So Why Did Hagel Choke

[Me.]

On his announcement? It seems to me he was set to announce he was running. Goes to his home state, has reporters there, all to anounce...nothing. Er, um, that he was thinking about it. Shows like Tweety's were set to focus on him throwing his hat in the ring.

This doesn't feel right, the whole business was so anti-climatic that it just seems like something happened over the weekend to make him change his mind. I wonder what it is?

[skipos]

1. He is a loyal rightwing nutjob

who happens to be anti-war. Other than that, he will bow to his GOP masters.

[yurbud]

2. like 2000, the masters of the GOP have already pcked their boy

and it aint someone with symptoms of independence like Hagel.

[KittyWampus]

3. who do you think has been designated. And I agree with your assesement. Hagel got a horsehead

over the weekend.

[Bucky]

5. "got a horsehead".... This website needs a glossary just for all the cool shorthands we use

Got a horsehead over the weekend. I'm gonna remember that one.

[Me.]

6. I Was Thinking Either Horsehead

or indies may have gotten to him and said he has a better chance with them. One of my friends who is big into conspiracies thinks Rudy, McCain & Oven Mitt are all non starters and that the party is wrangling things so that Jeb has to come in and save them. I can't believe anyone would want another * anywhere near the WH.

[windbreeze]

26. I am going to keep reminding people

that I have been saying it's gonna be Jeb for about a year now...Jr. has already stated it's only right that he gets his turn...and poppy said something very similar....they are going to let him stay in the background until it's time to really declare....then everyone else is going to disappear...JEB is the one...it's already planned...and since they have stolen 2 pres elections already...what makes us think they won't go for a third???

edited to add....imho
windbreeze

[Me.]

35. I'll Be Damned

On the Situation Room room, just now, Carville just said Jeb would be the one, after the dust had settled. God that gives me the heebie jeebies.

[windbreeze]

40. aha....

what can I say....?? it may not turn out that way...but I have just had this feeling....I hope to hell I am wrong...because it means they intend to steal it again...the dems better take care of securing the vote, before 2008
windbreeze

[yurbud]

42. Would the other financial elite let them do something as stupid as another Bush?

that would be like running Hitler's brother in Germany right after World War II. You'd have name recognition, but it wouldn't necessarily translate into votes.

Also, he sank himself with the religious right when he talked about his spirit guide Chang. They call that witchcraft. Not good.

[windbreeze]

43. I would say....

that unless the Dems take action to secure the vote...then we are at risk...you notice we aren't hearing much about Jeb...everything is pretty quiet...well, he will be out of office for about two years, when it comes time...he's not exactly stupid looking like Jr....and people have a tendency to forget crap over time...look at the criminals in office now..and all the stuff they've gotten away with...you'd think by now, we'd be in a full blown revolution with the people physically removing them from office...but no...we just get dragged along day after day...sos...
we need to secure the vote...so it can't be stolen again..
wb..

[yurbud]

44. It's one thing to forget Papa Bush and vote for Baby, it's something else to forget worst president

in American history.

But you're right on the voting stuff in any case.

[windbreeze]

46. I have noticed lately, that people these days

have an increasingly shorter memory, and even less of an attention span...but we can certainly hope..control of the media wouldn't hurt either...
wb

[sammythecat]

13. I'm with Bucky on that

"got a horsehead". Nice colorful description of an intimidating message.

[yurbud]

41. Fred Thompson from Law & Order

They have a serious problem right now: the qualified are unacceptable to their base, and those who are acceptable to their base make Charles Manson look like Noam Chomsky. The mental patients who bay at the moon are disturbed by the likes of Huckabee, Newt, and Brownback.

Therefore, they need to rig the game, and an actor was their best product before.

Also, a guy like Hagel might be dangerously independent, as would anyone who rose on merit not butt-licking.

[Strelnikov_]

20. Ka-Ching

And they made him an offer he can't refuse.

The GOP Reich is run like an organized crime syndicate . .

because it is an organized crime syndicate.

[librechik]

47. yep--the crookedest one is Rudy. That's their boy.

