Chuck Hagel
April 21, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
The Washington Post reports that Secretary of Defense Hagel is taking his “charm offensive” to Israel. At first blush, this seems like a difficult task. Most of the few people Hagel has ever been able to charm (the Steve Clemons’ of the world and, to be fair, apparently Barack Obama) seem to have been won over in part by his anti-Israel barbs. But we shouldn’t forget about handwritten thank-you notes.
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April 4, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Chuck Hagel’s testimony during his Senate confirmation hearing consisted of one misadventure after another. For example, he described the Iranian regime as “legitmate” and characterized American’s policy toward Iran as “containment.” In both cases, he likely was reflecting the real view and actual policy of the Obama administration. But he wasn’t supposed to let the cat out of the bag. He thus embarrassed both Team Obama and himself. One might
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February 27, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Andy McCarthy asks two good questions about the Republican “folderoo” on Chuck Hagel: I have a question for Senator John McCain, leader of the pack that says Hagel is “not qualified” to be defense secretary but that nonetheless voted in a way that assured his confirmation. McCain opposes the sequester because, he argues, the cuts to the defense budget are “unconscionable.” So . . . how can it be unconscionable
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February 26, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
As expected, the Senate has confirmed Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense. The confirmation occurred through two votes. First, the Senate voted by 71-27 in favor of cloture. This ended “debate” and meant that Hagel would get an “up-or-down” vote. In that vote, Hagel was confirmed by a margin of 58-41. 18 Republican Senators voted to end cloture. They are: Alexander (Tenn.), Ayotte (N.H), Blunt (Mo.), Burr (N.C.), Chambliss (Ga.),
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February 25, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Louis Farrakhan, the rabidly anti-Israel, anti-Semitic leader of the Nation of Islam, is full of praise for Chuck Hagel. Farrakhan delivered his praise yesterday during a speech in Chicago. According to Betsy Woodruff at NRO, Farrakhan began by arguing that the media is controlled by Jewish interests. He then praised Hagel for, among other things, standing up to the “Jewish lobby.” And he complained that Hagel is “in trouble” as
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February 24, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Sen. Lindsey Graham has written a letter to his former colleague Chuck Hagel asking that Hagel open his Senate archive at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and that he authorize the release of past speeches organized by the Washington Speakers Bureau. Graham notes that the Washington Speakers Bureau is refusing to transfer to the Senate any video recordings of Hagel’s past speeches because Hagel apparently hasn’t authoritzed this. In addition, the
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February 23, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Peter Kirsanow on the impending confirmation of “Caligula’s Horse” as Secretary of Defense: Just because they’re laughing in Tehran, Pyongyang, Moscow, and some hovel in Mali doesn’t mean this nomination is funny.
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February 21, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Richard “Hi, I’m Dick Shelby and I’m holding a fundraiser” Shelby has announced that he will vote to confirm Chuck Hagel. He becomes, effectively, the 60th vote in favor of cloture, with more to follow. Shelby explained that Hagel is “probably as good as we’re going to get” as Secretary of Defense. He’s probably the only Senator who believes this, assuming he does. Perhaps he missed Hagel’s confirmation hearings because
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February 20, 2013 — Steven Hayward
A few days ago Mickey Kaus delivered one of his usual top-spin-heavy counter-intuitive schemes about how the best way to kill immigration reform is . . . the quick confirmation of Chuck Hagel. Say what? Actually I understand exactly what he means, and have thought for a while about laying out here a similar theory of my own about inter-party dynamics. Reflecting on the passing of Robert Bork last month
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February 19, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Alana Goodman at the Washington Free Beacon reports that Chuck Hagel said Israel is on its way to becoming an apartheid state, according to a contemporaneous account of an appearance by Hagel at Rutgers University on April 9, 2010. Hagel also accused Israel of violating U.N. resolutions, called for U.S.-designated terrorist organization Hamas to be included in any peace negotiations, and described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “radical,”
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February 18, 2013 — Steven Hayward
The woeful Hagel nomination brings back memories of the 1936 appointment of the “entirely unsuited” (Richard Langworth’s phrase) Sir Thomas Inskip to be the Minister for the Coordination of Defense in the British government—a post that everyone thought Churchill should fill. William Manchester pointed out that “a search of The Times files reveals that his only notable public effort had been a successful campaign to suppress revisions of the Anglican
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February 18, 2013 — Scott Johnson
On its home page, the Daily Caller flags Charles Johnson’s story with the heading above. Clicking on the story shows the headline to be the more prosaic but perfectly serviceable “Supporter of Iranian dictatorship brought Chuck Hagel to Rutgers for 2007 speech.” Charles Johnson reports: A pro-Hezbollah, pro-Hamas candidate for the Iranian presidency, a man linked to Iranian-controlled front groups, brought former Republican Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel to speak at
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February 17, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Bob Woodward said that “some [Democratic Senators] have actually called the White House and said, ‘Is Hagel going to withdraw? Will he consider withdrawing?’” My guess is that President Obama is committed to installing Hagel at the Pentagon, and isn’t going to back down as long as he believes Hagel can be confirmed. To the extent that some Democratic Senators have a problem with Hagel,
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February 15, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Politico runs a piece called “Why Obama went all-in on Chuck Hagel.” The article eventually provides an answer: “because he’s unafraid of sacred cows. . . .” The “sacred cows” aren’t named, but they don’t have to be. Obama nominated Hagel to stick it publicly to Israel and what he and Hagel consider “the Jewish lobby.” Actually, the “pro-Israel lobby” probably could have killed the Hagel nomination, and would have
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February 14, 2013 — John Hinderaker
I originally wrote this as an add-on to Paul’s post immediately below, but thought that since it is pretty long, and goes well beyond the immediate subject of Paul’s post, it should probably be posted independently. So here it is: I disagree somewhat with many of my fellow conservatives with respect to the diagnosis of anti-Semitism. It is a commonplace that criticizing the policies of the government of Israel does
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February 14, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
In a March 2007 speech at Rutgers University, Chuck Hagel said that the U.S. Department of State was an adjunct of the Israeli foreign minister’s office, according to a contemporaneous report of the event. The contemporaneous report consists of notes by Republican political consultant and Hagel supporter George Ajjan, who wrote about the speech on his website the following day. As a Hagel supporter — then (Hagel was testing the
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February 13, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
It still seems more likely than not that the Senate will confirm Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense. But today, there are signs that Senate Republicans may have enough votes to block his nomination while they wait for more information. According to Politico, Sen. Roy Blunt says he believes there are 40 Senators whose votes would reflect the view that “it’s too quick to end the debate on this nomination.”
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