Critics slam Chuck Hagel's likely nomination as Defense secretary

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22. There isn't one Democrat who could get as many votes in the Senate and the House to get something

passed.


All of the people on the left who want to see a reduced military budget know that Hagel is the sharpest knife in the drawer, and that includes normal Obama bashers like Glenn Greenwald. You are hung up on a letter next to the name rather than the center objective of making the most significant structural change in government budgets since the cold war. It is going to take somebody with not only bipartisan credentials but also impecable defense credentials to get Senators to agree to cut exotic weapons that cost billions but guarantee millions in campaign contributions and to close half of the bases in the US, which even the military no longer wants. The fact that he was an enlisted man gives him the most credentials to talk about gold plating the military and ignoring the common soldier.

It is a BFD its just that you want to focus on trivialities.

There is a significant wing of the Republican Party who agrees with Eisenhower about the military/industrial complex but need someone to give them cover so that they don't appear to be following Ron Paul. If you want to cut defense then you have to make it a bipartisan effort. If you want to maintain the status quo then pick any Democrat you want.