[bdamomma]

4. Interesting, another GOP set up perhaps for 2008?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. He doesn't have a "base".

The Republicans won't vote for him because of his "anti-war" stance. The Democrats won't vote for him because of his stance on everything else. And, the "moderates" will vote for whoever has the nicest hair.

[kath]

22. "the "moderates" will vote for whoever has the nicest hair" - sadly, an all-too-true

assessment of how the American sheeple decide to vote. Nicest hair, who would be best to have a beer with, prettiest and most submissive wife, etc, etc, ad nauseum.

[opihimoimoi]

8. Whatever the reason....Chuckie is now outta the loop...even if he runs, odds look poor

[Horse with no Name]

30. He has been Perot'd

Made himself irrelevant.
However, I have no doubts he was horseheaded.
And I disagree that the Republicans won't back an anti-war candidate.
The problem is that they will en masse. He would get the moderates, the anti-war, and the Evangelicals.
Hegel would leave McCain/Guiliani/Romney in his dust if he announced his candidacy.
The problem is...it would isolate the President even more and marginalize him 100%.
He was threatened. Of this I have no doubts.

[H2O Man]

31. If republicans wouldn't

support an anti-war candidate, he wouldn't pose a problem for the Bush/Cheney administration. And because he creates a problem for the administration, it is safe to conclude that they know that he speaks for a significant segment of their party.

[Horse with no Name]

33. Exactly.

He would take the majority of the party with him--except for that loyal 30% that still supports Bush.

[H2O Man]

34. Yep.

He would potentially attract a significant number of independent voters, too.

[opihimoimoi]

37. Yup, the midnight HorseHead....changed his mind...yeah right...

Those Pub Masters, they play ROUGH

[WI_DEM]

9. as a anti-war republican he will have a tough shot getting his parties nomination what he is

probably doing is evaluating the situatiion for a possible run as an Independent.

[Vinnie From Indy]

10. Hagel was probably shown the dossier that Rove & Co.

compiled from their illegal spying activity about him or his loved ones.

[bdamomma]

11. maybe Hagel was threatened

after he said bush should be impeached.

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cm/component/option,com_news_portal/Itemid,83/

[H2O Man]

12. Interesting.

He was moving in a very clear direction. He had been one of the senators, along with Biden and Lugar, who pushed an alternative that would have narrowed Bush's authority before the Iraqi invasion. He has taken positions that are, especially for a republican, anti-administration. And he made the comment on impeachment that you noted.

His strange display today would seem to indicate that something significant has taken place.

[Me.]

18. Yes, Very Interesting

Nice connect, about the impeachment statement from you and Alyce. Also, you're spot on about the direction he has been moving in, so he couldn't have been accused of politicizing the war as his position on it has been clear for a long time.

[TreasonousBastard]

14. Just guessing...

Since nobody even talks of running without having gathered some serious support first...

A- at least one party bigshot pulled support over the weekend.

B- at least one major fundraiser pulled support over the weekend.

[TwilightGardener]

15. Another dimension to this

--he has said that he was concerned that anything he says in terms of Iraq/Iran during his Senate work will be construed as merely a campaign gimmick rather than principle/belief, a problem the clearly anti-war Dems who are running DON'T have. He said a bunch of Iraq resolutions are coming up for debate--is it possible he didn't want to politicize his positions? Or is he calculating enough to know that the media will still pay attention to what he says, and thus gets coverage anyway while looking "above the fray"?

[Me.]

16. Don't Think He'd Have A Problem With His Position On The War Being

misconstrued, his position has been pretty clear and he can't be accused of flipping and flopping.

[TwilightGardener]

19. No, but I genuinely think it bothers him

to be seen as "poking" Bush in the eye all the time, and he knows it doesn't endear him to the base. He may need to lay low for a while during the Senate debates, or he's going to look like everything he says is for political calculation and campaign fodder. Now may not be the time to announce, but he's been running for pres for years, under the radar, and I think he still is. He also may have gotten a warning of some type from the powers-that-be--I wouldn't put it past this admin, especially now that his impeachment comments are hitting the newsstands. He's a loose cannon, and the GOP knows it. Chuck better watch his back and check under his hood, I'm afraid!

