Patterico's Pontifications

2/19/2013

Hagel Apparently Not In As Much Trouble As I Expected

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 6:22 pm



The other day I published a post titled Hagel in Big Trouble which read: “Always trust content from Patterico.”

I regret to say that tag line appears misplaced — at least when applied to that post.

Without divulging sources, let’s say just I had an advance hint of this story, which revealed that Hagel at spoken at Rutgers at the invitation of a man with direct ties to the Iranian government. I was also given to understand that he had received an honorarium from a group serving as a front for the government of Iran. I thought that a revelation that Hagel was essentially paid off by Iran was going to torpedo him. Unfortunately, the “money changing hands” part has yet to be substantiated — and even if it is, eventually, it looks as though Hagel’s main opponents don’t have the will to sustain their opposition. So I no longer feel confident that Hagel is in trouble; indeed, I don’t think he is.

I believe there are other shoes to drop — just like I believe there are other shoes to drop on the Menendez story — but I think the Hagel shoes are going to be dodged as neatly as George W. Bush dodged the shoe hurled at his noggin by that crazy Iraqi journalist. Apparently being anti-Semitic, palling around with fronts for the Iraqi government, rejecting American culture, or soft Trutherism is all hunky dory with today’s Republicans.

Apologies for any unwarranted optimism you may have experienced as a result of my pronouncement. I’m just as disappointed as you are.

45 Responses to “Hagel Apparently Not In As Much Trouble As I Expected”

  1. Ugh.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  2. And the beat goes on on on on on on…..

    mg (31009b)

  3. Times have changed.

    glenn (647d76)

  4. But not as much as you think. Look what we did to the Jews in the 30’s.

    glenn (647d76)

  5. The Senate isn’t exactly a hotbed of political courage, principles or even IQ above room temp on either side of the aisle.

    Hey, underage Dominican hookers are cool with Senate Democrats, so a little good clean anti-semitism … pshaw.

    SPQR (768505)

  6. The Senate isn’t exactly a hotbed of political courage, principles or even IQ above room temp on either side of the aisle.

    This

    JD (b63a52)

  7. It sucks that we are going to be stuck with Hagel, but I think this is what the GOP has been conned into believing:

    1. Maintaining a filibuster of a cabinet nominee would be unprecedented. [true]
    2. Even if Hagel gets torpedoed, Obama will just nominate another brainless lefty in his place. [true]
    3. If the filibuster is successful, Democrats will use it against a Republican cabinet nominee someday. [This is where their miscalculation lies; Democrats will have no compunction about using the filibuster down the road even if the GOP stands down on Hagel.]

    Short of finding out that Hagel once spoke highly of Hitler and concentration camps, it would appear that there is nothing that will deter Democrats from voting to confirm him. Elections have consequences.

    JVW (4826a9)

  8. Hagel is in trouble. The country that votes him in as Sec. of Defense is in even bigger trouble.

    Always trust content from Patterico, even if the Senate hasn’t figured it out for themselves.

    Coptic Christians are also in trouble, whether you’ve heard about it or not:
    http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2013/02/myjihad-in-new-jersey-muslim-beheads-cuts-off-hands-of-two-coptic-chrstians.html

    This was not covered in the Philly news.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  9. Short of finding out that Hagel once spoke highly of Hitler and concentration camps, it would appear that there is nothing that will deter Democrats from voting to confirm him.

    Comment by JVW (4826a9) — 2/19/2013 @ 6:55 pm

    And why do you think that would stop them? or are you just giving them “the benefit of the doubt”?

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  10. Like I said.

    glenn (647d76)

  11. Why are you guys so upset. Hagel was nominated by the Best and the Brightest. Just ask ’em. They’ll show you their diplomas and awards.

    glenn (647d76)

  12. A bit of comic relief, if you’re in on the joke:

    http://marshallramsey.com/?p=10102

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  13. Comment by MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 2/19/2013 @ 7:14 pm

    Good point. But they would lose exactly five votes among the 19 Democrats or however many are up for reelection in 2014. That would make it 51-49 against confirmation, and Biden would be disappointed that he didn’t get to break the tie and force Hagel through.

    JVW (4826a9)

  14. MD said:

    Always trust content from Patterico, even if the Senate hasn’t figured it out for themselves.

    Agreed!

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  15. Making political predictions is always an iffy business.

