Obama will not pick Hagel

 
 

"Chuck Hagel is the Neoconservatives' worst nightmare. A decorated combat veteran who disdains promiscuous war-making. A conservative Republican who rejects a foreign policy of wandering the globe bombing, invading, and occupying other nations. A supporter of Israel who won't subcontract his judgment to the demands of Israel's Likud Party. No wonder the usual suspects responded in the usual way. By calling Hagel an anti-Semite."  Bandow

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Been there, done that, experienced that...

Hagel is a good man who thinks of soldiers as "his people."  He remembers that he is an American, first, last and always.

Now, the gay people are against him as they march towards their goal of absolute equality in marriage and all other "rights."

Can there be any doubt that BHO will abandon the idea of nominating Hagel?  The president probably doesn't want the distraction of a fight in the senate.  He is fully occupied with joining in the national hysteria over guns.   pl  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/doug-bandow/neocons-against-chuck-hag_b_2342910.html

Comments

[bth]

I hope your are wrong about this. Hagel is who we need right now.

[turcopolier]

bth

My guess is that BHO will nominate Flournoy. She fits the paradigm of BHO's biases. pl

[Alba Etie]

Col Lang
Given the General Dempsey selection - I suspect that President Obama would not let the Likudniks derail Sen Hagel 's nomination for Secretary of Defense.

[Alba Etie]

I see now where Senator John Cornyn has come out against Sen Hagel . Perhaps reluctantly I will accede that Sen Hagel will not be nominated after all .

[YT]

"A decorated combat veteran who disdains promiscuous war-making."

A true American Patriot.

[Clifford Kiracofe]

Well, yes it looks this way.

The Republican Party is so thoroughly dominated by the Neoconservatives that they are already out against him and even saying he isn't really a Republican.

McCain, who has ALWAYS said he is a "Scoop Jackson" Republican (meaning a Scoop jackson neocon Dem) says Hagel is not a Republican. Rather outrageous from the Senator we called the "Manchurian Candidate" and whom I saw first hand in the Senate, but true to form.

In fact, Hagel is normal Republican like Dick Lugar whom the right wing crazies (Steve Forbes, Tea party etal) also knifed.

As I have written before, the Republican Party needs to excrete the Neocons and all that goes with them.

If Flourney is selected we can have an interesting exchange on her at SST. What a despicable mess.

[bth]

Hagel gave a damn when I did some advocacy work in DC on equipment a few years back. I'll give him that. Cornyn on the other hand was a blustering fool. Unfortunately bluster has its season. A name you don't hear much but who would be a real good Sec. Defense is Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island. He was on the ball from the get go, honest, effective and gave a damn. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Reed_%28politician%29

[Edward Amame]

Not all gays are against him. Steve Clemons, now Washington editor at large for The Atlantic (formerly exec VP of the Economic Strategy Institute and exec director of the Nixon Center for Peace and Freedom) has been one of Hagel's biggest promoters, and now defenders.

Apparently there's oppo from the GOP too. FL Sen Rubio’s office sort of said he’d consider a hold on Hagel over his Hagel's views. PA's Pat Toomey (R) and NH Sen. Kelly Ayotte don't like Hagel's Israel and Iran positions.

Then there's his statement of the obvious a few years back that "the Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people." Refreshing candor and career suicide can go hand in hand in Wash DC.

[schwifty]

If Obama dropped Rice, I doubt he will support Flournoy. Obama will choose political expediency over ideology every time.

[Rd.]

Five Former U.S. Ambassadors to Israel Endorse Hagel

http://www.lobelog.com/five-former-u-s-ambassadors-to-israel-endorse-hagel/

[VietnamVet]

The picture of Chuck Hagel standing in front of the Hooch made time stand still for a second; then reality started ticking again. Soldiers, remember as always young, who made it back and who smoked and drank too much are now grizzled old farts and dying.

Anyone who has seen and acknowledges reality won’t be confirmed for Secretary of Defense. There is just too much money to be made in war. The donors to the Kagan Family Foundation “The Institute for the Study of War” that allowed Frederick and Kimberly to wander around Afghanistan observing and advising General David Patraeus for a year for free will assure that their kind of guy is selected to head DOD.

[Medicine Man]

I think Andrew Sullivan is pro-Hagel too and he's a giant queer.

I hope you're wrong about Hagel being passed over. Based on who his enemies are, I like him quite a bit.

[Clifford Kiracofe]

Clemons, a moderate, is a former Senate staffer. He is right about Senator Hagel.

