Vo-mentum

Sure, it'd be nice if George Voinovich had a spine and voted against John Bolton. But, like Ezra, I'm willing to give some credit to the guy for having the third of a spine that it took to speak up, unlike some of the other unhappy Republicans on the committee. He's more or less pulled a Lieberman, and it'll help us win the Bolton media battle.

Joe Lieberman has a fairly liberal voting record, but often says nasty (and worse, inaccurate) things about the Democratic party, making life hard for us as he makes the Republicans' points for them with more authority than any Republican could. In addition to the direct impact of his attacks, he helps the GOP get generally favorable media coverage. The media tends to say nice things about one side in a debate when voices from both parties are on that side. That side isn't being motivated by mere partisan ire -- they're really considering the issues and being good conscientious bipartisan people!

Voinovich has given us some Joementum in the Bolton debate, and we should be thankful. Now our concerns can't be dismissed as just a bunch of Bush-hating Democrats complaining about Bolton. To some extent, it'll help us in the debate about judges as well. The media will be more likely to say that we're responding to serious problems with the nominees themselves, not just playing silly obstruction games. The way this sets Voinovich up as a pro-nuclear-option player is worrisome, though.