Bolton - "... a 'kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy'..."

Not a lot of love for John Bolton from the former underlings.

The AP reports via ABC News:

A former chief of the State Department's bureau of intelligence and research castigated John R. Bolton on Tuesday as a "kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy" who abused analysts who disagreed with him on Cuba. A Democrat said he "needs anger management."

With Bolton's nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under Democratic attack, Carl W. Ford Jr. appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to support accusations of harassment.

"I have never seen anyone quite like Mr. Bolton (emphasis added)," Ford testified under oath. "He abuses his authority with little people."

Contradicting Bolton's assertion Monday that he never tried to have officials who disagreed with him discharged, Ford charged that Bolton tried to sack the analyst, Christian Westermann, and that Bolton was a "serial abuser."

"'I have never seen anyone quite like Mr. Bolton'..."

That's a strong statement. You would imagine that a former State Department intelligence chief would have met more than a few unsavory characters during his career. Could Bolton really be the worst of them? Even if he is not, objectively speaking, the worst, do we really want somebody like this to represent our country at the United Nations, an institution for which he is on the record expressing little but contempt?

None of the 10 Republicans on the committee seized on Ford's testimony as a reason to vote against Bolton. Having a 10-8 majority, Republicans appeared to be able to approve the nomination when a vote is taken later this week or next week.

Sen. Joseph F. Biden, Jr., D-Del., who is leading the fight to block the nomination, responded angrily to the accusation of mistreatment. Anytime a senior official calls in a lower-level one "and reams him a new one," he said, "that's just not acceptable."

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said it was not an isolated incident, that Bolton had harassed at least three officials who disagreed with the extent of threats he saw posed by Cuba and other countries.

And, so we have the Republicans offering their complete deference to Bush once again, refusing to form a value judgement about one of the most noxious nominees this president has put forth for any office. Government of, by and for... whom, exactly?