The apparently principled opposition of Republicans in the Senate to Chuck Hagel’s nomination as secretary of defense appears to be over.
Via Slate:
Sen. John McCain says that while he doesn’t believe former Sen. Chuck Hagel is the right man to lead the Pentagon, Republican senators will stop using tactics to delay the vote. “No, I don’t believe he’s qualified, but I don’t believe we should hold up his nomination any further,” McCain said on NBC. “I think it’s [been] a reasonable amount of time to have questions answered.”
Even if they’re left unanswered.
In another sign of how Republicans are relenting on their opposition to Hagel, Sen. Lindsey Graham said on Fox News he is willing to accept the former senator’s denials about alleged anti-Israel remarks. “If it’s true, that’s the end of it,” Graham said. Still, Graham defended the delay in confirmation saying Hagel is “one of the most unqualified, radical choices for secretary of defense in a very long time.” But when it comes down to it, “this is the president’s decision,” he added.
You know, in this wild and wacky and turbulent world, it’s somehow comforting to know that (a) the sun always rises in the east, and (b) we can always count on our Republican elected representatives to cave.
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Comments
If Senators are willing to confirm a nominee that they can say “I don’t believe he’s qualified” and “is one of the most unqualified, radical choices for secretary of defense in a very long time” – what would it take to actually vote no?
Why do they bother asking questions if they plan to confirm regardless of how bad a nominee is? Stop the grandstanding and just rubber stamp all of them.
Agree 100%. Why do we complain about recess appointments when the horse and pony show we just had produces the same result?
They will be voting no. There just aren’t enough of them.
Filibustering would do no good. Even if it succeeded over time – and the record shows that is unlikely with GOP filibusters of Democratic nominees, do you suppose Obama would come back with a better nominee?
The policy will be Obama’s no matter who is SecDef. Elections matter.
Hagel was nominated as the Republican pawn in a political chess match. And who loses the most when Hagel takes the post? Our country and our soldiers. Why McCain, a veteran, can’t see how horrible a choice Hagel is tells me McCain is no more than a sellout. I wish I could take back my 2008 vote for him.
Ya know, I spent almost a decade listening to leftist twits piss and moan about “moving to Canada” every time George W. Bush so much as farted. Dozens of right-leaning websites posted hundreds of pictures of beta males and their patchouli-reeking female dominatrixes (sic?), all pouty-faced, holding up signs apologizing to the world for the atrocities W’s administration inflicted upon the rest of the planet.
Today, I am entirely unsurprised to learn that if you’re a formerly hot-looking, presently bloated douchebag, it’s perfectly acceptable to call a black man a “coon,” and can be appointed to lead the most formidable military force the world has ever known, yet state with absolutely no fear of contradiction that the government you’re about to defend with the lives of hundreds of thousands of young men and women is, in fact, led by a cabal of Orthodox Jews, and worry not a whit about blowback, provided you support the economic enslavement of entire races in pursuit of some bullshit, candy-ass, murderous worldview.
Because it’s the “right” thing to do, you know.
I truly am watching to see it all burn, because all of this is because of a few thousand idiots who can’t be bothered to get their information from anyone other than the alphabet networks, and hold themselves on high for deigning to watch a “hard news” show hosted by David Gregory and George Stephanopolous.
Me and mine? We’re sticking with LI, Ace, Brietbart, and the jovial clowns over on WGN Morning News. As for the rest, we’re starting to think conservatives dig The Walking Dead because we see it as a quasi-field manual for when the progtards run out of money, food and voters, and begin feeding on whatever the hell had enough ammunition to survive the initial destruction of humanity’s dependance upon self-absorbed, egalitarian twats.
Let. It. Burn.
“My cherie amour…”
My Sharia Moor = great screen name, lol
Damage is done, I wonder what they got for their votes?
They get left alone.
Big surprise. Like nobody could see this coming? The only thing worse than a Republican is a Democrat.
And this was unexpected? LOOK A SQUIRREL!
