Neoconfligration

The Republican Hamlet is off the reservation on Two-tone Johnny Hissy-Fit:

The associates said that in private telephone conversations Mr. Powell had made clear his concerns with Mr. Bolton on several fronts, including his harsh treatment of subordinates. The associates said that Mr. Powell had also praised Mr. Bolton's performance on some matters during his tenure as undersecretary of state, but they also said that Mr. Powell had stopped well short of the endorsements offered by President Bush and by Mr. Powell's own successor as secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice.

The accounts of Mr. Powell's private message about Mr. Bolton suggested a new gulf between the former secretary of state and the president, who spoke out forcefully today in defense of Mr. Bolton. In a speech here, Mr. Bush portrayed Democratic opposition to Mr. Bolton as being politically driven, and urged the Senate "to put politics aside and confirm John Bolton to the United Nations."

Mr. Bush's comment and others by a White House spokesman suggested that the administration was determined to defend Mr. Bolton's nomination, despite crumbling support among Senate Republicans that has left the nomination in peril.

Bush is so used to being a bully, the whole Schiavo and Social Security denunciations have barely made a dent, he no longer seems to have any antennae at all and believes any option he takes can be spun. In other words he's more delusional than ever.

And naturally we know who is Bolton's chief sponsor:

Mr. Cheney is now regarded as Mr. Bolton's chief patron within the administration, and some administration officials say he has strongly resisted the idea that the White House may withdraw the Bolton nomination in the face of Democratic complaints and Republican wavering.

Dick is going to learn that pissing in the punchbowl eventually leads to you being forced to drink your own piss.

Oh, look at me, I'm fucking Confucius.