Every time I see Chuck Hagel I feel sorry for Nebraskans.
After all, people in Nebraska are generally friendly, nice, and sane (except on the 7 Saturdays when the Cornhuskers are playing at home). They exude the kind of wholesome, all-Americanism that drives liberals crazy. And anyb0dy who drives liberals nuts can’t be all bad. They’re devoutly religious and sport the most productive agricultural economy in the history of human civilization. Despite it’s small population, the state contributes more than 13% of all US beef output with a value of almost $6 billion.
Anyone who’s ever visited Omaha knows that Nebraskans like most Midwesterners are eminently practical in their politics and policies. The city is one of the friendliest, best run cities in the United States. This is an outgrowth of the good sense and good humor that can generally be ascribed to Nebraskans in general.
Which makes their embrace of Chuck Hagel all the more mystifying. Since his arrival in the Senate, Hagel has chosen to be something of an idiotarian. And while Nebraska has always been something of a maverick when it comes to government (they have a unicameral legislature – the only state in the country to have one) the independent streak demonstrated by such luminaries as James Exxon (D) and Carl Curtis( R ), didn’t extend very much beyond an occasional straying from party orthodoxy.
Hagel, however is different. And what makes him different is that he wants to be President of the United States – badly. His campaign has purchased the domain names “hagel2008.com and “ChuckHagel2008.com.” And his calculated effort to distance himself from the President on Iraq has paid huge dividends. I mean, who would have ever paid attention to a Senator from Nebraska unless he received glowing, fawning attention from the New York Times who wrote a puff piece on he and other Republican “moderates” last spring?
However, if I were Senator Hagel, I’d just go ahead and sell those domain names because after statements like the one he made yesterday, he doesn’t have a ghost of a a chance to win the Republican nomination:
“We should start figuring out how we get out of there,” Hagel said on “This Week” on ABC. “But with this understanding, we cannot leave a vacuum that further destabilizes the Middle East. I think our involvement there has destabilized the Middle East. And the longer we stay there, I think the further destabilization will occur.”Hagel said “stay the course” is not a policy. “By any standard, when you analyze 2 1/2 years in Iraq … we’re not winning,” he said.
We used to call this sort of thing “defeatism.” Now we call it “analysis.” But the good Senator wasn’t through:
Hagel, who was among those who advocated sending two to three times as many troops to Iraq when the war began in March 2003, said a stronger military presence by the U.S. is not the solution today.“We’re past that stage now because now we are locked into a bogged-down problem not unsimilar, dissimilar to where we were in Vietnam,” Hagel said. “The longer we stay, the more problems we’re going to have.”
This sort of nonsense has been fisked to death so I’m not going to do that here. Suffice it to say that Republicans have a very long memory and you can be sure any political opponent of Hagel’s will use those statements to great effect.
12:20 pm
And so it continues… another Republican is revealed to the right-wing wackos as a freedom-hating, terrorist-loving liberal. And their circle of true believers continues to shrink.
1:06 pm
Does Hagel fear he can’t be re-elected in Nebraska in ‘08 so in an Edwards manoeuver he’ll run for the Whitehouse instead?
3:12 pm
Watch out, Chuck! Anybody who criticizes the president is soon outed as a three-quarters-queer, crypto-terrorist arab-lovin’ fool-communist! This cult of personality around the president would shame anything that that Stalin even dreamed about. Doncha dare do it!
4:35 pm
The US does not have the troops to maintain current levels in Iraq past one year from now.
That means you can call for a draw-down, and it will happen.
Or you can call for increased troop strength, and there will still be a draw-down.
All the repubs and dems can unite in calling for an increase in troops, and … there will still be a drawdown.
Hagel is simply stating the unattractive obvious. A lot of dems are being either smart or spineless in NOT calling for pulling out the troops—why should they? Let Bush lose all by himself, and take the blame. Why provide him with a fake but believable scapegoat?
4:41 pm
hahahahah right wing faggots, cant you see your pathetic agenda is doomed?
wake up from your close-minded lives of shallow thinking and bigot dreaming, and join the rest of us in the 21st century. we’d love to have you!
5:06 pm
the level of idiocy on this blog is absolutely insane.
please go educate yourselves people.
6:08 pm
Wow, who knew Chuck Hagel had turned into such a moonbat hero?
6:28 pm
The Ghost of Chuck Hagel Channels the Ghost of Vietnam
Rick Moran writes:
Every time I see Chuck Hagel I feel sorry for Nebraskans.
...
Anyone who’s ever visited Omaha knows that Nebraskans like most Midwesterners are eminently practical in their politics and policies. The city is one of the friendliest,
6:52 pm
When you see or hear Hagel, think John McCain’s vice president. Hagel is out front saying things that would sink McCain. Kind of like breaking the ice, paving the way. Eventually when you hear con-war talk fron McCain, it won’t seem too moonbatty. This is a TAG TEAM set up. Great Buds, them two. Now I will sit back and wait to see how the ticket shakes out. McCain/Hagel or Hagel/McCain. I believe the first example is the thinking. Hopefully neither will be a factor. I do like Mass. Gov. Romney and Sen. Allen. Now that’s a Tag-Team!
3:31 am
please enlist and get off this blog. the military really needs you all…now, before it is destroyed. everyone is either dead, ptsd, maimed or retiring.. the military needs help..go enlist now! or shut your fat chickenhawk mouths. coward.
3:38 am
Please try to be coherent or don’t bother commenting. Your infantile rant drags down the quality of my site.
And if you’re going to wildly exaggerate the status of our military, please adjust your tin foil hat by fastening the strap under your chin a little tighter.
BTW…the military doesn’t want fat, out of shape, curmudgeonly old men like me. And since you’re taking me to task for not enlisting, perhaps I should feel free to speculate that you’re not enlisting because you hate this country and don’t feel it worth defending. But that would be wrong.
10:56 am
Hey Rick,
That’s the difference between the right and left. People on the left don’t enlist because they don’t believe in the war. People on the right don’t enlist because, as you have elegantly admitted, they are TOO FAT. Get off your butt and support what you believe!
Are you going to censor this post too???
10:57 am
Now that you’ve removed the obscenity…no.
1:01 pm
Rick,
Hagel votes Nebraska but talks Georgetown.
10:41 am
Rick seems to be mystified by Hagel telling us the truth. Time to wake up Rick, Bush flunked the course! The constitution is a fiasco and Iraq is headed for civil war. Lets impeach and begin the healing process without further delay.
10:47 am
Only uninformed fools think that Iraq is anything like Viet Nam. The differences are so profound that only someone from the loony left could make a statment like that with a straight face.
As for civil war, I’ll believe it when it happens. The factions in Iraq have too much invested in unity to be seriously contemplating all out civil strife. Will there be clashes? I’m sure there will be just as I’m sure that you and other leftist defeatists who wish to see America humiliated and defeated on the field of battle are the only common link with Viet Nam.
Traitors never change their stripes.