Daily Mail: Tillerson nomination hangs in the balance after clash with Marco Rubio - who now says he could vote against him: 'I'm prepared to do what's right'
* The most controversial of President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet nominees took his grilling from lawmakers on the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee
* Rex Tillerson, Trump's nominee for secretary of state, just retired from Exxon
* Came under assault from Democrats on the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee today as well as Florida Republican Marco Rubio
* The GOP lawmaker would not commit to voting for the Republican president-elect's nominee
* Tillerson said the United States needs to have 'an open and frank dialogue with Russia regarding its ambitions' so it can chart its own course
* He blamed the current administration for allowing Russia's threatening actions to go unchallenged in Ukraine and Syria
* 'We back tracked on commitments we made to allies. We sent weak or mixed signals with red lines that turned into green lights,' he said
* Hammered on 'radical Islam,' hit China and said the US should defend its NATO allies
Rex Tillerson's appointment to secretary of state hangs in the balance after he butted heads with the Republican senator who will cast the deciding vote.
Tillerson angered Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Marco Rubio when he sidestepped questions today about world affairs, repeatedly claiming that he didn't want to base his opinion on public information.
'Many of his answers were concerning to me. I think it's important if you are going to stand for moral clarity that you be clear,' Rubio told reporters afterward.
The GOP lawmaker would not commit to voting for the Republican president-elect's nominee. He said he needed to think it over and make sure he's '100 percent behind' his decision.
'I'm prepared to do what's right. I'm not analyzing it from a partisan standpoint.'
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WNU Editor: The nature of being a country's top diplomat is to not talk like that .... i.e. calling Putin a war criminal. It would just undermine your status of being the country's top diplomat when you have to deal with the leadership of these nations. Truth be told .... diplomacy is very personal .... and comments like that would only undermine future talks and discussions on other issues that need to be addressed and resolved. Case in point .... when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Putin and Russia Hitler and Nazis .... Hillary Clinton Compares Russian President Putin And Russia To Hitler And The Nazis (March 5, 2014) .... the results were predictable .... it completely undermined U.S. Russian relations to a level where it is today. As to whether or not Rex Tillerson's nomination will be defeated because US Senators like Marco Rubio and John McCain decided to vote against him .... this is something that I do not know. But if he is defeated .... it is just another example on how much the establishment in Washington is hell bent on stopping President-elect Trump.
7 comments:
A more appropriate question might be: does Marco Rubio belong in the US Senate because he insists on labeling Putin a war criminal? By doing that, he is covering up all of the war crimes that have been committed over the past 16 years by GW Bush and Obama.
WNU What is your opinion on Marco Rubio's statements about Putin's war crimes in Chechnya?
1. At last he is in his seat in the Senate!
2. Diplomacy: you do not call a war criminal a war criminal in public.
^ and old berry osoma is a war criminal as well
Fred is right. In diplomacy certain things cannot be said in public. In private yes .... in public .... definitely not. It is a red line that diplomats have been following forever. Diplomats .... by their very nature .... are messengers. They bring the message from their leader to the other side .... and they must choose their words very carefully .... especially if they are bringing news that they know the other side would not be happy with. Calling Putin a war criminal would have only destroyed Tillerson's credibility to act as a diplomat.
I will also add that Marco Rubio knows this. That is why his approach was (to me) disappointing. His line of questioning .... especially in public .... will in the long run serve no one well.
I can't find much online or my memory of Rubio ever calling Putin a war criminal. And yes, calling Putin a WC is not in the best interest of diplomacy but treating Russia's action s w direct and serious reaction is much more effective than name calling.
RB
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