"I recognize John Bolton's long service to our country, but this is just about the most inexplicable appointment the President could make to represent the United States to the world community.

"If the President is serious about reaching out to the world, why would he choose someone who has expressed such disdain for working with our allies? Mr. Bolton once said 'if the U.N. secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference.' Mr. Bolton once celebrated our failure to win the U.N.'s support for the Iraq invasion as 'further evidence to many why nothing more should be paid to the U.N. system.' Now we're supposed to believe he's the right person to represent the United States at the United Nations?

"As under secretary of state for arms control and international security for the past four years, Mr. Bolton has achieved little in the way of either of these vital aims. We secured more nuclear materials in the two years before September 11th than in the two years after. North Korea and Iran are burgeoning nuclear states. At this critical time in our history, he is not the best person to rally the world together in our common goals of defeating terrorism and making the world safer from the threat of weapons of mass destruction.

"Quite simply, Mr. Bolton's nomination carries with it baggage we cannot afford."