    However, there is a rule: If you are a lefty, everyone remembers when you’re right. If you are a righty, everyone remembers when you’re wrong.

    There is a common denominator that skews the results.

    Ag80 (b2c81f)

  16. You ain’t gonna shoot.

    JD (b63a52)

  17. Republicans senators are kinda like disgusting foul-smelling geriatric dogs what need to be put down: cause of how much like disgusting foul-smelling geriatric dogs what need to be put down they are.

    happyfeet (acd614)

  18. That was not a nice comment you made about old dogs.

    elissa (c71083)

  19. Some happenings in Schmalfeldtland.

    First, i prove beyond question that he isn’t even pretending to be a journalist very well, here.

    Then I point out some of his hypocrisy here.

    Then I respond to a claim he has received death threats, here.

    And finally I show how he threatened Patterico, here. Really, you have to listen to the audio to believe the stuff he said on his radio show. He is a vile human being.

    Aaron "Worthing" Walker (23789b)

  20. Repeating what I said at another site today on the subject:

    If Hagel were to participate in a re-enactment of Auschwitz taking the role of an SS-Unterscharführer; it would not cause one Democrat Senator to vote against him, and in fact would enhance his credibility with them. They have been ordered to vote for him in lockstep, and if the Führerprinzip still holds anywhere in the world; it is in the Democratic Party.

    And the Institutional Republicans would still cave on him.

    Subotai Bahadur

    Subotai Bahadur (8b1d4c)

  21. 20. We are not worthy. Thanks tho.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  22. “Apologies for any unwarranted optimism you may have experienced as a result of my pronouncement. I’m just as disappointed as you are.”

    No sweat. Seems McVain figures we will endure just as he did Vietnam.

    He’s been a swell father too, just dickly.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  23. Whoa. Hagel may not be a good choice for Secretary of Defense, but goodness gracious, Nazi and Genghis Khan references are out there.

    Thanks for dropping by, though.

    Ag80 (b2c81f)

  24. JD, Raylan finally shot someone…

    Gazzer (5b6124)

  25. Hagel, at least, has not met with enemies of the US while we are at war with them. We would never have a cabinet secretary with that sort of record.

    Oh wait…

    Mike K (dc6ffe)

  26. The parallel is closer to Petain or Quisling,

    narciso (3fec35)

  27. One shall never go broke betting on the linguine spine factor of the loyal opposition in Congress.

    Before I die, I sincerely hope to find out just how many need be hurt because John McCain was a war hero and thereby exempt from rigorous scrutiny of his character.

    Ed from SFV (db8b13)

  28. Scroll way down for pictures of the critic, one Ms. Mantel.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2280780/Kate-Middleton-plastic-princess-designed-breed-Author-Hilary-Mantel-attacks-Duchess-Cambridge.html

    Great career move there, dearie.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  29. There’s a lot of Hilary there, gary. And a lot of fabric too.

    elissa (c71083)

  30. Raylan takes a bit to get warmed up, he’s working through some things.

    narciso (3fec35)

  31. Patterico opined: “Apparently being anti-Semitic, palling around with fronts for the Iraqi government, rejecting American culture, or soft Trutherism is all hunky dory with today’s Republicans.

    Apparently mischaracterizing Hagel is “hunky dory” with Patterico. I don’t buy it, nor do I buy all the slimming going on in this discussion.

    On the basis alone of Hagel’s lack of preparation for the committee hearing, I think President Obama should pull his name and put forth another. Hagel has a good record over time for being an independent thinker, but not being prepared for the hearing is a disqualifier, in my view. He’s apparently lost his edge.

    Perry (329aa5)

  32. http://t.co/ZfejH422

    I think this explains what happened. Some reporter made up “friends of Hamas” as an “obvious” joke.

    MayBee (28f872)

  33. Possibly, maybee, but consider the Alavi foundation, and some of the Arabian enterprises,
    and the turkish military college, all are ‘friends
    or benefactors of Hamas,

    narciso (3fec35)

  34. Yeah, narc, that’s one reason I don’t think the reporter’s obvious joke was so obvious.

    MayBee (28f872)

  35. An obvious thought is that somebody did try to check it out – and spread the story.

    http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/friends-hamas-rumor-started-article-1.1268284

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  36. I thought that a revelation that Hagel was essentially paid off by Iran was going to torpedo him. Unfortunately, the “money changing hands” part has yet to be substantiated — and even if it is, eventually, it looks as though Hagel’s main opponents don’t have the will to sustain their opposition.

