Mr. Personality

James Taranto writes today in Best of the Web about Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio who threw a major monkey wrench into the John Bolton hearings yesterday:

Voinovich and the Golden Rule
Democrats trying to sink the nomination of John Bolton as United Nations ambassador scored a big victory yesterday, when Sen. George Voinovich, an Ohio Republican who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee, declared himself unready to back the nominee. The Dems' efforts to beat Bolton on ideological grounds--that he's too pro-American and has "disdain" for the U.N.--having failed, they turned to that old standby, the politics of personal destruction.

Various bureaucrats alleged that Bolton had hurt their feelings. Most recently--try not to laugh--a woman who heads a group called Mothers Opposing Bush claimed that Bolton "chased her through the halls of a Moscow hotel" in 1994. The committee was supposed to vote yesterday afternoon, but Democrats urged a delay so they could dredge up more silly stories. All eyes were on two Republicans, Rhode Island liberal Lincoln Chafee and Nebraska narcissist Chuck Hagel, either of whom could have blocked an affirmative committee vote. But Chafee and Hagel seemed to be holding firm.

No one noticed Voinovich--perhaps because, according to National Review's Rich Lowry, he hadn't bothered to attend any of the Bolton hearings until yesterday. But as USA Today reports, yesterday the Ohioan showed up, and piped up:

Voinovich startled his fellow Republicans by declaring toward the end of a testy, two-hour meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that "I don't feel comfortable voting today on Mr. John Bolton, and maybe it would be in the best interest of the committee to take a little more time." The committee agreed unanimously to postpone the vote. . . .

"I want more information," Voinvovich [sic] told reporters after the meeting. "The whole issue of interpersonal skills and how we treat each other. The old concept of treating people like you would want to be treated. That's very important."

Voinovich's concern for the Golden Rule is certainly touching, but does it apply to air traffic controllers? What prompts the question is an incident that occurred in 1995, when he was governor of Ohio. The Cincinnati Enquirer's Cliff Radel described the incident in a June 1996 column:

Gov. Short Fuse blew on Oct. 20 when federal rules delayed his plane's takeoff as the president arrived in Columbus.

As it often does when the president flies, the FAA issued a Temporary Flight Restriction, commonly referred to as a no-fly order.

When this order is in effect, no planes other than essential aircraft are cleared for takeoff. That reduces the chances of a terrorist staging a kamikaze attack on Air Force One.

The order kept the governor and his plane on the ground. And he was honked.

Gov. Voinovich called it "bull"-something and ordered his pilot to break the rules and take off. He even dared the control tower to "shoot us down." That, too, would have cost. One hour of flying time for an F-15 Eagle fighter jet runs $3,399 to $4,037.

The Federal Aviation Administration "responded by slapping the governor with a standard $1,500 fine," and Voinovich decided to fight, at taxpayer expense. "We're paying his lawyers' $95-an-hour fee," noted Radel in June 1996. "Their bill could top out at $20,000."

Voinovich eventually gave up, paid the fine, and said he had found "private sources" to cover the lawyer bills. Presumably he'd like to be forgiven for this long-ago outburst, and that's not unreasonable. We bring it up only to underscore the importance of the old concept of treating people like you would want to be treated.

Perhaps Voinovich is suffering from Jim Jeffords disease:

Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont, who created quite a stir four years ago when he bolted the Republican Party and gave the Dems a slender and short-lived majority in the Senate, won't seek re-election next year, the New York Times reports:

"There have been questions about my health, and that is a factor as well," said the senator, who will turn 71 on May 11. "I am feeling the aches and pains that come when you reach 70. My memory fails me on occasion, but Liz would probably argue this has been going on for the last 50 years."

CNN reported this afternoon that an apparently confused Mr. Jeffords had recently appeared in the House of Representatives, where he served earlier, and been told that he was in the wrong chamber.

The GOP's victories in 2002 and 2004 ensured that rather than being a crucial swing vote in the majority, Jeffords is, for all intents and purposes, just another left-wing Democrat. He is as forgettable as he is forgetful.