Bolton's qualifications may not be the issue

From the International Herald Tribune via LaBelle:

The information that the White House has refused to provide Congress for its review into the nomination of John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations includes the names of companies mentioned in intelligence reports on commerce with China and other countries covered by export restrictions, according to officials briefed on the matter.

[...]

The administration has permitted the top Republican and the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee to review copies of 10 intelligence reports, based on communications intercepted by the agency, about which Bolton requested the additional information. But the names of Americans and U.S. companies were deleted, and the administration has refused to provide the names to Senate leaders.

[...]

And, to take your mind off it....

President Bush said on Wednesday the disclosure that the former No. 2 official at the FBI was Watergate's "Deep Throat" source caught him by surprise and he's anxious to learn more details about his relationship with the news media.

"It's hard for me to judge" whether former deputy FBI Director Mark Felt provided a valuable public service or acted improperly, Bush told reporters.

  WaPo article

I can damn well guarantee you that he wouldn't think someone in that position today would be providing a "valuable public service."

"I'm learning more about the situation," he said.

Felt's revelation that he was the source for The Washington Post's reporting that helped to bring down the presidency of Richard Nixon in the early 1970s "caught me by surprise," Bush said. "It's a brand new story for a lot of us who have been wondering for a long time who he was."

"For those of us who grew up -- got out of college in the late '60s -- the Watergate story was a relevant story. And a lot of us have always wondered who Deep Throat might have been. And the mystery was solved yesterday," said Bush, 58. "It's a brand new story."

"I'm looking forward to reading about it, reading about his relationship with the news media," Bush said.

"Well, having Condi read it to me."

It's a brand new story?

What is with this goober?

And, hey. That's pretty funny about growing up in the 60s: "No wait, I misspoke. I didn't exactly grow up. But I did get out of college in the 60s."

Numbskull.