Support For Chuck Hagel

Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole has endorsed Chuck Hagel to be the next Defense Secretary.

Chuck Hagel has spent his entire life in service to his country. He volunteered to fight in Vietnam and did so bravely, side-by-side with his brother and earning two Purple Hearts. He served as Deputy Administrator of the Veterans Administration for President Ronald Reagan and was President & Chief Executive Officer of the World USO.

He represented the people of Nebraska in the Senate with honor for twelve years and was a coauthor of the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill. Hagel's wisdom and courage make him uniquely qualified to be Secretary of Defense and lead the men and women of our armed forces. Chuck Hagel will be an exceptional leader at an important time.

Retired Maj. Gen. Roger Blunt has also endorsed Hagel.

Among seasoned security professionals, there is little question Hagel is the right man for the job. He has received broad support from leaders on both sides of the political spectrum, including more than 50 U.S. ambassadors and numerous former national security advisers, including Brent Scowcroft, Zbigniew Brzezinski, James Jones and Frank Carlucci. Retired Gen. Colin Powell noted that he’s “a guy who knows veterans, knows the troops.”

This is not idle praise. Hagel’s understanding of the military is informed by his service to this country. He earned two Purple Hearts as a volunteer infantry squad leader in the Vietnam War. When a land mine exploded and nearly killed his younger brother, Hagel dragged him to safety, suffering blown eardrums and severe burns. Reflecting on that experience, he noted, “I’m not a pacifist. I believe in using force, but only after a very careful decision-making process.” Contrary to some of his critics, Hagel will not shoot first and ask questions later on issues of war and peace.

Sen. John McCain admitted that holding up Hagel's confirmation was political payback for Hagel's criticism of President Bush's handling of the Iraq war. Senate Republicans are now using an alleged Hagel link to the terrorist group Friends of Hamas. The only problem is Friends of Hamas doesn't exist. It is a bogus organization created by Andrew Breitbart lackey Ben Shapiro. Dave Weigel fact-checked Shapiro's story and could find no proof that the organization actually exists. That didn't stop right-wing media and bloggers from once again being suckered by the people at Andrew Breitbart's blog empire.

Republicans are so obsessed with blocking Hagel's confirmation that they are resorting to conspiracy theories. Hagel is likely going to get confirmed. Republicans made fools out of themselves for nothing.

RIP George McGovern

Bob Dole delivers a wonder eulogy for George McGovern in the pages of the Washington Post.

When I learned that George McGovern was nearing the end of his remarkable life, I couldn’t help but think back to the day in June 1993 when both of us attended the funeral of former first lady Pat Nixon, in Yorba Linda, Calif. After the service, George was asked by a reporter why he should honor the wife of the man whose alleged dirty tricks had kept him out of the White House. He replied, “You can’t keep on campaigning forever.”

That classy remark was typical of George, a true gentleman who was one of the finest public servants I had the privilege to know.

McGovern warns President Barack Obama about waging war in the Middle East.

Triangulation Man: Debt Ceiling Aftermath

President Barack Obama wanted to appear centrist. Which is why Obama caved on the debt ceiling deal. The Real Clear Politics poll tracker shows Obama's job approval rating dipping to 44 percent. To make matters worse, the stock market went down 512.76 points. Translation: the gains the market made in 2011 were wiped out. Obama admitted yesterday that the debt ceiling crisis has hurt the economy.

"Unfortunately the debt ceiling crisis over the last month, I think, has had an unnecessary negative impact on the economy ... as well," he said.

My question is why did Obama placed being portrayed as centrist? I don't buy that Obama or Congressional Republicans were seriously concerned about the budget deficit or national debt. Otherwise, both sides would not have allowed the FAA to lose $1 billion in tax revenue. Obama threw the Social Security surplus on the table. Republicans took corporate jet tax breaks off the table. The White House thinks pissing off their base will make them appear more centrist. Republicans are terrified that their base will turn on them if they do anything that smells like a tax increase. The truth is most voters care about Social Security and could care less about corporate jet tax breaks. This tells you how far disconnected Washington is from reality.

Former President Bill Clinton prepared himself for Republicans using the debt ceiling against him.

