A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here . CNN  —  For all the drama generated every four years by Cabinet appointments , defeat of a nominee by a vote in the Senate is extremely rare. The only time a nominee by a new president was rejected by a Senate vote occurred in 1989, when George H.W. Bush nominated John Tower, a former senator from Texas, to be his secretary of defense. Tower was undone by stories of his excessive