McCain for Bolton 05

Centrist John McCain, who was among the 14 Senators who wrestled power from the leadership on both sides during last week's Nuclear Option debacle and assisted in the allowance of Bush's extremist judges being able to fill their appointed seats, wants to broker another compromise to enable a vote on Bolton to UN Ambassador.

One of John R. Bolton's leading Republican backers, Senator John McCain of Arizona, signaled his support on Friday for a compromise in which the White House might allow Senate leaders access to highly classified documents in return for a final vote early next month on Mr. Bolton's nomination as United Nations ambassador.

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Senators calling on the administration to share the documents "have some substance to their argument," Mr. McCain said.

"I think that we can resolve this over the recess and get this thing done and get John Bolton to work," he said. "I'm sorry there is going to be a delay."

Forty Democrats and one independent were able to delay a Senate vote on Mr. Bolton until after the Memorial Day recess, demanding that the White House first hand over information related to his conduct in two areas, involving an intelligence dispute over Syria and the handling of intelligence reports from the National Security Agency.

Mr. McCain was among 53 Republicans left stunned by the Democratic move, which foiled a Republican-led effort to bring the nomination to a final roll-call vote.

Meanwhile, The Administration, despite McCain's efforts, is staunchly opposed to the release of papers relating to Bolton's interference in intelligence information of Syria. This, of course, upholds The Administration's five-year effort to maintain a strick curtain of secrecy and deception surrounding their efforts.

''John Bolton enjoys majority [Senate] support, and it's a shame that Democrats are stopping a vote," said Erin Healy, a White House spokeswoman. ''This is about partisan politics, not documents."

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Senate Democrats want to see documents relating to Bolton's involvement in a report alleging that Syria possesses weapons of mass destruction. But the administration has said that such internal communications must be kept private to ensure candor within the administration's policy discussions.

Democrats also want 10 National Security Agency intelligence intercepts that Bolton requested, to determine whether Bolton, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, acted appropriately by asking for the names of Americans mentioned in the documents.

And so, the specter of "partisan" politics raises its head once again in Mr. Bolton's strange case. The Administration, bullheaded as always, refuses to awknowledge that their very nomination of this man who is a self-declared UN Agent of Admonishment is itself a partisan declaration against the UN, and that the Democrats and those opposed are due their right to cut through that.