FoxNews.com
2/12/2013
A Senate panel narrowly endorsed Chuck Hagel to lead the Pentagon Tuesday, in a rare party-line vote that underscored intense Republican opposition to his nomination while nevertheless advancing Hagel to the floor for a final verdict.
The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 14-11 to advance Hagel’s nomination.
All Republicans present voted against Hagel, himself a Republican and former Nebraska senator…
…”His performance before this committee was the worst that I have seen for any nominee for office,” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said, before voting against Hagel.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., another senator opposing Hagel, said “there are very few people who have been this wrong about so many things.”
Saying the next secretary of Defense will deal with “a world on fire,” Graham said Hagel’s testimony was “not reassuring.” …
The complete article is at FoxNews.com
Related: Gloves Off: Cruz Versus Levin, Nelson over Hagel
…Levin stuck to his argument that Cruz was applying a double standard, and rebuked the freshman Senator, suggesting that if he wanted to change the rules there were ways of doing so. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) then entered the fray, suggesting Cruz had “crossed a line,” by suggesting the hypothetical that Hagel may have taken funds from enemy regimes, impugned the integrity and patriotism of the nominee. Cruz later replied that he was, on the contrary, reporting that Hagel had been honest–and yet had failed to answer the committee’s question fully. Sen. John McCain, who had earlier described Hagel’s testimony at his confirmation hearing as one of the worst he had seen, interjected to defend Hagel’s character, indirectly rebuking Cruz.
CAJ note: We contacted Sen. Cruz’s office today to thank him for standing up to these entrenched hypocrites. Here is his statement on Hagel’s nomination. [PDF]
Update: Hypocrites for Hagel Lack of principle is once again a big winner for Democrats.
…Senator Chuck Schumer was skeptical about Hagel but then changed his mind after a 90 minute West Wing meeting….Impressive. An hour-and-a-half conversation undid a twelve-year voting record, which included, as recently as 2008, a vote against an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill to label the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps a terrorist organization. Schumer is often referred to as the most influential Jewish member of the Senate. But then how could verbal assurances alone have turned him around when he is surely aware of the Jewish teaching that it is not what a man says but what he does that matters?…
Update 2: More on Hagel’s Al Jazeera and Arab Connections
