That’s apparently what Biden is saying. Barbara Boxer has objected to the committee meeting to vote today, which she can do because of Senate rules. But Republicans are in the process of getting around that with a parliamentary maneuver. There will probably be a committee vote in the late afternoon. The New York Times story today makes it pretty clear that a lot of the abuse being heaped on Bolton was probably fed by Powell and Armitage. Powell’s former chief of staff, Lawrence Wilkerson, gave the Times an extraordinary on-the-record quote:

But do I think John Bolton would make a good ambassador to the United Nations? Absolutely not,” Mr. Wilkerson said. “He is incapable of listening to people and taking into account their views. He would be an abysmal ambassador.

Apparently all of that “kissing up” that Carl Ford (ridiculously) said that Bolton did at State had no effect. The shot from Powell’s guy also indicates that the criticism of Bolton really has its roots in policy disputes. That’s a point that Sen. Lugar’s statement yesterday got at:

John Bolton has served the last four years in an important policymaking job within a competitive and sometimes contentious national security bureaucracy. In that position he will have had thousands of encounters with officials of all ranks and political persuasions. He also will have used intelligence resources virtually every day of his tenure. The charge that he improperly sought to influence intelligence conclusions is a serious one, and it is reasonable to assess his conduct in these encounters. But no one should be surprised to find that episodes of conflict have occurred in this environment over the course of a four-year tenure.

In any case, all indications are that the Republicans, including Chafee and the incorrigibly conventional Hagel, are tiring of this fight, and will be perfectly happy to end it by voting “aye” this afternoon.