This makes no sense. If McCain was going to let him be nominated, why bother with the hostility at the confirmation hearings and make the guy look bad (OK, really, really bad). I hope that McCain either believes that the alternative is going to be much, much worse, or the Democrats in the Senate have seen the light and won’t back Hagel. In all probability, the Senate Republicans are probably just trying to curry favor with the MSM (again).
Slight correction. Hagel needed no help from McC and others in looking bad. He does that superbly all by himself.
Some folks criticized Lindsey Graham for blocking a vote on Hagel as a means of pressuring the White House to release information about the Benghazi massacre. While I agree that it is a shame to have to use a confirmation hearing as a lever for pursuing an unrelated objective, it is true that Congressional Republicans apparently have few tools to hold Obama accountable for anything (that is, few tools they care to wield, assuming they actually want to hold him accountable, which I seriously doubt).
So I supported Graham’s effort, and he did clearly explain why we need to know more about the decisions made in the Executive branch that resulted in the Benghazi murders.
However, Graham has NOT achieved his stated goal, and he knows that Hagel is an extremely poor candidate. To give in now proves his jelly-filled spine is in charge.
Daley Gator has a post on the Hagel nomination that Lindsey Graham certainly needs to read:
http://thedaleygator.wordpress.com/2013/02/17/video-george-will-if-the-president-wants-a-terrible-secretary-of-defense-hes-got-a-right-to-him/
This is insane.
Equally insane, is how McCain and Graham are speaking for the GOP. Why did the rest of the GOP abdicate their role to these two clowns? Where Rinse Preebus on this? (Or whatever his name is.)
How is absolute madness. It’s beyond disgusting.
As if the injury of having radical/Democrat leftists running Washington weren’t enough, we’re expected to endure the insult of RINOs constantly trying to pass themselves off as conservatives. Just shoot me now.
This was the warm-up for a lunatic Obama will no doubt appoint to the Supreme Court.
If the CURRENT GOP leadership folds on Hagel, they’ll fold on the madman Obama will appoint to the Supreme Court.
Our only hope: change the GOP leadership at the party level.
I’m thinking maybe DHS had advance warning the RINO’s were folding and stocked up on ammo just in case the rest of us had had enough.
According to Bob Woodward, senate Dems have been calling the White House to ask if Hagel will be withdrawing.
Why withdraw when the GOP will fold?
The remaining question: How bad a performance would one have to give, and how anti-our best ally in the ME, to be opposed to the end?
Depends. If you’re a prog there’s no limit known to man. If you’re not all that’s needed is an unproven claim you once stayed in a motel which had Gideon bibles in the rooms.
Hagel and the penchant barry has for islam, I’d say Israel is on its own.
Have no fear, the Arabs and the Persians will make a come back, eventually..
See below:
The population of Hiroshima on December 21st 2011 is approximately 1,179,816.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_current_population_of_Hiroshima_Japan
As of January 2009 the population of Nagasaki, Japan was 446,000
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_population_of_Nagasaki
McCain is psychotic. He was broken in the POW camp in Hanoi, and has been radically unstable ever sine. He might be the real Manchurian candidate.
The Republican Party is dead. Real Americans need to find or create a new party.
Honk!
The president should get his first choice confirmed IF HE’S QUALIFIED, even if the opposition party thinks he’ll pursue policy they don’t agree with. But if the opposition sincerely believes he is unqualified, then they have a duty to stop the appointment. That’s the whole point of “advice and consent”. Either they don’t really believe Hagel is unqualified and they are smearing him for political nonsense reasons, or McCain and Graham are guilty of violating their oath to the Constitution.
Neither option makes them look good in my eyes.
They’re giving Hagel the boot letting him know it’s time to do the seabag drag and join the dummycrats.
Walter Russell Mead reports that China and Iran are behaving truculently. Richard Fernandez reports that China is behaving truculently.
Why do they behave this way when Obama persistently signals that we won’t act against them no matter what?
It’s a real brain stumper.
Nominating a person who has a hard on for the scumbags responsible for the bombing of Marine Barracks Beirut is a slap in the face of every Marine and the families of the murdered Marines. Were I still in and at 8th & I I would be doing my best to get orders cut to 1/9. If you’re going to go out at least go out with class and style with the walking dead.