Rubio, a Cuban-American, is influenced by the pro-Israel Lobby which is strong in Florida. There is an interface between activists in the Cuban-American community and the Neocons of longstanding. Jorge Mas Canosa and all that, for example...

[BillWade]

The pic does bring back memories.

[Edward Amame]

Sorry, Clifford Kiracofe, I am the world's worst typist and so I frequently botch sentences up. You have undoubtedly hit the nail on the head with regard to Rubio, but I screwed up in my edit: my post should have read "Sen Rubio’s office sort of said he’d consider a hold on Hagel over his Cuba views."

[Lars]

Sen. Hagel seems to have the qualifications to become Secretary of Defense and has the temperament and experience to do a good job as one. Obviously his nomination bothers some but they seem to mainly be at the edges of politics.

As other cabinet members, he would not make policy. He would advise and he would execute and I am sure he would be good at both.

[different clue]

If enough people write the Obama Administration (White House) ahead of time saying they hope Hagel is nominated, would that make a positive difference?

If enough of those same people write their Senators to say they would like to see Hagel approved if nominated, would that make a positive difference?

[johnf]

Justin Raimondo is gay and one hundred percent for him. Even, which is very rare, sent out an email to all AntiWar funders to back him.

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2012/12/16/chuck-hagel-an-unconventional-realist/

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2012/12/18/the-paranoid-style-of-the-israel-lobby/

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2012/12/20/why-this-fight/

[johnf]

Phil Weiss comes out for Hagel (unsurprisingly):

http://mondoweiss.net/2012/12/center-neocons-nominate.html

details a sympathetic Chris Matthews series of interviews, and lists those who've come out in open support of Hagel:

"Already, Hagel has been defended by a strikingly diverse array of voices, including... Dana Milbank of the Washington Post; John Judis of The New Republic; Andrew Sullivan of the Daily Beast; Scott McConnell and Daniel Larison of The American Conservative; the progressive pro-Israel group J Street; the Center for American Progress blog ThinkProgress; Stephen Walt of Foreign Policy and Harvard; Steve Clemons of The Atlantic and the New America Foundation; Jim Fallows of The Atlantic; Emily Hauser of Open Zion; Marsha B. Cohen and Jim Lobe at Lobeblog; Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times; Clyde Prestowitz, formerly US Trade Representative in a Republican administration, in Foreign Policy; Robert Merry at The National Interest; former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer; and former U.S. Middle East negotiator Aaron David Miller (author of the book in which Hagel's "Jewish Lobby" quote appears). Update: Also, former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. Update, 12/20: A bunch of former US ambassadors--including five former ambassadors to Israel--have now written a letter saying Hagel has "impeccable" credentials to be secretary of defense: Nicholas Burns, former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Ambassador to NATO and Greece; Ryan Crocker, former Ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan; Edward Djerejian, former Ambassador to Israel and Syria; William Harrop, former Ambassador to Israel; Daniel Kurtzer, former Ambassador to Israel and Egypt; Sam Lewis, former Ambassador to Israel; William H. Luers, former Ambassador to Venezuela and Czechoslovakia; Thomas R. Pickering, former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Ambassador to Israel and Russia; Frank G. Wisner, former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Ambassador to Egypt and India."

Then includes Jeffrey Goldberg and Zbig Brzezinski.

[Alba Etie]

Mr Kiracofe
Back in 2000 when Sen McCain was still someone we admired many of us down here in Central Texas were volunteering for his run in the GOP primary .Many of us were most interested in Sen McCain because of McCain Feingold's attempt to get money out of politics. In the rear view mirror of Citizen's United - the McCain Feingold legislation looks quaint & naive . We still are having auctions & not elections . And Sen McCain has completely sold his soul to the NeoCons & Corporate Masters of War - "also too " Its absolutely no surprise BHO handed McCain his ass in 2008 . Should my GOP not course correct away from the right wing extremist in our Party then we very likely will continue to see its decline . Sen Hagel for Sec of Defense would be a good start on that course correction .

[Clifford Kiracofe]

I am not familiar with Senator Hagel's views on Cuba but I would imagine them sound. Rubio is influenced by the both the Cuba Lobby and by the pro-Israel Lobby/Neocons.

A couple of points, not a few who fled Cuba back when were linked to organized crime. Don't forget that Meyer Lansky was involved in Cuba so the US National Crime Syndicate was deep into the Batista regime...very deep.

