Hagel

[Belligerent Savant]

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Couldn't help but include this detritus here -- happened to notice it while perusing dreadful Google News.

http://www.examiner.com/article/obama-m ... of-defense

Today, Jan. 4, 2013, The Cable has reported that the president is expected to name Chuck Hagel as his choice for defense secretary to replace Leon Panetta. It is expected to be a difficult confirmation for Hagel, should Obama name him.

One reason for the difficult confirmation mentioned above is that Hagel seems to have some kind of dislike for Israel. This is obviously not the kind of person that Israel needs to see as Secretary of Defense here in the U.S. The Bible tells us that the Jew’s are God’s chosen people! Enough said.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, Rep. Eliot Engel (D., N.Y.) was quoted as saying in an interview with ‘Newsmakers’ on Dec. 23, 2012 about Hagel that;

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“It seems there is some kind of endemic hostility toward Israel, and that’s troublesome for me and for a lot of other people.”

Engel made that statement in a ‘Newsmakers’ interview that aired Dec. 23, 2012.

Hagel may named by Obama as early as Monday, says The Cable, but it will be an uphill battle for him to be as critics of the former Nebraska senator prepare to go to war to fight his expected nomination.

Israel needs a very strong partnership with America. Currently, President Obama himself seems a little cool toward the Israelis. That too is not good since they are surrounded by Arab countries, some of which have openly stated that they want to drive Israel into the sea.

Read more from Jake on political and Constitutional subjects at his "Conservative Examiner" pages.

© 2013 by Jake Jones

And:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/0 ... 11434.html

Hagel had come under intense criticism from pro-Israel interest groups for past comments. Drawing particular fire was a quote from his 2008 book, wherein he said, "I'm not an Israeli senator. I'm a United States senator." He added, "I support Israel, but my first interest is I take an oath of office to the Constitution of the United States, not to a president, not to a party, not to Israel. If I go run for Senate in Israel, I’ll do that."

[JackRiddler]

It's all part of the Hagelian Dialectic.

[Belligerent Savant]

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Surely you Kant be serious...

[lupercal]

See this is why I've developed a high regard for BO's political chops. Once the balloons have dropped he stops going for the high fives, but he gets what he needs so to speak. Fiscal cliff: mediocre deal, but no cuts to SS, medicare, or federal extended unemployment bennies, plus a modest upper-bracket tax increase. FICA: remember how Greenwald and Hedges bitched about that temporary payroll tax break? Okay, it's gone. Now they can bitch about the hike and look like the hypocrites they are.

Anyway Kerry and Hagel seem much more suitable than Flournoy and Rice who like Hilly are gung-ho regime changers. So Obama lets it look like McCain et al. forced Kerry on him, thus not alienating his most loyal supporters, and now he's getting Hagel, a renegade puke but puke nonetheless, who McCain et al. will therefore probably wind up voting for, thus assuring we'll finally get the non-interventionist cabinet we were promised in 2008. If Obama gets Hagel he'll have no less than three peaceniks on his cabinet, counting Joe, and that's a good thang.

[Wombaticus Rex]

...thus assuring we'll finally get the non-interventionist cabinet we were promised in 2008. If Obama gets Hagel he'll have no less than three peaceniks on his cabinet, counting Joe, and that's a good thang.

Not disagreeing, just want to unpack: is non-confrontational, non-overt economic and social imperialism necessarily peacenik, or was that black humor? Considering how much of the US global offensive gets conducted under the banner of "peaceful" initiatives and agencies, I have to wonder if this isn't just more of the same Samantha Power / Cass Sunstein "soft" and "intellectual" Statism rap. Henry Jackson was a Democrat, too.

[lupercal]

^ good question. Let's call peacenik shorthand for "hasn't promised to bomb Iran lately." About soft power: if Syria is soft power, and by most definitions it is, from what I've seen none of these three support it. Whether they actually leave Assad in place remains to be seen, and as much as I'd like that to happen I'm not optimistic that it will. But the times they are a-changin', that's clear, so it might.

p.s. by peacenik I mean non-interventionist, which sounds slightly more official but is no less susceptible to the usual charges of appeasement. That's what sank Joe Kennedy's career and surprisingly enough that's what JFK ran on in 1960. I recently reread his 1960 campaign book, The Strategy of Peace, essentially a collection of speeches, mostly on foreign policy. I've mentioned it before but his basic platform was a) achieving world peace and b) nuclear disarmament, detailing region by region strategies, thus the title, which was apparently also a campaign slogan. It seems he'd been calling Vietnam unwinnable since 1951. How Chomsky wrings an imperialist cold warrior out of this is hard to fathom.

