Fox News just won't play nice with the Democrats and the liberal media. While the liberals in the mainstream press are criticizing President Bush for an "abuse of power" in his recess appointment of John Bolton, the right wing hacks at Fox News have the gall to report the truth. The appointment of John Bolton "is neither unique nor necessarily politically and diplomatically hamstrung".

The president's power to make a recess appointment was originally conceived by the framers of the U.S. Constitution to fill sudden vacancies during the long congressional recesses. But such appointments have become increasingly common even as the recesses have become ever shorter. Appointments are set to expire at the end of the Senate's next session.

So far, President Bush has made 110 recess appointments...

Modern presidents have used this power of recess appointments to side step a variety of Senate obstructions. President Clinton made 140 recess appointments during his two terms. The first President Bush made 77 in one term. Ronald Reagan had 240 in two terms...

President Eisenhower placed three justices on the Supreme Court through recess appointments...

Editor and Publisher has the round up of editorial reactions to Bolton's (dis)appointment.

Centre Daily Times (State College, Pa.): "There's something sadly fitting about President Bush naming John Bolton as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations through a tactic known as a 'recess' appointment. Bolton, after all, is the diplomatic world's equivalent of a playground bully."

Chicago Tribune: "...A Bolton meltdown would embarrass the president who defied and skirted Congress to ramrod him into the job..."

San Francisco Chronicle: "On the long list of questionable appointments President Bush has made during his tenure, [Mr. Bolton] may be the worst of all."

It's one thing if you don't like John Bolton personally. But it takes chutpah to bitch about Bush circumventing the Senate, when in fact it was the Senate who was circumventing the "advice and consent" process with a filibuster. I mean, if Bolton is really that bad why not let the Senate vote him down.