Friday, October 23, 2009

Hagel ditches the GOP


If this ain't leaving the party, we don't know what is:
[Former Nebraska Senator, Virginia resident, Chuck] Hagel was asked whether he would run as a Republican if he were to seek office again, a question the Nebraska native did not answer directly.

"I would run as Chuck Hagel. I always have," he said. "If I'd run again, I'd run on my record, and who I am, and that's the way I'd do it."
If you're a Republican, you say, "Of course I'd run as a Republican. I've always been in the party. What are you, nuts? Get outta here!"

But instead Hagel announced the formation of the "Chuck Hagel Party".

Riiiiiight...

Bye Chuck.

***

"...a lot of the complaints about incivility today are really complaints from the people in power or their supporters in the media, aimed at the folks who won’t shut up and get with their program.

And there’s something distinctly undemocratic about that."
Those complaints can also be attributed to those who are gunning for a SecDef gig...

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Anyone making odds on Hagel trying a third party independent big for the big job in 2012? Maybe a new "middle of the roadkill" type "moderate" party. Only slightly right of SanFran Nan, Barry O, etc., but still committed to losing/avoiding any necessary war.

Scott Bluff said...

We'll trade you. Ben Nelson for Chuck Hagel. We'd be getting the better end of the bargain even though Chuck is a lot more conservative at least he's honest.

Gerard Harbison said...

Chuck Hagel Party.

AKA Malignant Narcissist Party. But I repeat myself.

The Chuckster's greatest stunt was to sign up as GWB's Nebraska co-chair, and then do his damnedest to defeat GWB. That's almost clinical.

What was the Nebraska GOP thinking? Oh, wait, never mind...

Anonymous said...

Chuck Hagel from what I hear considers himself a Independent but only used the Republican Party as a springboard for his career.

More and more people are moving towards registering as I's, just like Jim Esch.

Anonymous said...

Using Chuck Hagel and honest in the same sentence almost made me fall out of my chair laughing. Unless by honest you mean he kises his own reflection in the mirror.

Anonymous said...

Yikes 2:25 you must not like Chuck or someone messed in your Wheaties.

He's a strong independent voice which if the majority of the country was strong Ds and RS then Glen Beck wouldn't have ratings and we'd be voting in groves

Uncle Wiggily said...

If Chucky-baby would just join the Democrats now the general competence level of both parties would be greatly improved.

I don't understand why Republicans statewide aren't cheering tonight.

I am reminded of a black friend of mine years ago who, when informed that Sammy Davis Jr had decided to convert to Judaism, remarked, "So what - he only hangs out with white guys anyway, he's not much of a dancer, and he only has one eye."

RIP, Chuckster.

Nate E said...

Only with extremists can someone with a 84 lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union not be conservative enough. Amazing

Gerard Harbison said...

Oh, Chuck voted the party line most of the time, which belied his self-proclaimed independence. The problem was mostly that he had a compulsion to be on TV, and knew the only reliable way for a Republican to get on the networks is to be a 'maverick Republican' who disses his own. They had a symbiosis; Chuck got his appearance, and the media got criticism of Bush from within his own party.

Anonymous said...

When Hagel first ran for office as a GOP Congressman's former Chief of Staff and Reagan appointee, the Nebraska Republican Party openly advocated against Hagel and for his GOP opponant. Hagel entered the Senate as a star, a deputy GOP Senate whip. But the Nebraska GOP, Bush and GOP leaders never stopped screwing Hagel.

Today's Republican Party is run by a Chairman who is more liberal like Obama than Conservative like Hagel. Frankly, Reagan's GOP seems dead.

Modern GOP leaders are all about grabbing government power to do what they think should be done to better control Americans morally and they are willing to tax Americans to do that. Reagan said goverment power itself is the root of tyranny, that federal goverment is the problem. Modern GOP leaders don't understand that. Maybe Hagel doesn't either, but he does what he thinks is right, and that's more than what the slimeballs running the GOP are doing.

Hagel didn't cause Obama to be elected. The GOP did that.

Party of One said...

Chuck Hagel's Party. That's a laugh. Go back and read Hagel's 1996 manifesto "Where I stand". It was a carbon copy of the Republican Contract With America. As a Senator he supported every nutjob Republican party platform until the Iraq war.

But even then, after literally years of blustering on the matter, when push came to shove, Hagel got pushed. He ridiculed his colleagues to "go sell shoes" if they couldnt take a tough vote - for his anti-war amendment at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Then a day later, hagel voted against his won resolution on the floor of the Senate. What an embarrassment.

The Chuck Hagel party. It's always been a party of one.

Remember folks, according to Hagel's rules for his staff, we should all stand up when posting about him on this site.

Unknown said...

Could it not simply be a fracturing of the GOP? Perhaps I'm just seeing something that isn't there, I'm willing to accept that, but it looks like some of the more moderate Republicans are trying to distant themselves from the more conservative side of the party. It's happening on the Democratic side too. I've not had the opportunity to check the numbers yet, but I'm betting there are more Independents (voters) these days as people get more and more tired of all the totting of the party lines (regardless of the party). Representing the people rather than the party is how it's 'supposed' to work isn't it?