With the Bolton nomination in much more trouble than the White House or the Republican Party expected, the focus is sharpening on the four wavering Republican Senators: Chaffee (RI), Hagel (Nebraska), Chairman Lugar (In) and George Voinovich of Ohio, who surprised many when he joined Lugar in seeking to delay a vote on the Eddie Haskel of American government.
It's only a matter of time before the pressure on these four mounts, from the Vice President's office (Dick Cheney is Bolton's chief sponsor, in addition to being the actual president of the United States...), from GOP leg-breakers in the leadership, from the right-wing press and from the third-party goon squad that polices Republican behavior via the Internet.
The first salvo came from the Wall Street Journal's editorial page (also on OpinionJournal.com) yesterday, when Voinovich got a working over on his allegedly Boltonesque behavior aboard an airline in 1996:
Gov. Short Fuse blew on Oct. 20 when federal rules delayed his plane's takeoff as the president arrived in Columbus. As it often does when the president flies, the FAA issued a Temporary Flight Restriction, commonly referred to as a no-fly order. When this order is in effect, no planes other than essential aircraft are cleared for takeoff. That reduces the chances of a terrorist staging a kamikaze attack on Air Force One.
The order kept the governor and his plane on the ground. And he was honked. Gov. Voinovich called it "bull"-something and ordered his pilot to break the rules and take off. He even dared the control tower to "shoot us down." That, too, would have cost. One hour of flying time for an F-15 Eagle fighter jet runs $3,399 to $4,037.
In addition to being irrelevant (one burst of temper when Voinovich was governor of Ohio versus Bolton's apparent serial abuse of subordinates hardly qualifies as "apples to apples"), the implication of the article is clear: expect the pressure on the wavering Republicans to be intense, and intensely personal.
The second salvo comes in the form of a new ad from the winger 527 group Move America Forward in which Voinovich is called "disloyal" and a "traitor to the Republican Party."
If we are to take the WSJ at face value, Voinovich appears to have moxie enough to withstand the pressure, and I have no doubt that Chuck Hagel (my favorite Republican, I must confess) has the guts to stand up to the administration, but I'm not so sure about Lincoln Chafee, who needed others to come forward before he had the intestinal fortitude to voice his own doubts about Bolton. Chafee needs the WH and GOP to stand down any potential primary challenges, not to mention the coming DNC pressure cooker in 2006. Yes, he is a target, along with Santorum and our old buddy Tom DeLay.
...And you thought the silly season hadn't yet begun...
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"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
