Bush to recess-appoint Swift-Boat scumbag Fox

Posted by Bob Geiger at 2:52 PM on April 4, 2007.

In a move that should disgust all and surprise nobody, the White House announced today that George W. Bush will recess-appoint Sam Fox, who gave $50,000 to the Swift Boat Liars to help finance their 2004 smear of John Kerry, to be the new U.S. Ambassador to Belgium.

The nomination was withdrawn last week, when it became clear to Bush that Fox, who was instrumental in derailing Kerry's presidential bid, did not have enough votes in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to be confirmed.

A recess appointment allows a president to fill vacancies while the Congress is on a break, even if the nominee has already been expressly or implicitly rejected by the Senate.

The announcement on the White House web site was buried in a flurry of other activity and said simply this:

The President intends to recess appoint the following individuals:

Sam Fox, of Missouri, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Belgium

Also reacting with outrage, is Chris Dodd (D-CT), who was the first Senator to publicly state his strong opposition to the Fox nomination.

"It is outrageous that the President has sought to stealthily appoint Sam Fox to the position of ambassador to Belgium when the President formally requested that the Fox nomination be withdrawn from the Senate because it was facing certain defeat in the Foreign Relations Committee last week," said Dodd. "I seriously question the legality of the President's use of the recess appointment authority in this instance. I intend to seek an opinion on the legality of this appointment from the General Accountability Office and invite other Senators to join with me in that request."

The move will allow Fox to serve as Ambassador to the important European ally until Bush leaves office and just became the most hideous recess appointment since the White House inflicted John Bolton on the United Nations with the same maneuver.

And Senator Dodd said it all about the appointment that will have many people wondering if the head Swift Boat Slimeball, John O'Neill, isn’t next in line to be rewarded for giving Bush four more years with which to trash our country.

Said Dodd: "This is underhanded and an abuse of Executive authority -- sadly this behavior has become the hallmark of this administration.”

Tagged as: fox, senate, swift boaters

Bob Geiger is a political writer, specializing in coverage of the United States Senate for AlterNet and other Progressive web sites. You can reach Bob at geiger.bob@gmail.com and read more from him at BobGeiger.com.