the nomination was (suspiciously) withdrawn

and bam the dude is now (suspiciously) the AMBASSADOR TO BELGIUM

yet ANOTHER example of the of the trickery the deceit the lies the appointments of pals (which happens in EVERY administration however this one picks THE most inappropriate ones)

Bush recess appoints major Swift Boat Vets donor

Michael Roston

President George W. Bush circumvented Senate opposition today and recess appointed a controversial nominee as Ambassador to Belgium. Sam Fox, who donated thousands of dollars to the anti-John Kerry Swift Boat Veterans For Truth before the 2004 Presidential election, received the nod from the White House in a quiet personnel announcement this afternoon that caught Senate Democrats off guard.
President Bush had formally withdrawn Fox's nomination last week when it appeared likely that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee would reject it and prevent him from receiving a full vote on the Senate floor. Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) issued a strong response shortly before boarding an airplane late in the day, questioning the legal basis for the action..............

ah and a bit more from the hartford courant

By DAVID LIGHTMAN, Washington Bureau Chief, The Hartford Courant

................Connecticut's senators became active on opposite sides of the controversy.Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, an independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats, took the extraordinary step in February of testifying on behalf of Fox, praising his civic work and calling him a man who "represents what America is all about."The day after the 2006 election, Fox and his wife each contributed $10,500 to Lieberman's Senate re-election campaign.Last week, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., the second-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, took a very different view.``His unwillingness to denounce the reprehensible activities of the Swift Boat organization, and express regret for providing $50,000 to bankroll the organization, convinced me that he would not be an acceptable candidate to represent the United States abroad," said Dodd, who usually goes along with presidential nominees...................