    I never thought that would kill his chances. Not with this crowd. Recall how Obama was tripping over himself to get to a phone to congratulate Ahmadinejad when he stole the last election. And he was silent for quite a while as the regime’s henchmen killed the protesters.

    I don’t believe Obama has heard of an anti-American regime he didn’t think was legitimate. Like Hagel said referring to the government of Iran at his confirmation hearings.

    Apologies for any unwarranted optimism you may have experienced as a result of my pronouncement. I’m just as disappointed as you are.

    Hagel could have announced he had just pooped himself in response to one of the many questions he didn’t know the answer to at that hearing and his fellow Senate club members would have confirmed him.

    Steve57 (60a887)

  37. I wonder what Hagel’s reaction would be to this;

    http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2013/02/ex-guantanamo_detain_1.php

    narciso (3fec35)

  38. Well it is a legitimate regime, that’s the important thing;

    http://www.rferl.org/content/iran-fallafian-candidacy-presidential-election/24907608.html

    narciso (3fec35)

  39. See where do we get wisdom like this,

    http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/004702.php

    narciso (3fec35)

  40. narciso, of course all legitimate regimes behave this way.

    Call for Iran to end house arrest of opposition leaders

    Saeed Kamali Dehghan
    guardian.co.uk, Friday 15 February 2013 07.57 EST

    In mid-February 2011, following calls for street protests in solidarity with the pro-democracy movements in Egypt and Tunisia, dubbed the Arab spring, Iranian authorities placed Mousavi and Karroubi, along with their wives, Zahra Rahnavard and Fatemeh Karroubi, under house arrest.

    Security forces initially blocked access to the houses of each couple in Tehran and did not allow them to leave, or their family members to enter the premises. Within a few weeks, the authorities who had surrounded the area entered the residences, ransacking rooms and confiscating documents, limiting the movements of the opposition leaders in an unprecedented fashion. Since then the authorities have released Fatemeh Karroubi from house arrest but increased the restrictions on the remaining three.

    The Islamic republic has so far refused to put the men on trial and the decision behind the house arrests is believed to have come from the very top, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

    Iran opposition leader Mousavi’s daughters arrested

    11 February 2013 Last updated at 07:22 ET

    Two daughters of Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi have been arrested after security forces raided their homes in the capital, Tehran.

    It comes almost two years after their parents were put under house arrest.

    Obama’s from Chicago; he knows you just can’t let the opposition run around unmolested if you’re going to steal elections.

    Hell, any legitimate leader knows that.

    Steve57 (60a887)

  41. Just so everyone knows, when Hagel talked about supporting Obama’s policy of containment vis a vis Iran he was spilling the beans. That is Obama’s policy toward Iran. Not prevention.

    We went through how many rounds of “sanctions” followed by concessions toward North Korea the get them to stop their nuclear WMD program? Sure, they’ll take the food aid and fuel oil and promise to stop it.

    And what was that little firecracker the NORKs set off the other day to let the UN (and the US) know what what they think of our response to their ballistic missile launch? Not to mention the sinking of the Cheonan and their shelling of Yeonpyeong.

    All the sanctions, all the carrier battle groups, all the forces we move around in the ME aren’t intended to impress the Mullahs. We aren’t going to use them. Hagel has said a war with Iran would be “unthinkable.”

    That is Obama’s policy. A nuclear Iran is thinkable. Just like the government let the NORKs go nuclear while pretending for the domestic of the low-information that it was serious about doing something about it, the same thing will happen in Iran.

    Hagel isn’t competent to be SecDef. He’s never run such a large complex organization. By all accounts he’s an overbearing, obnoxious mismanager of people.

    But he does see eye to eye with the other incompetent he’ll be working for that Israel is the problem, that we should be working with the Mullahs, Hamas, the MB, etc. And he will slash and burn this way through DoD completely emasculating it because, like Da Won, he agrees the US is a bully.

    He’s an idiot, but he’ll be Obama’s useful idiot. As long as he can keep from telling us what the real plan is, like he did at the hearing when the Democrats had to correct him to toe the party line on what the fake plan they’re selling to the voters and our allies.

    Steve57 (60a887)

  42. Yes, that’s true, but he was exceedingly maladroit specially for a former college professsor, yikes.

    narciso (3fec35)


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