[Wombaticus Rex]

How Chomsky wrings an imperialist cold warrior out of this is hard to fathom.

...I know what you mean, dear chap, I do...

[justdrew]

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/my-friendly-offer-bill-kristol

January 4th, 2013 8:16 PM
Six Years Ago, Chuck Hagel Told the Truth About Iraq

By Michael Moore

You might have seen that on Monday President Obama will likely nominate former Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, to be Secretary of Defense.

But what you probably haven't seen – because everyone has forgotten – is that back in 2007, Chuck Hagel went totally crazy and told the truth about our invasion of Iraq. Here's what he said:

"People say we're not fighting for oil. Of course we are. They talk about America's national interest. What the hell do you think they're talking about? We're not there for figs."

Whew! Wouldn't it put a spring in your step to read the news each morning and see Hagel's name? If he's willing to say that about Iraq, who knows what he'll bust out with next! He might mention that the sky is blue, or two plus two equals four…or even that we should change the name of the Department of Defense back to what it was before World War II – the Department of War.

Now, I'm not saying Hagel is the best qualified choice for Secretary of Defense. (That would be Andrew Bacevich.) I'm not even saying he's the best qualified Senator or ex-Senator. (There are 19 of those – the surviving senators who voted against invading Iraq in the fall of 2002. Hagel voted yes.)

But what I am saying is: thank you, Chuck Hagel. We may not agree on much, but we agree that politicians should tell the truth about war and peace and life and death. We're all in your debt for that – especially since, when it comes to Iraq and oil, President Obama's first Republican Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, couldn't manage it.

[lupercal]

Hagel nominated for Defense, and John Brennan for CIA:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/07/politics/ ... index.html

This administration is taking a distinctly non-interventionist direction. Hagel opposed Iran sanctions? Can't say I'm not liking it.

[Elvis]

The more I read about Hagel, the more I like him. He won my admiration with his early and persistent opposition to the invasion of Iraq. Later, I read about his resignation from the VA, in protest of its deliberate failure to take care of veterans. He seems to have an actual sense of right and wrong, and a backbone.

Of course I also wonder, "yeah well if he's so great why isn't he working in the Green Party, or speaking out against drone strikes (etc.)?" The thing is, Hagel, for what he is---a Republican businessman/politician--- truly stands out as someone who will stand up for the Right Thing.

I guess we'll see. I haven't looked closely at Hagel's business dealings, but a cursory overview looks pretty straight.

I first heard of Hagel after his anomalous Senate win (as I understand it, an 80% Republican US Senate victory in Nebraska qualifies as an anomaly). It seemed suspicious, coming as it did right after his stint at the voting machine company, whose machines apparently counted his votes. Maybe someone rigged it, but, I'd like to think, without his knowledge. On the other hand, voters might have simply responded to his honesty and intelligence. He's handsome, too, I guess.

The fact that the GOP is primed to fight his nomination is very encouraging.

I Hope™ they cave early and confirm him, he might actually bring some good Change™ to the Pentagon. In any event, he's an interesting choice for the job.

[RocketMan]

JackRiddler beat me to the pun...



Actually, there's quite a strong resemblance.

[MinM]

@EliLake: AIPAC is sitting out the #Hagel fight. #Israel http://thebea.st/WoXaPS

https://twitter.com/EliLake/status/288418397333618689

@PeterBeinart: @chucktodd says "Jewish donors upset" w/ Hagel. Not "pro-Israel" donors? The anti-semitism never ends! http://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/t ... z2HOBLzra9 …
Retweeted by Glenn Greenwald

https://twitter.com/PeterBeinart/status ... 8867533824

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[Nordic]

I first heard of Hagel after his anomalous Senate win (as I understand it, an 80% Republican US Senate victory in Nebraska qualifies as an anomaly). It seemed suspicious, coming as it did right after his stint at the voting machine company, whose machines apparently counted his votes.

Yeah. That. Hagel's entry into politics is mighty mighty suspicious.

As far as what he says, well, talk is cheap. Hell, look at the shit that comes out of Obama's mouth when he's running for office. Hagel went ahead and voted for the Rape of Iraq.

Fuck Hagel. Fuck all of the Obama administration. They're all a bunch of cronies, crooks, liars, and phonies.