White House Should Release Secret Bolton Documents

And here we all thought Democrat Harry Reid (NV) and Republican Bill Frist (TN) were the Senate’s leaders. But perhaps that title should really belong to John McCain (R-AZ). Fresh off brokering the bipartisan filibuster deal, McCain is now working on a deal to get John Bolton confirmed as UN ambassador as soon as possible.

A strong backer of Bolton, McCain has called on the White House to release secret documents which some Democrats claim may reveal improprieties committed by Bolton while he was at the State Department. Unfortunately, the White House seems disinterested.

Pointing out that those who want to see the documents are already going to vote against Bolton, the White House says it will not release the information. The administration is just being obstinate. It’s unlikely that the documents reveal anything any worse than what’s already known about Bolton’s past actions. But the administration doesn’t want to give the Democrats any new ammunition to protest the nomination and try to embarrass an administration that’s had very few political victories since the election.

Of course, by refusing to release the documents, the White House is creating the perception that they’re hiding something. Other Republican Senators should join with McCain and ask the White House to stop being so dismissive and release the documents. The Senate has spent enough time on this nomination. The White House should be helping matters, not hindering them.

Release the documents. Let’s have a vote.

UPDATE: Our fellow Centrist Charging RINO is calling on Bush to pull Bolton's nomination. It's not going to happen, but RINO makes a solid argument.