I’m sitting out the fight over Chuck Hagel’s nomination. His chief opponents are despicable, but I have never thought very highly of Hagel, either. He didn’t impress me at all in today’s hearing. I don’t really want him to run the Pentagon. And I think the president would get almost as much out of Hagel being blocked as he would from him winning confirmation. It just doesn’t make much difference to me.
If he is confirmed, it will be a real poke in the eye of the neo-conservatives and they’ll have to live with a Secretary of Defense who wants nothing more than to screw them. I can see the entertainment value in that, even if it isn’t a very healthy situation for our foreign policy establishment. If Obama was hoping for a lot of Republican cover for downsizing the Pentagon, I think that pipe dream just blew up like a pipe bomb, but I could still enjoy the drama and schadenfreude.
If he is not confirmed, it will be because the Republicans filibuster him. And that will give me the chance to laugh in Harry Reid’s face. But it will also highlight for every reasonable Republican in the country, including people like Brent Scowcroft and former Sen. John Warner, that the GOP cannot be entrusted with power. It will really isolate the neo-conservatives and bolster the institutional bias of Washington in the Democrats’ favor in a way not seen since Roosevelt.
It’s kind of a no-lose situation, as far as I am concerned. You’d have to work hard to convince me that there is more upside with the former scenario than the latter.
So, I’ll just be over here in the corner munching my popcorn. I could really care less what happens.
But it will also highlight for every reasonable Republican in the country, including people like Brent Scowcroft and former Sen. John Warner, that the GOP cannot be entrusted with power.
If Hagel is filbustered, I wonder how idiots like Brian Williams and Chuck Todd will treat it. Hagel might not be completely nuts like Ted Cruz but he was still a right-wing GOPer when in the Senate.
This is off topic:
Already Harry’s big filibuster fold is haunting him. I really wish we had a stronger majority leader. Harry Reid is too low key. When the POTUS and VP are negotiating with the Repugs on the budget somethings wrong. Reid is weak and Pelosi is absolutely hated by the Repugs. Neither can negotiate for the Democrats effectively.
Am I wrong in thinking budget negotiations with the like of Boehner, Cantor and Ryan should be handled by Reid and Pelosi? I mean seriously its a freakshow on the other side of the negotiating table. Obama and Biden shouldn’t even be there. I was extremely happy to see Obama get out of direct negotiations with these individuals. It was demeaning to him and the Office of the President.
I think the White House is often involved in budget negotiations, but the Majority and Minority Leaders of both parties are the other participants. For the leaders of the President’s party to bow out is, I think, unprecedented. The Congressional leaders of his party should be shoulder to shoulder with the President but not sitting outside the door. I feel Joe Biden was doing Reid’s work.
On the subject of filibuster, I would not be surprised to see a Republican filibuster of any new gun laws. The temptation to say, “Obama tried to take your guns away, but I stopped him”, is much too strong to be ignored.
Agreed, but eventually there’s going to be too many voters who say “Yeah, and I wanted Obama to do something about guns- screw you for stopping him.” I concede that may or may not take meaningful hold in 2014, though I hope it does. Gun policy is way down my list of priorities, but the lies and baiting of all sorts has caused the issue to rise up my list this year- these assholes need to stop being rewarded for despicable behavior.
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Hagel got praise from Prof. Cole writing Informed Comment, his performance scared the heck out of liberal minded pundits and Netanyahu didn’t hesitate and ordered an attack on a weapons research center in Damascus, Syria. Always nice to set the agenda for Israel’s security after an election loss and to pre-empt any effort by the Obama clique just thinking about a peace settlement between Israel and Palestine.
Gets the news media off a damaging UN Report – UN calls Israel’s West Bank settlements ‘creeping annexation’ and suggests it jeopardises a future Palestinian state.
Rec’d for the link to the UN report. It’s recommended reading. Please click through.
I clicked on the UN report, and my response to seeing the title was “well, duh, of course it is and of course it does”.
It reminded me of learning about some study that was done in the 70s to investigate why kids fall off their tricycles. It turns out that they lose their balance.
Don’t get me wrong. I am thrilled to see that report about Israel. But now, in 2013, we end up being grateful when we see a reality-based response to something. How sad is that.
Pass the popcorn. No salt, please.
And not too much butter!
I think Hagel’s confirmation is of some consequence, if only to see if the Israel Lobby really can stop anything and everything it opposes. Its defeat here would be significant and (dare I say) hopeful. The absurd and abusive power of both the Israel Lobby and the NRA will be on display in DC in the coming weeks.
And when is the last time a cabinet nominee was successfully filibustered? I can’t remember anymore, but it’s fairly rare—although not as rare as successfully filibustering a supreme court nominee.
