What? He's Not A Thug?

John Bolton is winning fans at the UN.

Much of the positive reaction to Bolton has come from him not living up to his negative reviews.

"People were very cautious, to say the least, because of his reputation as a tough guy who didn't like the U.N.," said Abdallah Baali, the ambassador of Algeria, who said he knew Bolton from working with him in Africa. "In fact, I was the only one who said that Bolton was an intelligent man who could be creative and constructive and wouldn't go around bullying delegations."

Instead of strong-arming delegations, Bolton won points for glad-handing them, making it a point to make contact with all 32 envoys in the talks.

"I was struck by this almost hysterical notion of what having Bolton in the room would mean and how that would work out," said a European ambassador, who said he could comment on a colleague only anonymously.

"Quite frankly," he said, "not even one-third of what was feared about John Bolton, his style, his approach, the way he would work, actually came through in the room. All I saw was an ambassador who did his work and did it well."


Will his critics apologize?