Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Richard Lugar (R.-Ind.) was more enthusiastic in 1999 when President Clinton picked Richard Holbrooke as UN ambassador than he was earlier this week when Bush named Bolton. Lugar, who reportedly urged Secretary of State Condi Rice not to pick Bolton, said last week, "I'm going to reserve any comments about the appropriateness or not of the President's choice." In a 1999 interview on CNN, Lugar said of Holbrooke's nomination: "He is an excellent nominee to be our ambassador to the United Nations. . . . [S]omebody is needed at the UN who is tough, who looks after American interests." That, of course, is what Conservatives are sure Bolton will do. American Conservative Union Chairman David Keene touts Bolton's conservative credentials here.