A number of Cuban families who fled happen to be Jewish. Some Sephardic and some Ashkenaz. Often non-Hispanic Americans don't notice this as the names sound "Spanish." Note Temple Beth Schmuel in Miami. I don't know whether Jorge Mas Canosa was a member:
http://www.cubanhebrew.com/

One should not stereotype so-called "Hispanics" or "Latinos" or whatever politically correct US contrivance is used. Traveling south of the border one notices great differences between the "Latin" American countries and inside them. Agrentina is not Guatemala. Cuba is not Chile. Mexico is not Peru. Oaxaca is not Queretero. Costa Rica is not Brazil. I have spent time in that region over the years and speak both Spanish and Portuguese. Spain is not Portugal I have also noticed.

Can a Cuban-American really draw Mexican-American votes? I don't know the answer but as I said "Latin" America is quite varied and there are various traditional rivalries between the the countries and inside them. No doubt some of this is transferred to the US, and US politics, through migration legal and illegal.

[Clifford Kiracofe]

POLITICO has a good story on the extremist Republicans knifing Senator Hagel. The fact is that Hagel, as Lugar, are normal moderate traditional MidWest Republicans. Imhofe and Graham are extremist Christian Fundamentalists and McCain is a Neocon fellow traveler.
http://www.politico.com/story/2012/12/gop-critics-line-up-against-hagel-85278.html?hp=t1_3

[Clifford Kiracofe]

An interesting analysis of the Republican Party's problems:

"The collapse of Boehner's tax effort "weakens the entire Republican Party," said Rep. Steve LaTourette, R-Ohio, who is retiring after 18 years.

"It's the continuing dumbing down of the Republican Party," he said, "and we are going to be seen more and more as a bunch of extremists that can't even get a majority of our own people to support policies that we're putting forward. If you're not a governing majority, you're not going to be a majority very long."

Republican consultant and writer Craig Shirley told The Washington Post: "The national GOP is now simply a collection of warring tribal factions."
http://my.earthlink.net/article/pol?guid=20121222/00a60553-003c-4a41-8fae-f11f3a5a7349

Hagel 2016?

[robt willmann]

It seems that a number of people who have written on this website have had training and a lot of experience in "intelligence gathering" and in organizing programs and operations, and in some instances have held significant supervisory positions. Now is the time to use that "tradecraft"and experience and knowledge of human nature and the persuading of persons to help Chuck Hagel get nominated and confirmed as Secretary of Defense.

Unfortunately, a good friend who was plugged into the national Republican setup and knew how the Senate worked passed away last year, and the only ones I know there now are from the old days in the courthouse: Congressman Charlie Gonzalez, who is retiring in a few days, and Sen. John Cornyn, who worked for a law firm hired by insurance companies to defend personal injury and medical malpractice cases. Cornyn was then elected as a local trial court judge before running for statewide office. To say it diplomatically, it is not surprising that he has come out against Hagel--

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2012/12/21/exclusive-top-republican-senator-will-oppose-hagel-nomination/

This is also a warning to other senators, as Cornyn is chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, an organization that helps to get senators elected and re-elected. The neocons and other warmongers and profiteers were doubtlessly dancing with glee when they got him to go public; however, this also indicates real fear and desperation on their part as they try to kill the nomination before it is made.

Nevertheless, the publication of persons of many different backgrounds supporting Hagel means that a real effort is underway to promote his nomination. Obama needs to "man up", appoint Hagel, and push it all the way to a vote in the Senate. It is a certainty that the public overwhelmingly supports Hagel's known positions. Make those other senators try to attack him in the hearings; he has been in combat and is not intimidated by bloviating BS, and he already knows all about Senate hearings. Once the televised hearings start, public support will build. Then make the committee vote on it, and if he makes it out of committee, force a roll call vote of the Senate or make them stand up and filibuster his nomination.

This is serious business.

To put it another way, J. Edgar Hoover did not survive in that snake pit for decades by sitting passively and wringing his hands.

[Tyler]

Well it'd be nice if we had a conservative party in the US instead of a party that caves to the Democrats at nearly every opportunity and ignores the issues of its base.

Romney, for example, was a northeast liberal who had passed an actual AWB, paid for abortions with state money, and was welcoming to illegal immigrants.

The Republican Party and Romney had plenty of opportunities to stand with their base (George Zimmerman, the many illegal immigration issues, etc). Instead he was silent and people noticed.

There was also the small matter of the party basically telling the Ron Paul faction that they didn't matter, but if Romney lost it would be remembered as their fault. Romney's son came to Arizona to address Paul supporters and was chased off the stage with hurled trash.

Basically, the Republicans have to be for something other than "almost exactly like the Democrats, but with tax cuts for the rich and more wars for Israel".