On the first day of the hearings , Republican committee chairman Richard Lugar criticized Bolton for ignoring the " policy consequences " of his statements , saying diplomatic speech " should never be undertaken simply to score international debating points to appeal to segments of the U.S. public opinion or to validate a personal point of view . " The committee 's top Democrat , Joe Biden , compared sending Bolton to the UN to sending a " bull into a china shop , " and expressed " grave concern " about Bolton 's " diplomatic temperament " and his record : " In my judgment , your judgment about how to deal with the emerging threats have not been particularly useful , " Biden said . Republican Senator George Allen said that Bolton had the " experience , " " knowledge , " " background , " " and the right principles to come into the United Nations at this time , " calling him " the absolute perfect person for the job . " Democratic Senator Russ Feingold asked Bolton about what he would have done had the Rwandan genocide occurred while he was ambassador to the United Nations , and criticized his answer — which focused on logistics — as " amazingly passive . " According to '' Newsday '' , then-Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee " may be pivotal for Bolton 's nomination . " His initial remarks were cautiously favorable : " You said all the right things in your opening statement . " Chafee stated that he would probably support Bolton " unless something surprising shows up . " On the second day , April 12 , 2005 , the Senate panel focused on allegations discussed above that Bolton pressured intelligence analysts . Calling Bolton a " serial abuser , " former State Department intelligence chief Carl W. Ford Jr. said , " I 've never seen anybody quite like Secretary Bolton ... I do n't have a second , third or fourth in terms of the way that he abuses his power and authority with little people . " Ford contradicted Bolton 's earlier testimony , saying : " I had been asked for the first time to fire an intelligence analyst for what he had said and done . " Ford also characterized Bolton as a " kiss-up , kick-down sort of guy " , implying that he was always ready to please whoever had authority over him , while having very little regard for people working under him
Rwandan genocide
Rwandan genocide
John R. Bolton