Bush appoints Swift Boat financier as ambassador -- avoiding Senate approval

Last week, facing enormous opposition, the White House pulled the nomination of controversial Swift Boat campaign funder, Sam Fox, to be Ambassador to Belgium. Today, in a direct rebuke to America's veterans who served in Vietnam unlike Bush and Cheney, Bush used a "recess appointment" to avoid Senate confirmation and gave Fox the job anyway:

President Bush named Republican fundraiser Sam Fox as U.S. ambassador to Belgium on Wednesday, using a maneuver that allowed him to bypass Congress where Democrats had derailed Fox's nomination.

Democrats had denounced Fox for his 2004 donation to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The group's TV ads, which claimed that Sen. John Kerry exaggerated his military record in Vietnam, were viewed as a major factor in the Massachusetts Democrat losing the election.

Recognizing Fox did not have the votes to obtain Senate confirmation, Bush withdrew the nomination last month. On Wednesday, with Congress out of town for a spring break, the president used his power to make recess appointments to put Fox in the job without Senate confirmation.

This means Fox can remain ambassador until the end of the next session of Congress, effectively through the end of the Bush presidency.

Bush is the first one to play games to avoid the normal procedure when he's going to lose. The Senate should cut funding for the embassy in Belgium.