Hagel's comments about McCain on Charlie Rose last night. Great interview.

[Hamlette]

I LOVED this interview. He is the ONLY person I've heard take on the Pottery Barn rule. He basically said, we have some responsibility to what happened in Iraq but to put that on the backs of the American people is not fair. We have a moral obligation to OUR soldiers.

The question was the Pottery Barn rule. That McCain is saying we have a moral obligation to stay in Iraq until it is stable/won/we get a dem in the white house so we can blame them for losing the war.

Hagel says no. He said we are responsible for destroying much of Iraq and displacing 4.5 million Iraqis. We have some obligation to them. But to put on the backs of the American people and those poor soldiers we are sending to 4 or 5 missions with 4,000 deaths and 30,000 wounded do we have a moral obligation to go do that? I think John has crossed a line on that. I don't see it that way.

Which is one of the reasons he won't endorse McCain his whole foreign policy plan for the next four years is wrong. Hagel wants to sit down with McCain and ask him how he can sustain the present level of deployments.

He talks about Congress walking away from this, from our responsibility under the constitution. He says it will be a very dark chapter in the history of the Congress. We let Bush treat Congress like an appendage. This admin has been very careful and clever to stretch everything right to the edge (of legality)

America is seen as arrogant bullies and we need to change.

Politics reflects society, is relevant only because it is the mechanism used to make a better country and world. When party leaders become irrelevant there will be change. This will be a watershed election year. American people have lost trust in our leaders because we (leaders) have become irrelevant.

It is a great interview, it may be posted on Charlie Rose's site soon (I couldn't find it elsewhere).

This should be a democratic commercial. That John has crossed a line. That we have a moral obligation to OUR soldiers and OUR citizens. (He didn't use those words, but that's what he was saying.)

He also talked about Obama. Obama is one of the most talented agile politicians I have known in my life. Rose asked him if he would endorse Obama and he didn't say no. He said the next president is going to have the worst set of problems in our history to deal with and must be able to reach out to both parties to be able to govern. Obama has the best skills given his generation to deal with it of the three.

[TwilightGardener]

1. It was a great interview--

very honest and insightful. He is very much able to separate politics from policy, which is a rare gift for a politician, I think. Hagel is one of my favorite politicians, out of both Dems and Repubs, because he consistently tells the unvarnished truth, and always tries to put things into a historical context. I like how he said he's not sure GWB committed impeachable offenses, but that the Executive branch made sure to keep its questionable policies and practices always just on the line of technically legal, without regard to whether it was ethical or good for the country. That's a pretty damning thing to say.

[cynatnite]

2. Hagel is also a conservative RW nutjob, too...

It's great he's anti-war and I love it when he speaks out like that, but he's no friend of the left at all. He's anti-choice, opposes gay rights, supports school prayer and more.

I'll never understand why folks cheerlead him so much when he stands for everything we're against.

[TwilightGardener]

5. He's not a "nutjob", in any sense. He's perfectly sane.

He's just a conservative from Nebraska (a conservative state), and he doesn't stand for everything we're against, either--he stands for an end to torture, an end to neocon foreign policy, non-xenophobic immigration reform, and fiscal responsibility--those are all things Dems stand for, too. I'm not looking for him to be a "friend of the left"--I expect that from Ben Nelson, my Dem Senator--and I don't always get it. For example, Ben Nelson voted for waterboarding last month--Hagel voted against it. There's no danger in applauding a Republican for good behavior, especially when he's not running against a Democrat for any office.

[cynatnite]

7. He's voted for bush policies 95% of the time...

Hagel also voted for the military commissions act which stripped away habeas corpus, allowed secret trials and let bush have his way on torture.

How much more do you need?

[TwilightGardener]

9. He voted to restore habeas corpus this past fall when it was last up for a vote, and

also strongly opposes torture:

"We are in a war of ideas against a radical extremist ideology. Effective and aggressive intelligence operations are essential to our security. But in our effort to protect the nation, we must remember our greatest strength: the principles of human rights that we have upheld throughout our country's wars and conflicts. It is vital that the world can trust what we say and have confidence in what we do. There must be no doubt that this great nation does not torture...

...This is not a way to keep America safe, or to build our influence for good in the world. Americans must not take the easy, morally ambiguous road. That is not who we are. The right path—at times the more difficult path—is the one that is paved with our principles and our values."

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2008/0801.hagel.html

He's a decent guy--for a Repub.

[Voice for Peace]

14. Thanks for defending Hagel, I like him.

I don't like blind party loyalty, prefer people who can think for themselves. Not everybody agrees on everything.

[Hamlette]

6. he is conservative but is not an ideologue, that's the difference

makes him tolerable. Nut jobs are ideologues.

[cynatnite]

8. No way is he close to being tolerable...

It's nice to hear any repuke speak out against the war, but keep in mind he's as RW as they come.

http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Chuck_Hagel.htm

Just a brief glance at this tells me he is as RW as majority of them. Hell, he voted for the military commissions act which gave bush pretty much all he wanted.

[ThomWV]

10. Thank you for pointing out that a Republican is still a Republican - people forget apparently

He votes with the Republican caucus, he is part of the Republican machine that had destroyed this country. Who give a flying fuck about his glad words when he would end abortion in a heartbeat, have gay persons pulled on the rack, and have every schoolchild carrying a bible rather than a biology book. Fuck him and every Republican he ever voted with, I don't give a shit what sort of self-serving blather he came up with for Charlie Rose.

[Inuca]

12. That's the spirit!

Welcome to the past! Have a great time.

[Bandit]

13. Maybe Obama will make him Secretay of Education

Whoopie.....Creationism for all and down with the evil evolution..

[Inuca]

15. Sorry, but you have no idea what you are talking about n/t

[alfredo]

3. He's one of the few Reps I can stomach. I wouldn't vote for him, but I

do appreciate his stand on the war.

[housewolf]

4. Thanks for posting

I enjoyed the interview too. I've tried & tried to dislike Hagel because of the voting machine company thing, but I can't help it, fact is that I do like him. I think he's an independent thinker and that he's pretty smart (and realistic) when it comes to foreign policy. I hope he continues to play a role in our nation's policy debate even after he leaves the Senate.

[Perry Logan]

11. ELECTION FRAUD ALERT. Hagel has no business being in public office.

"Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of ES&S. He became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines."
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004/03/03_200.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/031004Fitrakis/031004fitrakis.html