Chuck Hagel Out of Consideration for Secretary of Defense Nomination?
So reports the Free Beacon:
Former Republican Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel may no longer be President Obama’s favored pick to run the Defense Department, sources told theFree Beacon.
Hagel immediately drew a frosty reception from observers who criticized him for advocating in favor of direct unconditional talks with Iran and for backing sizable cuts to the defense budget.
Those who have worked with Hagel and have an intimate knowledge of his managerial style also expressed concerns about his possible appointment.
The Free Beacon uses multiple unnamed Washington sources to “corroborate” the view that Chuck Hagel is a poor manager and a foreign policy lightweight. There are also accusations that Hagel is an anti-Semite being floated in the media, no doubt helped by an “endorsement” from Iran. Last week I explained a few positive points about a potential Defense Secretary Hagel; he opposed the war in Iraq, and has said as recently as last year that it was time for America to “start heading toward the exits”. Nevertheless I recommended cautious pessimism.
Meanwhile, Cato's Christopher Preble explained last week why a potential Hagel nomination ought to be welcome news to anyone tired of decades of U.S. foreign interventionism. Preble also said he didn’t “put much stock in the neoconservative echo chamber’s claim that Hagel will have a tough time being confirmed,” so maybe there’s hope to be held out after all.
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Lindsay Lohan!
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My #1 pick is still Charlie Sheen. For ANY appointed position. He'd be the SHIT as an ambassador...or as Chairman of the Federal Reserve.
Charlie - making "hookers and blow" MEAN something in a world that needs moar hookers and blow.
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No doubt!
Lohan for head of DOT, then.
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#WINNING!
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...and #CRASHING
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She's 40 iq points smarter than Ray Lahood.
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And way hotter.
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Only 40?
And she's probably a better driver.
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Everyone knows that if we cut one dollar from the defense budget we'll all be living under sharia law by this time next year.
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Pssh - by FEBRUARY is more like it.
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We can't afford to cut the defense budget. So many billions are being wasted, that it barely leaves anything left over for defense. We can't afford to be entirely without defense, can we?
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Everyone knows that if we cut one dollar from the defense budget we'll all be living under sharia law by this time next year.
You know who else gripes about budget cuts?
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Greece?
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The ATF?
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We can’t have a Defense Secretary who does not want to go on offense
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"The Crossbow Project. There's No Defense Like a Good Offense."
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You can't fight in here, this is the War Room!
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Hagel has spent enough time in the public sector.
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Mmmmm - I'm gonna disagree. He needs a little longer to reach Boner's level of Orange Tan™. I'll let him have a couple more years being a "public servant" and I think he'll be there. You gotta give him that chance, I think.
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Yeah, how could I overlook that?
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; he opposed the war in Iraq, and has said as recently as last year that it was time for America to “start heading toward the exits”.
C'mon, Ed. It's like you've never played this game. That's why he's a foreign policy lightweight.
Do you remember the whole Benghazi thing that the Sandy Hook shooting has thankfully drawn our attention away from? Yeah. Remember when Romney made the first substantive and largely correct direct attack on the Obama administration in relation to that attack? He got called a foreign policy lightweight.
Apparently lying about the attack and calling it a protest over a youtube clip is what makes the foreign policy Man.
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Well that, combined with waiting for 10x attention spanning gun tradgedy go anti-2A commando makes for one slick SOB.
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According that CATO article, he voted for the patriot act.
There should be some non interventionist types who can win conservative support. If you bad mouthed Bush and Israel a little too much, you won't get conservative support.
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Yet, the GOP is the last hope for libertarians.
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You just don't get it do you? If we really want Team Red to pay attention to our agenda, we need to show them that we will vote for every Red candidate in every election and never complain about it.
Once they see that we not only let them shit on our faces, but we do it with a smile and clean up afterwards, they're sure to take us seriously.
Tulpa told me so.
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His logic is inescapable, Hugh, much like his radiance. He dies for our sins every day. And by dying for our sins I mean he makes incredibly retarded statements and then stands by them. Wait, is Hazel Tulpa's sister?
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No, Tulpa is Hazel's sister.
I'm here all ze veek.
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It can be both, Paul.
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It's true. Happened in Chinatown.
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His logic is inescapable, Hugh.
Tulpa is like a black hole of always being right.
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His Schwarzschild radius is three comments.
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We have to eject and detonate the warp core of liberty to escape its mighty pull.
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"You win again, gravity!"
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We need to be just like the anti-war, drug liberalization, gay rights, and civil liberties crowds. They all supported Obama in '08, and look at all they got out of it.
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Well, the Obama administration is very transparent, in a way.
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The only thing transparent about the Obama Administration are the lies.
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Backwards dude.... libertarians are the last hope for the GOP
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OT: Good news from my 'hood: 11 of 14 neighbors asked said hoplophobes can eat shit and die. Good to know I don't live among retarded prohibitionists.
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Those guys sure know what they are doing over there! Wow.
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Hagel actually criticized Israel for its war of self-defense against Hezbollah in 2006. Not sure if that should DQ him but it's bad.
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He also apparently referred to a "Jewish Lobby" in a 2008 speech....