[H2O Man]

21. The things you are

saying about timing, etc are on target. But they are all things that he has been fully aware of. And he has had a schedule of planned events that appear to have changed, significantly, over the weekend.

[TwilightGardener]

23. I saw the entire press conference on local news,

and he talked about supporters, raising money, and other campaign concerns. He is running, he's just not saying so--I suspect it's either to avoid looking like a bastard by using Iraq as a campaign tool, as many in this state have already accused him of doing, or to keep his name out there without having to commit time and resources right now. I don't know if it will get beyond the initial stages, however. He still has his Firefighters Union appearance this week, and he took a presidential-candidate slot rather than a Senator slot, unless that's changed?

[H2O Man]

24. I saw it, too.

One rarely has a press conference and more scheduled, and then makes a "non-announcement." It certainly would not seem a campaign strategy, unless there is an advantage to looking confused.

[TwilightGardener]

25. He said he wrote his speech two weeks ago--

I know that he had promised to make up his mind earlier, so maybe everyone will just have to take him at face value that he's decided to focus on Senate stuff right now and will keep his options open. I heard him say today he wasn't going to be rushed because of the media's time table or anyone else's campaigns, and that we are overdosing on the '08 campaign already, and I'd have to agree-it's too damn early. People are already starting to talk like Rudy and McCain are toast and that Newt or Fred are gonna steal the show in Sept., and we aren't anywhere near primaries yet. I don't think today's conference was any kind of strategy, just a news conference. And it answered questions, or at least put the answers off, for now.

[Me.]

27. Good One

"unless there is an advantage to looking confused"

Wonder if there will be any hints on HB tonight, now that the focus of his show has evaporated.

[H2O Man]

28. Right.

No matter if one likes or dislikes him, this Senator is not a stupid man. It seems to be a stretch to say that he would plan this flop, including writing his speech two weeks in advance, unless he was determined to appeal to the indecisive-minded folks who can't decide if they might support him maybe in the future, possibly. Of course, they'll have to think about it.

[Me.]

29. In Addition

He had reporters fly to Omaha, not their usual stomping ground. You don't mess with the press that way, crying wolf will lose you your next press conference.

[H2O Man]

32. Both the democrat

and the republican that MSNBC had on to comment on the "big event" found it a curious event. The democrat said it raised the question, "Where's the beef?"

[CK_John]

17. Bill Gates called and said, "Chuck, I told you VP not Pres", IMO n/t

[ProSense]

36. The sooner people realize that Hagel is a wingnut, the better.

Hagel's record: here and here.

Then there is Hagel's ES&S connection: Hagel's ethics filings pose disclosure issue.

[Horse with no Name]

38. We know his record

However...don't doubt that his anti-war stance didn't earn him a weekend visit.

[Me.]

39. IT's A Cuckoo's Nest Political Season

Weird all over the place already. The dems are lucky this time out, with viable candidates and aren't going to have to make Hobson's choice this time around.

[NuttyFluffers]

45. republicans don't have primaries. they have pony shows.

trust me, i've been registered with this bastardized GOP party for years now. one of my only reasons for joining was so that i could actually have a say in primary politics and put better candidates up (that and the delightful amount of hysterical propaganda -- no really, the propaganda is almost always in full shrieking hysteria mode. it's hilarious!). but i've come to a sad conclusion: only democrats bother to hurt themselves with primaries, republicans decide behind closed doors ahead of time and put out a candidate with fully expected blind obedience behind them.

so let's have no delusions that there's actually a choice or free will involved in the republican party. hagel got slapped down because he broke the 11th commandment and his aspirations were dried up as punishment. it's obvious. at most he'd be rewarded for stealing some of the democrats thunder, but only later.

[yurbud]

48. their last real primary was Reagan vs. Papa Bush

McCain made a good early showing in 2000, but he got knocked out the way Howard Dean did--character assassination.