And if a fairly rightwing Repub is blocked from the Obama cabinet, it’s simply just another piece of evidence demonstrating that our gub’mint is in complete collapse and paralysis as a result of the braindead “conservative” movement. World take note.
And when is the last time a cabinet nominee was successfully filibustered? I can’t remember anymore, but it’s fairly rare — although not as rare as successfully filibustering a supreme court nominee.
Even rarer for the Senate to filibuster a present, or former, member of their little club. It’s why Hagel will be confirmed.
Keep in mind that AIPAC is not in official opposition to Hagel’s nomination. Of course, they might want to be the silent assassins on this one.
dons pedantic editor’s hat What I think you mean, Boo, is that you could not care less.
After ten years of their idiocy at the highest levels, and an unprecedented track record of being wrong about everything, it astonishes me that there’s anyone left in DC who still does think the neocons can be entrusted to even be in the same time zone as power. But that’s more a commentary on the Beltway bubble, and how insular and self-aggrandizing they are, than it is on the neo-cons.
They are what they are. It’s the scorpion story; swim across the river with them and you deserve what you get.
Ah, but “i could care less” has always meant “I could not care less.”
“Nuke-you-lar” has always meant “nu-cle-ar,” but that doesn’t make it right. 🙂
There you are going all Jefferson Beauregard Sessions IV over poor BooMan with your English teacher’s wisdom.;-)
Of course he unimpressed you in the hearing; if he could speak his mind, he probably would be filibustered.
Any chance have you seen BuzzFeed?
What Professor Hagel Taught
One even clearer clue to Hagel’s views — and to one reason he meets some of his most intense opposition from those who fear cuts to America’s massive defense spending — is the figure who permeated both the undergraduate and graduate courses: former president and five-star general Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Hagel, who fought in Vietnam, would be the first Secretary of Defense to have seen combat as an enlisted soldier. The Senator even kept a large portrait of the former president, painted for him by his brother, in his office at Georgetown. In his book, Hagel wrote that Eisenhower is the man he’d “put up on my Rushmore.” And in his class, the Senator assigned his students Eisenhower’s 1961 farewell address, in which the president first named — and denounced — “the military-industrial complex.”
So no, I do want him confirmed, I wanted him at State or Defense in 2009. I want him at defense now more than ever.
And off topic, but what’s up with this?
Federal Rule Limits Aid to Families Who Can’t Afford Employers’ Health Coverage
Whoa! The subsidies are tax credits not premium subsidies? Then they will be of no use to the many low income people who do not have income tax liability.
If they’re refundable tax credits they will be, but that’s not the point of contention. The point is that the IRS is treating families based on a single income…so based on my understanding, if you make (as an example) $50,000 as a single person and that’s too much to receive support because you can afford it for yourself…your family is fucked.
I have to admit that I’m thoroughly confused. It’s worse than reading a mortgage disclosure. F***ing lawyers.
Could it be, if Obama is contemplating swingeing further cuts in military expenditure, that having no Defense Secretary in place and subject to ongoing filibuster is just the distraction Obama needs? Who will fight the Pentagon’s battles for it in the meantime? Will Republican criticism of cuts lack a convenient focus (other than Obama of course, who can claim to be above the details of the Pentagon budget or be away on important business elsewhere)?
Is not the primary purpose of the exercise to drive a wedge between establishment GOPers and teabaggers? the longer this goes on the more the Republicans look split and at odds with themselves. The lack of a filibuster could actually help Obama, as it means this charade could go on for weeks if not months.
If Hagel is ultimately confirmed, he won’t owe Republicans anything and the President has another victory. If Hagel withdraws, it will be symbolic of the withdrawal of establishment Gopers within the Republican party – and Obama can nominate whoever he wants. Republicans will want the issue to die as quickly as possible.
At the very least, it provided confirmation that McCain still has a pulse. And that he’s still angry.
After seeing McCain and Graham bully, grandstand and just be full blown assholes today I absolutely want to see Hagel confirmed.
Or at least see Hagel climb across the table and threaten to bust their faces in the parking lot.
These assholes lost the election, spent three trillion dollars on two pointless wars, and have been wrong about everything for almost 12 years. They need to be shouted down and told to STFU. Why Reid caved is beyond me.
I guess I am just an incorrigible grudge holder. Chuck Hagel voted like an asshole on virtually everything for his entire time in Congress. Trying to convince me that he shares my values is a little harder than just showing me that we share the same enemies.
After watching Hagel act like a slightly-more-reasonable-than-McCain-prick in committee hearings for years, I actually enjoyed watching him get taken apart on the witness stand.
I don’t give a lot of credit for coming to your senses after a career of screwing people. I mean, I was a 100 times more favorably disposed to Arlen Specter than Chuck Hagel, and he gave us the damned magic bullet theory and went after Anita Hill with a vengeance.