“Here’s what happened, as I remember – but let me back up a second,” Clinton said. “I have read accounts of that time where people at Treasury have been interviewed, and they say they did look into [the president's authority to raise the debt ceiling without congressional approval].” As for the Republicans, “they did think about doing that" -- withholding approval of a higher limit -- "and I knew they were thinking about it.” But the question ultimately did not arise for Clinton, he says, because his opponents in Congress decided “they didn’t want to get caught” in a position where they appeared to be repudiating the debt incurred by their own party’s two previous presidents.

“The reason that raising the debt limit is so unpopular is that people think you’re voting to keep [increasing] deficit spending, instead of voting to honor obligations that were already incurred,” he said. “I think [the Gingrich Republicans] figured I’d be smart enough to explain to the American people that they were refusing to pay for the expenses they had voted for when Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush were president. And that would make ‘em look bad.”

How the 14th amendment argument would have played out is unknown. What is known is Clinton used the behind the scenes threat of executive power and telling the American people that the debt was created from Republican presidential spending. People will argue that Clinton was dealing with a different congress than Obama.

If you mean the Congress that had members that would later try to impeach Clinton out of office then you are correct. Republicans held both the House and Senate during the 1995 government shutdowns. Like the tea party elected officials under Boehner and McConnell, the Contract With America Republicans were insane. George Stephanopoulos detailed how Dole gave up trying to control his caucus and went to Iowa to campaign. Gingrich complained to the Clinton White House that he couldn't control his newly elected radicals. This is exactly what Clinton wanted and how he got the Republicans to cave. Boehner had trouble passing his own debt ceiling plan with his own caucus. It would have been easy for someone with Clinton's skills to play Boehner, Cantor, McConnell and the tea party Republicans off of each other.

What enabled Republicans is they knew Obama would flinch and want to appear centrist. Sen. Tom Coburn rightfully said that Obama would sign any debt ceiling bill that reached his desk.



The DCCC wants to attack House Republicans for supporting Medicare cuts. Apparently, the DCCC is forgetting that the President actively pushed for Medicare cuts in the debt deal. The so-called Super Congress will likely support entitlement cuts. If and when that happens several Democrats will have a hard time explaining why they voted for the debt ceiling deal.

I am not excusing the Republicans reckless behavior for one second. However, Obama was elected to "change" the way things are done in Washington. Not use Dick Morris' triangulation playbook as a means to govern. I wrote posts before Obama was elected president that he is not a progressive. I didn't expect to agree with Obama on every policy. I was expecting Obama to govern with competency. Watching Obama govern with super-majorities was painful. Government has now become utterly incompetent. Obama certainly can't be blamed for everything, but this do nothing Congress and stock market crash is on his watch.

Reality to White House: Freshmen Republicans Want Government Shutdown

Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers,
said the Republicans would never shutdown government.

“The reason you haven’t seen the private sector getting worked up about it — I don’t think the evidence is the markets believe there’s going to be a shutdown,” Goolsbee said Thursday at a breakfast sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor. “You saw the leaders of both parties in both houses say — all four of them — they’re going to do what it takes, that they don’t think there’s going to be a shutdown.”

If Florida's Tea Party-elected freshmen delegation had their way there will be a government shutdown.

Rep. Allen West

"There’s a very good possibility that government will shut down. I know the Democrats have their talking points lined up. They’ll blame us for everything. What will we do?"

Rep. Rich Nugent

"All I can tell you is this: If you’re looking for us to blink, it’s not going to happen."

The three shutdowns in 1995 hurt Newt Gingrich politically. Gingrich lost control of his caucus and couldn't get the votes to fund the government. George Stephanopoulos recounts in his book "All Too Human" that former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole told the White House he gave up trying to get the House to pass a budget. Dole left Washington to campaign. It will be interesting to see if Boehner can control his caucus.

Former White House Treasury Sec. Robert Rubin told President Bill Clinton, during the shutdowns, that the United States could financially default. If these Republicans were really worried about fiscal issues they wouldn't be talking about a shutdown.

Quote of the Day

"The internet is a great way to get on the net."

Bob Dole

It's hard to argue with that kind of logic.