The screen door on a submarine

Has anyone seen a more embarrassing Senate hearing than the one we watched last week as Chuck Hagle did his best imitation of a doddering old fool? If that wasn’t proof that the ill-prepared ex-Senator is being nominated because he’s just going to be an executioner for this administration’s defense policy then nothing will ever prove that. If any Republicans confirm him, they need to start packing up their offices. There’s a difference between bi-partisanship and condemning our troops to the leadership that Chuck Hagle won’t bring to the Defense Department.

Even Jennifer Rubin at the Washington Post thinks that Hagle should be sent back into his retirement;

It is precisely for this reason that the burden falls on Republicans to rescue the country, and I use that term deliberately. If Hagel had been nominated by President George W. Bush, not a single Democrat would vote for him and he would be scorned by the mainstream media as a dim, inappropriate candidate; they know as do Republicans that he is unfit for a serious job and the absence of a capable and competent defense secretary places the nation’s national security in jeopardy. No president who cared about the Pentagon or wanted the best and the brightest would have picked him. However, Obama did — so draw your own conclusions. And unless one party stands up to him and the Democrats, Hagel will be confirmed on a near straight party-line vote.

Of course, in a link sent to us by ROS from Time Magazine, they think that Hagle earned his third Purple Heart last week;

While many in the national-security community have endorsed Hagel’s nomination, some GOP lawmakers have argued that he is too soft on Iran, anti-Israel, and too eager to cut the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Hagel denied the charges, but he did stumble, and many of his answers seemed tentative. He said, most notably, that the Obama Administration endorses “containment” of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, when it actually embraces “prevention.”

The consensus among congressional aides late Thursday was that Hagel will likely win committee support, largely along party lines, and also ultimately confirmation from the full Senate. But their mood was less certain late Thursday than it was on Wednesday.

Anyone who cares even a little bit about our defense will not vote for this idiot. Like I’ve said before, Hagle stepped up for paratroopers and pushed National Airborne Day through the Senate for us, but calling the surge a military blunder was undermining our efforts there. And did I mention that VoteVets likes him?

Category: Military issues