In the upcoming March issue of GQ magazine (available on the table at your barber shop) you will find an interview with Nebraska’s own U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel, the “It-Guy” of the anti-Iraq war sentiment in Congress (and on The interview is entitled:
THE ANGRY ONERepublican senator Chuck Hagel sounds off on the sorry state of Congress, the president’s lies, and the vote for war that he now regrets
From that title, you can guess that this is a Hagel unlike what you tend to hear on local TV, in the papers, or even when hounding Condi Rice in Committee.
Get ready for some unbridled Chuck.
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It's past time for a new DumpHagel.org group to form and really begin working to remove the run for senate option from Hagel's planning...unless it's from his real home state of Virginia. On the two most important issues facing this country, victory in Iraq and illegal immigration, Senator Hagel consistently and clearly shows his true east coast liberal Republican beliefs. He may form a presidential exploratory committee soon and take a stab at a run...which won't last much longer than snow in southern California. It would be wonderful to see him challenged by Jon Bruning if Hagel then decides to file later to run for the senate. Even with a large campaign fund, Hagel would face an uphill primary battle against a "real Nebraskan" like Bruning. Speculation about Hagel being tapped as a VP nominee is a joke. Who would silly enough to trust Hagel to be part of any team that Hagel doesn't captain himself???
In this interview Hagel says, “it's not as simple as ‘I voted for the war.’ That wasn't the resolution.” And then later claims, “Even before we actually invaded, I had a pretty clear sense of it—that this administration was hell-bent on going to war in Iraq.”
So which is it? Hagel was so omniscient that he KNEW what the President was going to do, but claims he thought the President was just using the use of force resolution as a diplomatic stick?
Hagel wants out now? Fine, he can have that view. But let’s not pretend that he didn’t vote to invade Iraq.
I am so sick of the Hagel show and would like to put forth a new suggestion- Broadway. He is so damn dramatic and theatrical that I believe given a shot, he could be a real star.
Who knows, he could even possibly become a big time movie star, where he would obviously feel at home surrounded by starry eyed dreaming pessimists that are so wrapped up in themselves they tend to not see past their own egos.
Any Nebraskan that thinks he cares about them is just as blind. I wish the media would expose how many days a month our senior Sen. even spends in our state. Hint: you can count them on one hand.
All you hagel-haters: You must be the last remaining ones in the US that still have blind allegiance to Bush. The President has done nothing good for the Republican party (except for judges - and Hagel voted for all of them). I'm sorry, but nation building is a Democrat concept, not Republican. Dramatic growth in the size of government is a Democrat ideal, not Republican. Federal involvement in local school districts, well, Kennedy loved that one. Am I making sense yet? When will you wake up?
True- Save the allegiance to the President and comprehensive understanding of GOP principles discussion for another day.
All you Hagel lovers are drinking the cool-aid. You love to make this discussion that of Bush v. Hagel, it’s not.
Hagel is a self serving narcissist that couldn’t care less about the people of Nebraska. That’s what upsets me and should upset the people that were gracious enough to elect him. Period.
He needs to be exposed for what he is and that has nothing to do with the President and/ or his party affiliation.
More Hagel bashing! I love it. I hope politics purges Chuck as thoroughly as it did Bob Kerrey, our other Senator driven mad by Washington D.C.
By opposing the war in Iraq, Hagel is a real conservative. To those who disagree, I say turn off Rush and Hannity. Stop the flag-waving and think about it.
It was right to crush the Taliban in Afghanistan. In fact, not enough was done there. But there was never an urgent national interest in Iraq. We conservatives need to face up to the fact that Bush -- and his flabby neo-cons in pinstriped suits -- led us into an insane crusade to bring democracy to a U.S.-hating, Al-Queda-symphathizing Iraq citizenry. Meanwhile, Osama lives and the Taliban regains its foothold. Amazingly wrong-headed, as Hagel would say.
But Hagel and nearly every Democrat handed Bush a blank check for war. They didn't want to be accused of not supporting our troops.
Hagel needs to follow the lead of Rep. Walter Jones, Republican of North Carolina. Jones has introduced HJR 14, which says: "Absent a national emergency created by attack by Iran, or a demonstrably imminent attack by Iran, upon the United States ... the president shall receive specific authorization pursuant to law from Congress, prior to initiating any use of force on Iran."
Those who died in Iraq will have not died in vein if it means that next time we consider going to war, we follow the Constitution, which plainly states that only Congress can authorize it. What are we sending representatives to DC for if they simply hand over authority to the Executive Branch?
I wonder if Hagel and his cohorts are considering what Israel might do vis-a-vis hitting Iran's nuclear facilities with their own tactical nukes when/if it becomes apparent we're leaving Iraq? It's pretty clear that it would be to Israel's advantage to conduct such a strike while the US still has considerable military assets and troops in the area to keep the Syrians and Iranians from overrunning Israel in a combined ground attack. I haven't heard much public discussion of that potential outcome of Hagel's "redeployment" strategy. I just have a hard time accepting Hagel's position as anything other than a tactic for launching his presidential bid.
OmaSteak, I think you have it backwards. He's using the Presidential bid to further his views on Iraq.
Hagel is smart enough to read the polls and know that he doesn't have a realistic chance to get the nomination. But by running for Prez, he can talk about what he's passionate about and people will listen (and keep putting him on Sunday mornings).
You can argue about whether he's right or wrong and whether his methods are good or bad, but his passion about the war in Iraq is real.
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