Senate confirms Hagel
Yeah, who is surprised that Chuck Hagel was confirmed by the Senate for Secretary of Defense a few minutes ago? The Republicans make a lot of noise and then collapse every time. That’s why we can’t have nice things. From the Associated Press;
The vote Tuesday was 58-41, with four Republicans joining Democrats in backing President Barack Obama’s nominee.
The vote ended a contentious fight over the president’s choice for his second-term national security team.
Republicans opposed the former two-term Republican senator from Nebraska, casting him as out of the mainstream and overly critical of Israel. But Democrats stood together for Hagel, a twice-wounded Vietnam combat veteran.
So, I guess a bunch of VoteVets guys will be headed to Defense like when their guy Shinseki went to Veterans’ Affairs. I wonder if Hagel still thinks that the surge in Iraq was the biggest military blunder in American history.
Category: Breaking News, Military issues
The “fight” went like this: “Oh no, we’re not going to rubber stamp this guy. We’ll say some nasty things about him, let him sound stupid in trying to answer some questions, AND THEN we’ll confirm him. So take that!”
Kerry and hagel. Quite a team.
Gag!
@2, yeah quite a team. Kinda like Beenie & Cecil, Bert & Ernie, Dumb and Dumber, etc.
Yat Yas 1833 @4: Although this silly/absurd it ain’t near as funny as your references are.
And people wonder why the republican party has become irrelevant. I’m done with them.
Kerry and Hagel – we are the laughing stock of the world and it isn’t funny.
Kerry and Hagel
Sittin’ in a tree. . .. .
Too bad it’s not politician hunting season.
Here’s a pretty good look-see at Hagel.He certainly paid his dues.
http://www.salon.com/2007/04/30/hagel_brothers/
Well, right to be stupid and all
Oh thank God! I felt rudderless without an inept SECDEF in office. Phew!
Bitches for everyone!!!! …….Even the Infantry
surge biggest military blunder?
no, Chuckles Hagel as SecDef, biggest military blunder.
He’s going to make Louis Johnson look like a Mensa member
With the Obama Administration, the pick for SecDef still could have been a lot worse.
And the GOP still would have rolled over.
And the four idiot GOP senators that voted for him had best read the writing on the wall and retire ASAP.
Cochran, Shelby, Johanns, and Paul. Traitors, the lot of you. Fuck what you think.
Well, John F**king Kerry said that in America, you have a right to be stupid.
The Mullahs in Iran must be literally dancing in the streets. Seriously to be a fly on the wall in the insane Iranian regime.
He seems like a good choice to me.
Why would we want someone competent to implement Obama’s foreign ‘policy’?
That’s like hiring an architect to help your dog build his “business” out back.
Short on executive experience, strategic intellect, and breath and depth understanding of Washington bureaucracy…makes no damn sense. Just a bumbling figurehead appointee w/ “Republican” tag attached…perhaps to deflect blame away from Barry when drastic defense cuts are ordered up…hey, Hagel the Republican signed off on it, don’t blame the WH.
My money is on #20 Devtun’s comment.
I thought that the Administration thought that Vets were mentally unstable….and they nominated someone who was wounded twice?
Veeshir: someone competent would implement an inane policy so as to mitigate/minimize the damage – or would resign in protest if the damage is too great. From what little I’ve seen from Hagel I don’t expect to see him do either of those.
NHSparky: not sure I agree. The only way the Republicans in the Senate could have blocked this is via a filibuster. Given how much of the media is a lapdog for the Obama Administration, that could well have backfired and been even more counterproductive in the long term.
You have to know what battles are worth fighting. Not sure this one was, given the potential long-term cost over at least the next 2 years. YMMV.
Obama is stacking the deck with the most inept and or undesirable people he can find! I guess he knows that he is the worst President EVER and needs a slew of people to blame when he is gone. With that, he has colected the dream team for the job!
I was really vexed with my fellow Heebs on this one. All B’Nai Birith, ADL, and any others would do was merely “express concern.” What a pantload! If this guy would have been a GOP appointee, the same organizations would have been dressing us in Dachau-garb in front of the White House. And they damn well know it. Hagel’s done some nice things, but on more matters than just Israel, he’s severely compromised.
But hey, Jon Soltz is Jewish, and he likes Hagel. That should be good enough for everyone. The kapo were nice Jewish boys, too, though.
What happened to Lindsay Graham’s 60 votes minimum?
Living in Israel: there was no filibuster, so only a simple majority was required.
It is like Alice in Wonderland. Hagel is a bumbling tool who was exposed in his Senate hearings and he is still confirmed. He will rubber stamp every decision that this incompetent WH makes. And our military will continue its decline. It is so damn frustrating to watch all of this unfold and know that it is not going to end well.
Carter blew the whistle, Clinton rang the bell, B. Hussein 0bama got elected, and America went to hell!
Hagel, B. Hussein 0bama’s “Hatchet Man” for the US Military!
Hondo you’re absolutely correct.
I keep forgetting people don’t know me so they take me seriously.
Veeshir: fair enough. I have a tendency to take things literally and I obviously misread your previous comment.
As a soldier, I believe I am a gnat’s ass hair from reaching my tipping point to retirement. I have no faith in the chain of command from the president on down to the Army chief of staff.
The only reason I am still in is because, as a Guardsman, I still have some faith in our TAG and our leadership (both officer and nco) within the state of Oregon.
Agree w/ Hondo @24, Hagel leaves when BO vacates office in 3 yrs and 11 months…better for GOP to save political capital for other “big ticket” issues like Supreme Court nominees, debt ceiling, immigration, gun debate, 2014 elections etc…