. I go further: I call upon the residents of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the States of Maine, Rhode Island, Ohio, Arizona, and South Carolina: Choose ye this day whom, or what, ye shall serve, whether that be the principles of a sound society or the venal anti-principles of pork-barrel politics or of "going along to get along."

And as for the Senators involved, I have no patience with or sympathy for any of them. I don't believe for one picosecond the facile "explanations" that the deal-makers are now offering. They say that the White House and Republican Floor Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) encouraged them to seek the best deal they could get. That's a lie. Bush would never sign on to such a deal, even were the other side trustworthy--and Senator Frist has said publicly that no one consulted him, nor did he authorize those deal-makers in any way, shape or form. They acted on their own. Maybe some of them thought they could out-lead Frist. Maybe John McCain wanted to pay the conservatives back for rejecting him--twice--for the Republican nomination for President. More likely, four of the Republicans involved in this deal just wanted to keep the judiciary safe for abortion on demand and without apology. (And once again I say: Invite such people out of the Party, along with anyone who would legalize any form of murder!) But after this day they have no excuse, and not a shred of honor left. Any of them who had any character at all would leave the Senate at once. (Don't tell me that would give the committee chairmanships to the Democrats! A chairman whose recommendations can't even get a vote on the floor isn't a chairman. Let Janet Napolitano send a real, nominal Democrat to the Senate in John McCain's place. What do, or should, I care? And that goes for the Missing Link from Rhose Island!)