I’m supposed to be all gleeful that the guy is skeptical of our empire? I guess that’s something, but you can see what it’s worth when the shithammer comes down the second you look as Israel’s Likud Party a little sideways.
No, watching him get treated like a punk didn’t incline me more favorably towards his nomination. It made me wonder why such a dour-faced dimwit was nominated in the first place.
If I expect anything out of Obama, I expect competence and being smarter than our opponents. Hagel isn’t smarter than Lindsey Graham. He’s a good sight dumber. And it showed.
Hagel isn’t smarter than Lindsey Graham. He’s a good sight dumber. And it showed.
You really believe that? I don’t. Hagel was doing what he was told to. Anyway, that’s what GOPers are used to.
Yeah, I do. Lindsey Graham is an extremely smart man. He’s smart on his feet. He’s an excellent attorney. He can think circles around Chuck Hagel.
Admittedly, I am talking about a certain kind of intelligence and not anything that might be considered wisdom or moral decency.
But that’s part of what I am talking about. Who can say that Chuck Hagel has a record of wisdom and moral decency?
The man stole, or attempted to steal, enough school lunches away from the poor that Jesus would never stop stomping his balls.
He voted for every horrible thing that George W. Bush did and wanted to do in his first six years in office.
I’m sorry, but I am not a fan.
A lot of people in Congress were in favor of a lot of what Bush did before they were against it. Our current and last Secretaries of State come mind.
Jus’ saying’ 🙂
Andy, we don’t really want to compare Chuck Hagel’s voting recored to John Kerry’s or Hillary Clinton’s. If you want to talk about a few important votes, yes, they were in agreement. But their overall voting records are almost diametrically opposed.
Sure. Hagel is a republican and like most politicians voted with his party a lot.
But unlike most in his party he hasn’t done that all the time.
My friend Chris Bowers wrote about Hagel and Lugar in the spring of 2008, when they first came up as possible parts of an eventual Obama cabinet. Here’s what he had to say:
Yes, Hagel was more conservative than Lugar, and Lugar was extremely conservative on everything but foreign policy. He was the kind of guy who would oppose a gay Ambassador to Luxembourg (of all places) simply because they were gay. That is straight-up asshole behavior that is related to our foreign policy. I know he has “evolved” on the issue, but he spent too much of his life being a dick and screwing the poor for me to value his contributions. I don’t like him.
Boo, I remember you once wrote something like “Lindsay Graham is 3/4 of the way to being a good person.” Still believe that?
I swear that I have no recollection of writing that. I don’t deny it, but it doesn’t ring a bell. If I said it, it was probably in relation to immigration.
Here it is:
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2010/7/20/161254/404
I wasn’t trying to call you out or anything, I was just curious if you still felt any positivity towards him.
There are people dumber than Graham in the GOP but IMO Hagel isnt one of them.
Hagel I think can bring a new perspective to a department that needs to greatly change and downsize after a decade of nonstop war and nearly unlimited budgets.
And he is a good pick because he will piss off all the right people.
But I am not saying he is uniquely qualified or even that there aren’t better people, just that he will do just fine.
Graham was also right about Bosnia and Kosovo when not a single Republican would get behind Clinton. Despite Clinton deliberating that action while getting blown I think history that was the right thing to do and we executed it correctly.
Filibuster bait?
If he is truly as dumb as you say, then he was probably picked with that in mind. In such circumstances you look at who is Deputy Secretary of Defense, and what his preferred policies are.
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So Hagel didn’t impress a lot of people at the hearing. That doesn’t worry me much, because the skills that make you good at a hearing like that are not necessarily the skills you need in order to run the department of defense.
I would see this all the time at the university where I worked. They would choose a dean or director based on some talk he or she gives. Believe me, the skills you need for running a unit or a college have very little to do with how good a talk you give.
I didn’t see any of the hearing, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Hagel was a bit shell-shocked at the crazy levels of hostility, just as I think President Obama was really shocked by the level of lying that came from the 47% guy at the first debate. I find I am loathe to even type his name.
Something else just occurred to me as I was about to press “post”. When I hired folks to work in our IT unit, I didn’t hire the person who knew the most or who had the most experience. I looked for people who were smart and sharp and had a service mentality, people that I thought we could work with and that we would want to be around. If they had those things, they could learn anything they needed to know. That hiring strategy served our unit exceedingly well.
So it’s not hard for me to believe that President Obama wants Hagel because he knows he can work with him and that they share the same values related to the goals President Obama has for the department of defense. Barack seems to look for what he has in common with people, not what sets them apart. I have absolutely no problem with this pick by the president.