If Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s nominee to lead the Pentagon, ever harbored any doubts that he’d be confirmed, he can rest easy now that billionaire Republican donor Sheldon Adelson is lobbying against him. Adelson, the Dorchester-born casino magnate who last year spent tens of millions of dollars backing the doomed candidacies of Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, has an almost unblemished record of picking losing causes.
Yet that hasn’t stopped him from urging Republican senators to oppose Hagel, the former GOP senator from Nebraska whose bruising confirmation hearing was held Thursday. By coincidence, there is also a wave of TV commercials airing, supported by anonymous donors, targeting Democratic senators and urging them to vote against Hagel too.
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Let's see..Barack Obama is insisting that Chuck Hagel be the next Secretary of Defense. Hagel wants to tear down the US military. This SEcreatarhy of Defense wants to leave America DEFENSELESS> ..He wants to negotiate with Iran. And here are the people who strongly APPROVE of Senator Hagel's confirmation: Russia, China, North Korea, Egypt, Syria, Hamas, Hezbolla, and Iran....And the Boston Globe. So the Globe agrees with all of America's enemies Hagel is the right choice. Hagel also told TV statiion AL Jazeerra in 2009 that the United States is the "World's Bully"....Sheldon Adelson is a friend of America and of Israel. The Boston Globe, in printing this opinion shows it is on the side of America's enemies.
You've done it now. The black UN helicopters are enroute to your domicile. Get out before it's too late.
Yikes Miker6, are you going thtough a divorce or something? Job loss? War on Christmas? Stay strong, we need more voices that aren't knee-jerk Left on these pages...
I can't believe what McCain has become - and so quickly too. Did anyone see him asking Hagel to admit he was 'wrong about the surge'? It was a sorry, thin mask for asking "wasn't I right"?
And Linsday Graham, he sputters for 40 seconds or so the littany of pre-rehearsed Hagel barbs and finishes with somthing like "...well?"
Hagel starts to respond with "I've already admitted I shouldn't have said "Israeli lobby..."" and Graham cuts him off with that perfect, snarky grin that screams "my handlers - and Mr. Adelson will be so proud of me!!" Absolutely vomit unducing show. Reminded me of Blutarsy Kennedy bloviating against Bork.
There is some doubt about how far Hagel/Obama will let Iran go before taking out their nuclear sites (after they're able to nuke Israel-but just before they can hit us?). But I do like that his voice is being heard - centrist and arguing for a strong Defense to be used only as a last resort. Peace y'all.
meanwhile, the Globe so far has refused to report what Chuck Hagel actually SAID in his replies to GOP Senators questions. This anti-military and anti-American and anti-Israel newspaper doesn't want you to know how incompetent and dangerous Hagel would be as a choice. ..Even Senate Democrats are EMBARRASSED at having to support him. NO it's not Sheldon Adelson. Its' the radical Left Boston Globe that tells us to make losing bets against America and Israel. And the Globe continues to enthusiastically support the man, Barack Obama, who nominated Chuck Hagel. Another man who would "Contain" America and America's friends, but supports its enemies.
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There are many good reasons to oppose Chuck Hagel, yet all the Globe can do is smear one critic. Hagel joined Obama in opposing the surge in Iraq. He has shown that Israel is just not that important to him. Hs overall agenda seems centered on self promotion, by taking controversial views without fully thinking about them. Clearly, his only use to Obama is to anger the GOP. To the president, every move is grounded in political score keeping.
Perhaps, when it comes to war and young Americans dying, Senator Hagel would prefer that "Americans" decide that rather than right-wing Israeli politicians who meddle in our internal politics. And since you brought it up, can you name someone in Washington who is not "political score keeping?? You seem to spend a fair amount of time on it.
It would be nice if once in awhile folks could merely oppose something or someone because they really understood it not just because it has somethig to do with Obama.
Hagel wants to tear down the US Dept. of Defense? Seriously? You take yourself seriously? Hagel indeed has a different view of what the Dept. of Defense should look like. He would actually like to see it be efficient and cost effective and not beholding to the defense industry. One would think "conservatives" would want to reduce the outrageous cost of that particular Dept. But we know that this "deficit reduction" fever only applies to programs they don't like.
Hagel has the audacity to tell the neo-cons, a group that no true "conservative" would have truck with, no foreign involvements unless absolutely necessary. We have the technology, the last thing we need to do is get GI's killed if we can do it another way, if we have to send them, then let's know what we are doing. But hey, neo-cons love to show their macho selves off by sending someone else off to war while they sit home. Both Hagel and I have seen enough of that.
Hagel has only three real problems. Obama nominated him. He broke with the party over Iraq. He crossed what has now become an old and vindictive McCain. I try to never knock brothers from the Nam, but John has really slipped in his later years.
Did you actually listen to his testimony? he had to be corrected twice on obama's policy on Iran. like Kerry another empty suit.
Saw his testimony. Mostly it appeared like he sat there and said hit me. He didn't want to get into a fight he simply wants to get through the nomniation. Note I didn't say he was a great choice,but he is adequate for what he was chosen for and that wasn't foreign policy it was to cut the fat out of defense. I hope he succeeds.
I am sick to death of so much emphasis of our national defense policy being predicated on what Israel and its single-issue supporters demand. Isreal is a big boy now and can take care of itself with all of the weaponry we sell it and the nuclear weapons "they don't have.". If Hagel wants to focus attention on the real threats to this nation, such as China or North Korea, then there should be ample support given to him by everyone.
Allowing Isreal to have deFacto veto power over cabinet posts through the pressure applied by the despicable billionaire blowhard Adelson and others like him threatens our sovereignty and our best interests as a nation. It's too bad that so many mindless 'Mercans will continue to shovel money into Adelson's pocket through his casinos so he can shove his bile down our throats with his vicious advertising.
Thanks for the most genuine post of the day. Israel makes its own decisions. America makes its own decision. They are not necessarily synonomous. Israel cannot and should not be allowed to pull us into a war that is not of "our" choosing. I fully support Israel's right to exist, and our commitment to its defense, but their current government cannot and should not interfere in our internal politics to promote outcomes favorable to Israel only. As a student of history, I am convinced that the intransigence of of Islamic extremists should not cause Israeli policymakers to abandon all hopes at detente with the Palestinian factions that desire legitimate statehood. They may be unprepared for this transition, but unrelenting opposition to it only bolsters the extremist factions. If detente is truly not possible, then someone needs to explain to America why its sons and daughters should die in defense of a state that is not their own and that was unwilling to bend to accommodate the realities in that part of the world. Speaking from my experience of the "street", if you have a big, tough brother, sometimes you do things that would be impossible if he was not hovering in the background. Israel should not expect us to back their play unless we know what it is in advance.