GOP Senator Backs John Kerry For Secretary Of State: ‘I Believe He Would Sail Through The Nominating Process’
With the resistance to a potential nomination of United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice to replace Sec. Hillary Clinton as the next Secretary of State hardening among Congressional Republicans, a possible face-saving way out of President Barack Obama’s political dilemma has come from an odd source – Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY). Appearing on MSNBC’s Jansing & Co. on Wednesday, Barrasso said that Obama should nominate Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to replace Sec. Clinton. Barrasso said that Kerry would be easily confirmed by the Senate should Obama nominate him over Rice.
MSNBC anchor Chris Jansing asked Sen. Barrasso to explain his opposition to Rice’s nomination after she listed a series of reasons why some believe that the erroneous explanations Rice gave for the deadly September 11 attack on an American consulate in Benghazi could be forgiven.
Barrasso replied that Rice “disqualified herself” to be Secretary of State when she appeared on five Sunday news programs after the September 11 attack to disseminate a false explanation for that attack.
“If the president wants an easy confirmation hearing and an easy confirmation process, what he would do is nominate John Kerry – who is eminently qualified to be Secretary of State – and I believe he would sail thorough in the nominating process,” Barrasso said.
After repeating his objections to Rice’s nomination, Barrasso reiterated that a “smooth confirmation process” to replace Sec. Clinton would be achieved by nominating Sen. Kerry.
Watch the clip below via MSNBC:
