Gates was approved 95-2.
Former CIA Director Robert Gates was approved by the Senate this afternoon to become Pres. Bush’s next secretary of defense. The vote was 95-2, with every Democrat from the 109th Congress, and all but two of the outgoing majority members, voting in favor:
Two GOP senators, Jim Bunning of Kentucky and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, voted against Gates. Santorum … said in a floor speech that he found fault with Gates’s support for diplomatic engagement with Iran as part of a regional solution to the crisis in Iraq.
The rationale for Bunning’s vote was unclear as of press time, but he has voted against high-profile Bush nominees in recent months, including Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
Sen. Bunning’s inexplicable vote is actually in character. He is apparently senile. Sen. Santorum lost his reelection bid and won’t be back for the 110th.
