Bush nominees sure have bad memories

Maybe it's Creutzfelt-Jacob disease from all the beef they consume, but Bush's nominees to high posts sure have bad memories. First it was John Roberts not remembering that he was a member of the Federalist Society, and now it's John the Walrus Bolton not remembering that he was interviewed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee investigation into pre-war intelligence:

The State Department reversed itself on Thursday night and acknowledged that President Bush's U.N. ambassador nominee gave Congress inaccurate information about an investigation he was involved in.

The acknowledgment came after the State Department had earlier insisted nominee John Bolton's "answer was truthful" when he said he had not been questioned or provided information to jury or government investigations in the past five years.

When Mr. Bolton completed his form during the Senate confirmation process he did not recall being interviewed by the State Department inspector general. Therefore his form as submitted was inaccurate in this regard and he will correct the form," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Earlier, Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware said he had information Bolton was interviewed as part of a State Department-CIA joint investigation on intelligence lapses that led to the Bush administration's pre-Iraq war claim that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Niger.

Biden, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said that should have been noted on the questionnaire, for which nominees swear out affidavits stating the information is true and accurate.

"It now appears that Mr. Bolton's answers may not meet that standard," Biden wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Again, let's apply the Clinton standard: If this were CLINTON's nominee to represent the U.S. at the United Nations, cries of "deceit" and "lying" would resound throughout the land. So why is it OK if it's a Republican?