If you think that John McCain is a grumpy old man who shouts at clouds, he’s got nothing on Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma. Neither of them can stand Chuck Hagel for the simple reason that he is a constant reminder that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that our invasion of that country was a gigantic strategic and (especially) moral blunder that got a lot of people injured and killed unnecessarily and at tremendous expense. When Hagel turned against the war, he turned McCain and Inhofe into mortal enemies. Yet, while McCain retains an iota of dignity about it, Inhofe recently accused Hagel of being “cozy with Iran.”
Perhaps stung by the resulting rebukes, Inhofe felt compelled to explain himself. You see, Inhofe just took over at the Ranking Member (i.e., senior Republican) on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which was in charge of handling Chuck Hagel’s confirmation process to be the next Secretary of Defense. And he and freshmen Ted Cruz of Texas, who also sits on the committee, lobbed incendiary accusations at Hagel, including that he may have taken money from Saudi Arabia and North Korea. This is not in the tradition of the civil and bipartisan climate of the Armed Services Committee. So, Inhofe promised that he will be better behaved once Chuck Hagel is disposed of.
“They have to put on their show. We have to put on our show,” James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma said during an event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “But we get along fine.”
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Inhofe, one of the most conservative members of the Senate, who took over as the Armed Services ranking member at the beginning of this Congress, said Thursday the panel needs to get beyond this particular nomination.
“You’ll see the committee like it was before,” he said.
He might as well have said, “I can’t help myself. I just hate this guy.”
At least he admits that it is all for show.
Since our “conservative” nihilists think it’s the height of comedy to have agencies thrash about without directors (like the Consumer Financial Protection Agency), let’s have our bloated waste-filled Pentagon operate without an agency head as well. Let dysfunction reign! The more the merrier!
And why move on to any new business until we have a vote on Defense Sec? It’s not like anything is going to be being accomplished anyway–what with super-successful filibuster reform and all!—and it might force the corporate media to report on the latest (literally unprecedented) Repub hijinks of filibustering a Defense Sec nominee.
So just stop the senate, period. Talk 24/7 about why it’s shut down—cuz John McTurd & Co. refuse to vote against a fellow “conservative” GOP-Vietnam vet for Defense Sec. Sounds reasonable!
Finally, Heckuva Job, Harry! And Senate (Dem) Lions!! Hoocoudanowed?
“Just a show”, huh, Mr. Imhofe??
I can’t wait until the voters demand their refund for this “show”.
You guys are missing the end game here. They are going to hold this up till they get the exact details of what the White House was doing during Benghazi. Once they’ve extracted that they are going to shift through it to see if they can find something to smear Obama with, and we might see them try to haul people up to the hill to screw them.
Mark my words, this is holding a hostage to get people set up for a trap, and it will work.
Gotta say, that’s what my big concern is here. Republicans want their BIG SCANDAL which will allow them to harass/impeach the Democratic President. It. Is. How. They. Roll. Now.
It is also why I don’t trust that the GOP will let this go in 10 days, as some reporters are blithely predicting. If this completely insane Caucus hasn’t extracted a minute-by-minute timeline accounting for “what the president was doing while four brave Americans were killed by terrorists under his watch”, then I predict no Sec of Def for us, among other appointments. Only big pressure from the public would help avoid that fate, and really, who is inspired to make noise over Chuck Hagel?
Harry Reid wasn’t played here; that would be like saying Charlie Brown was played when Lucy pulled the football again. No, Reid and the caucus members who supported him in resisting filibuster reform are STUPID.
Really, their decision was so unbelievably dense that rank insults are the only things they merit.
I agree they won’t let it go,but must say I find it fascinating. First they’re willing to let the USA default, now they’re willing to have no secdef. They are insane. The rest of the world continues with its business regardless of their temper tantrums. Weren’t we discussing breaking the republican party?
I don’t believe the personal animus story. McCain and Imhofe are doing what McConnell wants–slow down or stop the Senate to paralyze the Obama administration.
It’s the same old, same old. Just the rotating villain.
Sad that “Fighter” Harry handed it to the GOP on a silver platter.
Hoping this is rope-a-dope to let the GOP take it to the extreme. Might the hammer be coming down soon? Nah. Then the Democrats in the Senate would have to govern in public. Warts and all.
Do you still disbelieve the personal animus story?
I’m presuming the Dept. of Defense can run without anyone sitting in the big seat.
Time to start circulating this meme: Republicans are sabotaging our defense. Combine it with the meme about Republicans cutting the budget for embassy security.
What works for getting Republicans is embarrassing them in public.
Know-Nothings. Do-Nothings. No-Everything.
They drag their feet on immigration? Let them alienate Latinos. We’ll get Texas that much sooner. They shut down the government with the sequester? Maybe they can make it unanimous for federal employees to vote Democratic.
The myths of Ronald Reagan have come home to roost. Constantly expose these guys.
Am I confused? Hagel was wrong to turn against a war against Iran’s greatest, longest lasting enemy? A war that put into power political interests much friendlier to Iran? But he is “cozy” with Iran?
Inhofe might be an alcoholic of the kind we haven’t seen in Congress since Wilbur Mills, or before. The rumor is that it’s 5 p.m. somewhere around 7 a.m. in DC for some people.
wow!