Washington ? President Bush’s nominee to be U.N. ambassador told senators Monday that his caustic criticism of the United Nations in a speech a decade ago was designed to get his audience’s attention, and that “the United States is committed to the success” of the international body.

In a daylong hearing, John Bolton repeatedly played down his previous jabs at the United Nations and pledged “to forge a stronger relationship between the United States and the world body, which depends critically on American leadership.” Alluding to scandals and political stands that he and others have attacked, Bolton said, “we can take important steps to restore confidence in the United Nations.”

Bolton spent much of the day defending his own controversial statements, parrying sharp questions from Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, several of whom said he is the wrong person for the job. Although Democrats complained that his answers often were evasive, Bolton appeared to survive the hearing with minor damage.

It wasn’t for lack of trying. Democrats repeatedly pressed Bolton, 56, to explain his past criticisms of the United Nations, including those from a fiery speech about 10 years ago to the World Federalists. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., played a three-minute video clip in which Bolton said that “there’s no such thing as the United Nations.”

Bolton told Boxer that “what I was trying to do at that audience of World Federalists was get their attention.”