John Bolton

John Bolton famously said of the United Nations : "There is no such thing as the United Nations. United States makes the U.N. work when it wants it to work. If the U.N. Secretariat building in New York lost 10 stories, it would not make a bit of difference".

Well, his unwelcomed time at 1 UN Plaza is over :

Bolton's attempt to hang on to his diplomatic post, already tenuous, became even more problematic after Democrats who had blocked his nomination won control of the Senate in November elections. Bolton has held the job on a temporary basis.

Bolton had a history of angering diplomats and colleagues in his previous State Department job and could not gain sufficient support from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to stay on despite winning praise from some envoys at the United Nations.

Surprising some White House officials still searching for a way for him to keep his job, Bolton submitted a resignation letter to President George W. Bush on Friday. Aides said Bush thought about it over the weekend before reluctantly accepting it.

Bush reluctantly accepted it. It being that pesky little thing called the real world. The real world being that wretched thing that keeps getting in the way of Bush's reality.

Reality ... as Marth would say, "It's a good thing".

The lame-duck presidency of George W. Bush has begun with Lincoln Chafee 's rank breaking move.

Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee, who was defeated in this week's election, said he would block Bolton's nomination.

Chafee, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters that he did not believe Bolton's nomination would move forward without his support.

"The American people have spoken out against the president's agenda on a number of fronts, and presumably one of those is on foreign policy," the Rhode Island moderate told The Associated Press.

"And at this late stage in my term, I'm not going to endorse something the American people have spoke out against."

The committee, dominated 10-8 by Republicans, requires a majority vote to send the nomination to the Senate floor. A tie would be the same as a no vote.

After months of quietly stonewalling John Bolton's nomination, yet not strongly enough so as not to ruffle any Republican feathers, now Chafee finds the resolve to kick Bolton out. It seems the senator from Rhode Island finally grew a spine. Does this make him a prodigal politico? Has Lincoln Chafee sprouted a conscience and finally seen the moderate Republican light?