DOWNLOADS: (103)

PLAYS: (645)

Embed

Fox News host Chris Wallace on Sunday questioned if former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) even had the "competence" necessary to be the secretary of defense.

During an interview with Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Wallace pointed out that Hagel had admitted to misspeaking during his Senate confirmation hearing when he suggested that President Barack Obama favored containment of the Iranian nuclear program.

"Just on the question of competence, just on the question of knowledge, do you really have no second thoughts about Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense?" the Fox News host asked McCaskill.

For her part, the Missouri Democrat agreed that Hagel had not given a good performance during the hearing, but he was more than qualified because of "his time as an enlisted soldier fighting in a war with great bravery and decoration, to running the U.S.O, to serving on a variety of different important bodies that deal with national defense policy."

"He's qualified, I think it's despicable the way his character has been impugned by some people through innuendo an inference," McCaskill said.

"I'm not impugning his character, I'm impugning his competence -- or questioning his competence, to put it more properly," Wallace interrupted.

"He misspoke the way he said it, and should he be disqualified after a lifetime of service and a resume that clearly supports this position?" McCaskill shot back. "I don't think he should be, and I think it's time for us to come together and unite behind him so he can do the best job possible keeping our country safe."

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), however, bragged that Republicans were actually undermining Hagel's ability to defend the United States with historic opposition and the first-ever filibuster against a secretary of defense nominee.

"In modern times, we haven't had a secretary of defense that's had more than three votes against him," Coburn observed. "And you're going to have 40 votes against him or 30 votes, and that sends a signal to our allies as well as our foes that he does not have broad support in the U.S. Congress, which limits his ability to carry out his job."

[Scarce edit - Or if you want to hear this in miniature form.]

DOWNLOADS: (70)

PLAYS: (273)

Embed

DOWNLOADS: (500)

PLAYS: (6234)

Embed

Stephen Colbert took apart Breitbrat Ben Shapiro, the right wing echo-chamber that fell for his hit piece on Chuck Hagel and the Republicans who are now asking President Obama to withdraw Hagel's nomination, who he should obviously give into after it appears all but inevitable that he's going to be confirmed.

After wondering what other groups Hagel might belong to that the crack team over there at Breitbart's site might not have discovered yet that Hagel doesn't belong to, Colbert wrapped things up with this slap at the Republicans and their ridiculous request.

COLBERT: President Obama, you must withdraw Hagel's nomination, or you will lose the support of every moderate Republican, another group, that doesn't exist.

DOWNLOADS: (223)

PLAYS: (1721)

Embed

Jon Stewart absolutely destroyed BFF's Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. John McCain over their drummed up fake Benghazi outrage, their petulant behavior at recent Congressional hearings and for holding up the nomination of Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense.

After pointing out that drama queen Graham was probably doing all of the showboating because he's worried about a primary challenge by some teabagger in South Carolina, Stewart then took his ire out on Mr. "Country First" McCain.

As Stewart rightfully pointed out, McCain never seemed to have the same outrage over the thousands of dead Americans after we found ourselves lied into invading Iraq, or the need to hold up cabinet nominations until investigations over that debacle were completed, but he's going to scream and yell over four Americans being killed in Libya as we saw him do when he attacked David Gregory for daring to ask him for details about the supposed "massive coverup" of the administration's handling of the embassy attack.

It's a shame we don't see more of this from those in our so-called "mainstream media" who just keep inviting those two gasbags back on the air.

DOWNLOADS: (151)

PLAYS: (902)

Embed

Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday congratulated Republicans for successfully using a filibuster to temporarily block a president's nominee for secretary of defense -- former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) -- for the first time in the history of the U.S. Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Wednesday said Republicans should feel "shame" for the unprecedented obstruction, but Hannity called the outcome a "major win for the GOP."

"Republicans say it is premature to close the debate over the nominee and say that before that any confirmation vote will take place, they want answers from Hagel and the White House about what exactly President Obama was doing the night of the Benghazi terror attack that killed a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans," Hannity noted on Thursday.

"It's the first time a filibuster of a cabinet nominee has been used," he added. "And needless to say, this marks a major win for the GOP, and pretty embarrassing defeat for the president."

Fox News political analyst Juan Williams pointed out that Hannity "must have missed the news" that "Republicans have basically said that in a week they will vote to end the cloture, end the filibuster and approve Chuck Hagel."

"So, nobody in this town thinks there's any chance that Chuck Hagel, one, is either going to resign or, two, is going to be denied the office of secretary of defense," Williams explained. "What we're really seeing here is a political game."

DOWNLOADS: (115)

PLAYS: (362)

Embed

Former Vice President Dick Cheney is a fan of Barack Obama's decision to use drones for the targeted killing of American citizens, but says that the president "wants" to do "serious, serious damage to our military" by nominating former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) to be secretary of defense.

