WASHINGTON, April 21 (Xinhuanet) -- US President George W. Bush believes John Bolton's nomination to be the next US ambassador to the United Nations will be confirmed and he hopes Bolton will be confirmed as soon as possible, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Thursday.

    "The president believes he (Bolton) will be confirmed, and he hopes that he will be confirmed as soon as possible," McClellan said.

    "It is time for Senate Democrats to stop playing politics, and it is time for the Senate to confirm John Bolton, so that he can get about doing the work of the United States at the United Nations," McClellan said.

    Earlier Thursday, Bush made the same appeal and urged the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to put aside politics and confirm John Bolton.

    "John's distinguished career in service to our nation demonstrates that he is the right man at the right time for this important assignment. I urge the Senate to put aside politics and confirm John Bolton to the United Nations," Bush said here in remarks to the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America.

    The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday postponed a vote on John Bolton's nomination. The decision showed the Democrats in the committee successfully blocked the Republicans who sought to push Bolton through as the showdown vote was scheduled on Tuesday.

    Bolton, the undersecretary of state in charge of arms control, has been a harsh critic of the United Nations bureaucracy and a provocative choice to be Washington's representative to the UnitedNations. Enditem