Of course, the White House didn't sanction this...

Wow. That's a spanking for getting out of line. From Howard Kurtz:

Well, it took about 30 seconds for the group Move America Forward to post this attack ad:

"Wife: Honey, were you watching C-SPAN today? Did you hear how disloyal Senator Voinovich was to Republicans and President Bush? Voinovich stood with the Democrats and refused to vote for John Bolton, the man President Bush has chosen to fight for the United States at the UN
"Husband: No, I was streaming it on the Internet at the office, but from what I could tell, Senator Voinovich played hooky from the hearings?
"Wife: Yeah that's right. He's missed most of the Bolton confirmation hearings, but then shows up at the last minute and stabs the President and Republicans right in the back.
"Husband: That's ridiculous -- the United Nations needs reform, we need someone who will stand up for the United States and fight the UN's corruption and anti-Americanism.
"Wife: Shame on Senator Voinovich. After the Democrats smeared Condoleeza Rice for Secretary of State and Alberto Gonzales for Attorney General, how could Voinovich side with the Democrats in smearing John Bolton?"
Interesting word, smear.

Hardball ladies and gentleman, hardball. You could pretend this is a new low, you could pretend this won't play well to the Republican base, you could even pretend the White House isn't happy to see this ad. But who would you be kidding? It's brutal none-the-less. We'll see whether Vionovich has the character to withstand this.

If there's any justice this will bring more of a spotlight on the actual issues. One of the Dems questioned the committeee whether any of them would hire Bolton to their staff. And truthfully, probably none of them would. On the merits, this guy is a bad choice. But it's never that simple.

I'm past caring what anyone thinks of GWB at this point, but notice the not too subtle plugs for 2 future power brokers? On the other hand, Rice might not want to be too closely associated with Bolton in the forseeable future.

Here's a question for Dems though...if this guy is so bad, why not filibuster the nomination? Why are only judges fillibustered?