White House pulls nomination of Swiftboat funder

March 28, 2007

When the president nominated [tag]Sam Fox[/tag], a major right-wing donor who gave $50,000 to the [tag]Swiftboat[/tag] Vets, to be ambassador to Belgium, it raised a few eyebrows. When the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on Fox’s nomination, Sen. John Kerry, as one might imagine, wasn’t pleased to see him.

Kerry wasn’t alone. For the president to select Fox, who was at least partially responsible for a malicious smear of a war hero, struck a lot of Dems as a slap in the face. Fox’s nomination was due to be considered by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today, but in a classic elections-have-consequences moment, the White House pulled the nomination this morning.

President Bush on Wednesday withdrew the ambassadorial nomination of businessman Sam Fox after Democrats denounced Fox for giving money to a controversial conservative group that undermined Sen. John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign. […]

The White House announced the withdrawal in a press release distributed less than an hour before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee gathered to vote on his nomination to be ambassador to Belgium. On Tuesday, Kerry’s Vietnam crew mates had sent a letter urging committee members to oppose Fox’s nomination. A copy of the letter was obtained by The Associated Press.

“In our judgment, those who finance smears and lies of combat veterans don’t deserve to represent America on the world stage,” said the letter signed by James Rassman and 10 other Vietnam Swift Boat veterans who served with Kerry.

The bulk of the credit for this victory goes to Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who took the lead in questioning the propriety of Fox’s nomination.

Just this morning, I received this message from Dodd’s presidential campaign:

Later today, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to vote on whether or not to approve the nomination of Sam Fox as America’s Ambassador to Belgium.

Normally, these confirmations are quite routine. Not this one …

Sam Fox helped bankroll the reprehensible activities of “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth,” by contributing $50,000 to the group infamous for its ads attacking Senator John Kerry’s service during the Vietnam War.

Senator Dodd will oppose that nomination, and said the following yesterday:

“U.S. ambassadors need to be both responsible and credible, and Mr. Fox’s support for an organization known to have spread falsehoods illustrates neither. The fact that Mr. Fox refused to apologize for his behavior during his nomination hearing reinforces my belief that he would not be an acceptable representative for the position of U.S. ambassador.”

Sam Fox is not fit to serve as an ambassador of the United States.

Hours later, Fox’s nomination was pulled. Nice work.

And note to the White House: don’t send any more Swiftboat associates to the Senate for consideration. I don’t think they’re welcome.

Update: Kerry released a statement: “Sam Fox had every opportunity to disavow the politics of personal destruction and to embrace the truth. He chose not to. The White House made the right decision to withdraw the nomination. I hope this signals a new day in political discourse.”

The standard Republican thumb-in-the-eye looks less and less like a winning tactic, doesn’t it?

Maybe if they get enough size 12s whacking the family jewels – like this – they’ll start to get the message.

  • As manifested in his constant jabbing at the “democrat party”, and his feigned apology for it; Bush’s audacity has for six years been unfathomable. Thank god for Nov 07 voters, you know, maybe the Decider is starting to get it.

  • Something tells me that there was at least one Repub on the committee who was not too happy with and not supporting Fox either.

    Also check out the video at Eschaton on the grilling of Ms. Doan on the issue of politicizing the GSA. Classic.

  • Not only did Sam Fox help bankroll the Swift Boat attacks, according to Opensecrets.com, he donated over $1,700,000 to Bush and other Republican candidates in the last two cycles.

    And, that’s only the money that was donated in his name. Seems his wife and sons donated an ungodly amount in their own names.

    Did I say he only donated to Republicans? Actually, I was wrong. The only Democrat he donated to – and, of course, we already assumed this – Joe Lieberman..

    Sam Fox and his family are “shandas” to his fellow Jews. I cannot understand how any Jew can be a Republican in this day and age. Maybe back in the ’50’s, the Rockefeller liberal Republicans, But not today.

  • Can it possibly be that the White House itself is feeling the heat of so many scandals at once that it can’t handle any more? Hard to believe but it would be nice if it was true.

    And don’t worry, phoebes, Sam Fox and his family are shandas to the goyim, too. đŸ˜‰

  • Oops. Actually, the amount of $1,700,000 was for cycles back to 1994. Still a god-awful amount of money donated to the likes of Joe Lieberman, Jim Talent, George Allen, and Rick Santorum, among others.

    Also, the website is opensecrets.org.

  • I agree, Phoebes! As a proud Jewish citizen (not to mention one whose mother’s maiden name– and whose own middle name– is Fox,) it pains me greatly to see members of my tribe shilling for the Republicans. A large part of Jewish practice throughout the ages has been SOCIAL JUSTICE. The Republican party stands for anything but that! Additionally, what with the GOP being controlled by radical bible-thumping factions who consider this to be a Christianist nation (notice I did not say Christian, since the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth are about peace, not divisiveness and hatred,) it’s downright dangerous for any Jewish person– or, for that matter, any SANE person– to align him- or herself with the Party of Hate and Extremism!

  • Pardon my ignorance but does Shandas translate to Giant Dickhead?

    OK my first guess was persona non grata but my second guess seemed more appropriate when dealing with critters like Fox.

    Elections have consequences. Painful, embarrasing, never ending consequences for the ReThugs. Mwahahaa!

  • “Elections have consequences. Painful, embarrasing, never ending consequences for the ReThugs. Mwahahaa!”

    Yep, and Republicans and their defenders in teh media should just get over it already.

  • Orange, the term “shanda” means “disgrace”. Of course, “Giant Dickhead” would also be appropriate to describe Sam and all the other St Louis Foxes.

  • Yes. Not to be confused with the Maplewood, New Jersey and Boynton Beach, Florida Foxes, thankyouverymuch!

    And, Bubba, I’m glad you mentioned the Republicans’ defenders in the media. In my opinion, the media are some of the most culpable when it comes to the stolen election of 2000 and the fear-and-smear tactics of the Republicans in the time since then.

  • Instead of being swiftboated, kerry should have been in federal prison for conspiring with the vietcong in paris. He is nothing short of despicable.

    America remembers that kerry is a traitor.

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