"I think it’s a good program and I don’t disagree with the basic policy that the Obama administration is pursuing now in those regards," he told CBS host Charlie Rose in an interview that aired on Tuesday.

But Rose wondered if there should be some "checks and balances" by another branch of government on the president's ability to "take out" American citizens overseas.

"When we hire the president of the United States he gets to live in a big house, makes all that money, he’s getting paid to make difficult, difficult decisions," the former vice president explained.

The CBS host also asked Cheney to defend his accusation that Obama was appointing a "second-rate people" like Hagel and Secretary of State John Kerry to his cabinet.

"I’m very, very concerned, Charlie, about what I see happening in the national security arena, I think the administration’s policies are very flawed," Cheney declared. "I think the president’s performance by my standards in the international arena, in the middle East and so forth is worse than many of my friends and colleagues deem his domestic policies.”

"If you look at what the president's motives are for picking Chuck Hagel, I think he wants a Republican to go be the foil, if you will, for what he wants to do to the Defense Department, which is I think to do serious, serious damage to our military capabilities."

(h/t: The Hill)

DOWNLOADS: (124)

PLAYS: (347)

Embed

As Dave already noted, Sen. Lindsey Graham was back on the air this Sunday, still flogging their latest Benghazi "scandal" that somehow President Obama was disengaged during the embassy attacks on the anniversary of 9/11. I'm not sure just how much more hateful and nasty this man can manage to be before he starts getting called out for his behavior by members of the media, but Face the Nation's Bob Schieffer seemed pretty shocked and exhausted by the time Graham finished his rant here.

Sadly, however, he did not ask Graham what the hell was wrong with him or why the public should care about this drummed up non-scandal that he refuses to let die.

Lindsey Graham To Place Hold On National Security Nominees Over Benghazi Attacks:

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is threatening to place a hold on key administration national security nominations unless President Obama explains how the White House reacted to the Benghazi attacks and who “changed” the talking points used by U.N. ambassador Susan Rice during back-to-back appearances on the Sunday political talk shows in September. Appearing on CBS’ Face the Nation, Graham insisted that Republicans shouldn’t “allow Brennan to go forward for the CIA directorship, Hagel to be confirmed to Secretary of Defense, until the White House gives us an accounting.” “Did the president ever pick up the pohne and call anyone in the Libyan government to help these folks,” Graham asked. “What did the president do?”

Since Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and General Martin Dempsey testified before Congress last week, conservatives have seized on a portion of the testimony to argue that President Obama went “AWOL” the night of the Benghazi attack.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (131)

PLAYS: (1016)

Embed

From this Saturday's Weekends with Alex Witt on MSNBC, former Deputy Assistant and Deputy Press Secretary to George W. Bush, Tony Fratto took part in a discussion on Chuck Hagel's confirmation hearing for Secretary of Defense and while I agree on the fact that Hagel's performance during that hearing was less than stellar to put it mildly, I've got to say, sorry Tony, but we don't have anyone on the Democratic side of the aisle that is the equivalent of that nasty piece of work, John McCain.

The media just can't stop giving undue deference to John McCain no matter how badly he behaves. Maybe we'd see less of that sort of nastiness out of him if he weren't continually rewarded for how he acts, but instead we see him given a complete pass and are told it was just payback that was somehow justified -- and no one was really paying attention anyway. Oh, and Democrats do the same thing, so it's no big deal.

Given the Republicans' propensity for feigned victimhood and pearl clutching at every turn for even mild chastising, I wouldn't even want to see their reaction if someone on the Democratic side of the aisle -- or who they perceive as aligned with them like Hagel when he turned against the Iraq war -- acted the way McCain did here:

DOWNLOADS: (285)

PLAYS: (1544)

Embed

DOWNLOADS: (147)

PLAYS: (895)

Embed

Color me not shocked that Fox is carrying water for wingnut Sen. Ted Cruz and his dishonest attack on former Sen. Chuck Hagel during yesterday's confirmation hearing for Secretary of Defense. Sean Hannity opened up his show by replaying part of Cruz' cheap shot at Hagel earlier that day.

Fox's Hannity Lauds Sen. Cruz' Deceptive Attack On Chuck Hagel:

Fox News host Sean Hannity applauded Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for his attack on Secretary of Defense nominee Chuck Hagel, claiming that Cruz' questioning during the Hagel's hearing demonstrated that he had made anti-American and anti-Semitic comments. But Cruz' claim that Hagel had accused Israel of a "sickening slaughter" was based on distorted quotes from heavily-cropped sound clips.

