Bush team goes on offensive for Bolton
State Department releases package of endorsements
From Elise Labott
CNN Washington Bureau
 |  John Bolton testifies Monday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. |
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 Democrats grill nominee John Bolton on the United Nations.
 President Bush's nominee is a lightning rod.
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| JOHN R. BOLTON | AGE: 56; born November 20, 1948, in Baltimore, Maryland
EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree from Yale University, summa cum laude, 1970; law degree from Yale Law School, 1974
EXPERIENCE: Undersecretary of state for arms control and international security since May 11, 2001; assistant U.S. attorney general, 1985-1989; assistant administrator for program and policy coordination, U.S. Agency for International Development, 1982-1983; general counsel, U.S. Agency for International Development, 1981-1982; associate at the Washington office of Covington & Burling, 1974-81; partner in the law firm of Lerner, Reed, Bolton & McManus, 1993-99
FAMILY: Married to the former Gretchen Brainerd; one daughter.
Source: AP
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration went on the offensive Friday to support the president's controversial nomination of John Bolton to be the next ambassador to the United Nations.
State Department officials released a package of endorsements and letters of support for Bolton, the department's top official on arms control.
Bolton's nomination has pitted Democrats, who say his appointment would damage U.S. national interests, against Republicans, who call him a foreign policy realist who will help push U.S. calls for overhauling the United Nations.
The list of endorsements includes five former secretaries of state -- James Baker, Lawrence Eagleburger, Alexander Haig, Henry Kissinger and George Shultz.
Others on the list are three former secretaries of defense, more than 50 former ambassadors, dozens of former senior government officials and various religious and nongovernmental organizations.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will vote on Bolton's nomination Tuesday. Democrats held up the vote, which was expected to be held Thursday, to review additional materials related to Bolton's nomination. (Full story)
Those materials include recently declassified State Department documents and transcripts of interviews that committee staff members held with people thought to have knowledge of allegations that Bolton intimidated intelligence analysts who disagreed with him and tried to have them fired.
During the committee's hearing Tuesday, former State Department official Carl W. Ford Jr. described Bolton as a "serial abuser" who clashed with one of his analysts. (Full story)
"I've never seen anybody quite like Secretary Bolton," Ford told the committee. "I don't have a second, third or fourth in terms of the way that he abuses his power and authority with little people."
In grilling about the incident before the committee Monday, Bolton said he never asked for anyone to be punished and said he was upset because the analyst went behind his back -- not that he disagreed with him.
Bolton faced other tough questions Monday from Democrats over his sometimes blunt past comments about the world body, including a statement in 1994 that "there is no such thing as the United Nations."
"If the U.N. secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference," he said during a Federalist Society forum.
Sen. Barbara Boxer of California confronted Bolton with a videotape of that speech.
"My overall assessment, Mr. Bolton, is that you have nothing but disdain for the United Nations," she said. "It's hard for me to know why you'd want to work at an institution that you said didn't even exist."
Bolton defended his comments by saying, "My criticisms during the 1990s were in large measure because of what I thought was the lack of effective American leadership." (Full story)
Organizations both for and against Bolton have launched Web sites and created television ads about Bolton's nomination.
Addressing the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday that she recommended Bolton for the post because he would be a a strong advocate for instituting changes in the world body.
"As important an institution as it is, one has to say that there are some things that are not so great about the United Nations right now," Rice said. "Everybody recognizes that, and we've got to fix it."
Citing the recent oil-for-food scandal, Rice said, "It is no secret to anyone that the United Nations cannot survive as a vital force in international politics if it does not reform, if it doesn't reform its organizations, if it doesn't reform its secretariat, if it doesn't reform its management practices."
If confirmed, Bolton would replace John Danforth, who left the post in January after fewer than seven months on the job.
In his resignation letter, Danforth cited a desire to spend more time with family and health concerns as his reasons for stepping down.
Anne Patterson, a career foreign service officer, has been acting U.S. ambassador to the United Nations since Danforth's departure.