The only reason that Lindsey Graham was hard on Hagel was to get a series of videos he could use against any conservative challengers in a Republican primary if we have a real election in 2014. He will look all tough and macho in the ads he will cut. But every time a Democrat barks at him, he squats and pees.
As for McCain, can anyone name any time in his political career where he stood on either conservative principle or any other principle?
iacta alea est
Subotai Bahadur
Not my republicans. Never again. Not one penny, not one vote. WAR.
The GOP has taught the Democrats all they need do is make the move, wait, wave off GOP opposition rhetoric, wait a bit longer, and the GOP will cave.
It’s an old song, but remains true – we desperately need to clean house at the top of the GOP.
And to think I came close to changing my voter registration from Unaffiliated to Republican last year. No frickin’ way, lol.
If I’ve said it before, I’ve said it a million times.
Term Limits!!!
If such existed, McCain, Graham etc wouldn’t be around to torment the rest of us.
But…
Nobody with any knowledge WANTS to be Secretary of Defence.
The latest leak from above here & subsequently tved is the precarious situation with the F 35s.
Not only are they behind schedule but are said to be virtually useless. Aggressive ‘selling based on GWBush military bravado brought in allies to sign up big & base their Air Force on these wonders.
The F 35 s are not coming . The price has almost doubled . They do not have a working model to re assure buyers. Those nations that began to be suspicious had begun trying to plug up the impending gap by ordering other older jets .
Canada got railroaded & halved their order. This puts evermore strain on the project cutting advance $$$$.
They were expected in 2014. 2020 not likely.
They may have a few technical details wrong but it is hard to create a report from scratch. A few errors do not negate just how pissed off allies are with both GWBUSH & BO admins.
seems like you are right. the more they fly them the more they realize they don’t want to fly them
So in essence The Sec D is going to have angry enemies & allies.
And an angry military when the cuts start .
I think McCain has realised this & that there IS no one else.
Water’s wet. Sky’s blue.
Republican’s cave after bluster.
That’s what gets me. They get all high and mighty and huff and puff and then cave.
And not just the Senate. It’s like they want to lose the party.
They’re going to get their wish.
Especially if they let universal back ground check get through.
Line in the sand. Hill to fight for.
To me that’s it. I expect them to fold after a lot of sturm and drang but we’re already being prepared by McCain for it to happen. Apparently he’s not satisfied with being responsible for a law that violates the 1st amendment (political free speech), but now wants to make his mark on the 2nd.
Maybe this’ll be a big enough straw for everybody else to see that we have to bite the bullet and create a party to replace them.
The view from 50 miles up by a casual observer is that the Senate Republicans “card table fold” is about teaching Ted Cruz a lesson and helping to make him look like what the press has been calling him. After all, they think he was uppity too. And as a plus it is a good chance to try to give the Tea Party a black eye.
Sadly, disgustingly, you are so right. The Repugnicant establishment has no intention of being anything more than politically corrupt game players and every intention of destroying true Conservatives from Ted Cruz, to Michele Bachmann to the Tea Party candidates in every state.
Despicable. But, from Bush, Sr. on down to Boehner, the GOP are opportunists and politicians, not statesmen and patriots.
the new motto of the republican party members:
” hey guys, just lay back and enjoy it!”
The only thing that would kill this would be for traditional Democrat donors to let Democrat senators know that this is a deal-breaker for them.
Republicans need to make it be clear that this nomination is acquiescence to Iran getting the bomb, and that every senator voting for Hagel will have signed off on it.
And you know when/if that happens the Left will blame Republicans because “Hagel is one of us, if he was so bad why did the GOP confirm him, if the Right thought he didn’t have the proper positions they should have filibustered him,” blah, blah, blah.
If I ever wonder why I am no longer a Republican, I can count on these people to keep reminding me.
.. trouble with Sen. Cruz is his foreign policy views seem to dovetail nicely with Saudi interests. Saudi Arabia, of course, is the global sponsor of the Wahhabi cult, the very ideology that forms the core of Taliban and al-Qaeda belief. This is especially troubling for those of us who still remember the 9/11 Attacks.