On the January 31 edition of his Fox News program, Hannity aired a portion of Hagel's confirmation hearing in which Cruz referenced an Israeli attack on Hezbollah and claimed that Hagel described Israel's actions as a "sickening slaughter." Cruz went on to ask, "Do you think it's right that Israel was committing, quote, a 'sickening slaughter,' as you said on the floor of the Senate?": [...]

Despite Hannity's approval of Cruz' line of questioning, Hagel was not accusing Israel of engaging in a "sickening slaughter" of Lebanon, he was decrying the escalation of violence by all parties in the region. As Slate's Dave Weigel points out, Hagel "described the conflict that way--a sickening slaughter was occurring --blaming both sides, and quickly following up by criticizing Iran and invoking the 'special relationship.' Cruz's truncation of the quote completely changed the meaning." [...]

Hannity also applauded a portion of the hearings in which Cruz used deceptively edited footage again to claim Hagel called the U.S. the bullies of the world after playing edited sound clips of an interview Hagel conducted in 2009. Hannity aired Cruz dismissing Hagel's denials, and called Cruz' questioning a "checkmate" on Hagel: [...]

In fact, the full context of the statements made by Hagel were not presented during the hearing, nor later on Hannity's show.

And who did Hannity follow up with to continue his dishonest attack on Hagel? None other than Liz Cheney -- because God knows we can't have a discussion on national security or foreign policy on Fox without getting the neocon point of view.

Hannity and Cheney called Hagel about every name in the book and implied that he was feckless after hearing his testimony today. That's pretty rich coming from Bush administration cheerleader Hannity and the daughter of someone who likely qualifies as one of, if not the worst Vice Presidents -- someone who dishonored the office in which he served. Both of them actually believe that Donald Rumsfeld did a good job as Secretary of Defense.

DOWNLOADS: (189)

PLAYS: (1650)

Embed

Esquire's Charles Pierce hit the nail on the head with his assessment of this Thursday's confirmation hearing of Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense -- and you can watch part of Sen. Lindsey Graham's petulant display during the hearing in the clip above.

Today In Hagel Bashing:

It was a bizarre, devotional exercise. Hagel was not being asked for his qualifications to lead the Department Of Defense — which, it should be noted, is largely an administrative one when it comes to the country's foreign relations. He was being asked to engage in a vague kind of theological debate. He was not being asked to profess his faith to Israel so much as to recant his heresies against the policies of the United States that were produced by adherents of a certain sect. He wasn't being asked to endorse Bibi Netanyahu so much as he was being asked to recant his unorthodox opinions as regarding the good works of Bill Kristol or John McCain. He was being asked, en ensemble, by Republicans old and young, essentially the same question John McCain spent six minutes hollering into the wind.

Please admit that we were right.

No. You were wrong. You were wrong in 2003 and you were wrong in 2006 and the Iraq war was a murderous cock-up from start to finish and Hagel, at least, figured that out in midstream.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (196)

PLAYS: (854)

Embed

As Sarah Jones at Politicususa rightfully noted, this is pretty rich coming from today's Republican party: The Party of Hotheads Cheney and McCain is Concerned About Hagel’s Temperament:

On ABC’s This Week, Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) concern trolled about the ‘temperament’ of Republican former Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NB), whom Obama has nominated as Secretary of Defense. To back up his concern, Corker referenced possible issues with staffers, “I think there are numbers of staffers who are coming forth now just talking about the way he has dealt with them.” [...]

What staffers? Can he name one of them? Does Corker “think” they are coming forth or have they come forth? And since Hagel’s staffers would have most likely been Republican, it’s possible that such a desperate move might stink to high heaven of a Republican Party agenda, if in fact they ever do “come forth.” But really, since when do staffers weigh in on nominations?

Corker is worried about temperament, and he’s proving that by spreading unfounded rumors from alleged anonymous staffers that may or may not be a figament of his imagination. [...]

The real issue Republicans have with Hagel is that not only has he been to war, unlike most in the chicken hawk party, but he is a two-time recipient of the Purple Heart and he is against a war-first strategy. Hagel warned us before invading Iraq that it is very easy to start a war, and not so easy to end one. Republicans were outraged at Hagel for suggesting such a fact.

I never thought I’d see the day when a modern day Republican suggested that temperament should be an issue. After all, this is the party of distemper. This is the party that allegedly can’t control its members from shouting insults during a State of the Union address. This is the party that lied us into war and ran Sarah Palin as a Vice President.

It’s ironic that the party of irascible hotheads Dick Cheney and John McCain is concerned about Hagel’s temperament, because if they had listened to him, we never would have invaded Iraq. Hagel’s temperament is actually an argument for his confirmation.

I'm wondering when Corker has ever expressed any concern for this guy's temperament?

DOWNLOADS: (149)

PLAYS: (697)

Embed

Transcript via below the fold.

Continue reading »