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Subscribe to RSSFormer Nebraska lawmaker, Chuck Hagel, is reportedly in line to be nominated for U.S. secretary of defense. NBC's Peter Alexander reports.
Senators on Sunday indicated a tough confirmation fight for former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, President Barack Obama's reported pick to be the next Secretary of Defense.
On NBC's "Meet the Press," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that Republicans in the upper chamber would treat Hagel "fairly" but that his past statements on Israel and Iran will be subject to tough scrutiny.
"I think he'll be subjected to the same kind of oversight hearings that any nominee for such an important position would expect," McConnell said. "And his views with regard to Israel, for example, and Iran and all the other positions that he's taken over the years will be very much a matter of discussion in the confirmation process."
Sen. Angus King, who sits on the Armed Services Committee, previews the upcoming nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel to become secretary of state.
"I think there will be a lot of tough questions for Sen. Hagel, but he will be treated fairly by Republicans in the Senate," he added.
That statement fell short of McConnell's past praise for his fellow Republican, a Vietnam War veteran and Purple Heart recipient who served in the Senate for three terms. When Hagel left the Senate, McConnell called him "a clear voice on foreign policy and national security."
During a pre-taped appearance on ABC's "This Week," McConnell appeared to back off that view, saying only that Hagel has been "outspoken" on foreign policy issues. "The question we will be answering if he's the nominee is 'do his views make sense for that particular job?'" he said.
Hagel has earned foes on both sides of the aisle for past statements about Israel -- notably his comment about how the "Jewish lobby" tries to influence lawmakers in D.C. -- as well as for his calls for direct negotiations with Palestinian group Hamas. He has also voted against some Iran sanctions and was heavily critical of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell discusses the goals his party is aiming toward in the upcoming Congress.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., called the reported pick an "in your face nomination" by the president, while new Sen. Ted Cruz blasted Obama for ignoring bipartisan criticism of his reported pick for the Pentagon job.
"This is a president who has drunk the tea," Cruz said on Fox News Sunday "He's high on re-election right now."
Cruz said that he is "concerned" about Hagel's past statements.
Newly-elected independent Sen. Angus King of Maine said on "Meet the Press" that he would "reserve judgement" until the confirmation process begins, saying he believes generally that the president should be given considerable leeway to fill his cabinet as he sees fit.
"But I'm going to want to ask some serious questions and hear from Senator Hagel about the issues," he added. "He's a guy with a distinguished record and I'm going to listen to the answers."
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a freshman Democrat from North Dakota, said that the looming fight over the expected nomination merely highlights the Washington gridlock disliked by the American public.
"Chuck Hagel is a tremendous patriot and statesman," she said on ABC. "He hasn't had a chance to speak for himself, so why all the prejudging? I don't know."
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OK...so the Republicans in the Senate are going to block Hagel, because after all, he must be one of those evil liberals....wait.....what!?!?! Then they wonder why the polls blame them for everything that is wrong with our government....
I don't care about politics, I care about the truth....and the truth is that we have found ourselves with a president that will go down in history as the most anti-american president we have ever had!
And the sad truth is that our media has covered up everything negative that this president has done...maybe that's why so many up here don't know what really going on.
All you have to do is look up a couple things and you will be better informed....
Read "The Roots of Obama's Rage" by Dinesh D'Souza, and you will know more about the man and his anti-colonialist ideas....
Look into the czars he has placed into positions of power that want to transform America into another kind of country....
Notice that he has not even passed a budget for years, which he is supposed to do by law, but his own party won't vote on his laughable budgets either....
You clueless little boy... I mean, are you paid to post this stupidity, or where you dropped on your head?
Dang. I hope CPS takes you out of your parent's trailer!
John -
"I don't care about politics, I care about the truth...."
Who's truth...the truth is whatever one defines it be...the problem with truth is no one knows who's truth is true...
John,no amount of fact,logic,or common sense will ever dent that iron curtain of stupidity that most liberals hide behind.
Seems Johnny is now supported by others that are paid to post or were dropped on their heads!
The Budget
Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2013 contains the Budget Message of the President, information on the President’s priorities, budget overviews organized by agency, and summary tables.
To download "Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2013" as a single PDF click here (256 pages, 4.6 MB)
JOhn--D'Souza? Have you sunk so low? D'Souza, forced to resign the presidency of his "Christian" college because he used college funds to take a woman not his wife to a convention. D'Souza, who claims that Obama gets his rage from his father, a man Obama met precisely once in his childhood. You should read some reviews of D'Souza's work. Here's a sample of what conservative critics have to say: Daniel Larison of The American Conservative states, "Dinesh D'Souza has authored what may possibly be the most ridiculous piece of Obama analysis yet written. ... All in all, D'Souza's article reads like a bad conspiracy theory."[63 Andrew Ferguson of The Weekly Standard writes, "D'Souza always sees absence of evidence as evidence of something or other. ... There is, indeed, a name for the beliefs that motivate President Obama, but it's not anticolonialism; it's not even socialism. It's liberalism!"[ See http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/sep/05/obamas-evil-twin/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinesh_D%27Souza#Forbes_article_and_The_Roots_of_Obama.27s_Rage. Remember, those are the conservative critics.
I can't speak to D'Souza's sins, but can you dispute the facts about the anti-Americans and anti-colonialists that he looked up to?
It's easy to look into people and find flaws and dispel everything they have done but that seems awfully short-sighted my friend.
herron re.393.5 hello in there H, it must be terrible to be a liberal living inside your mental padded cell, knowing there is something going on outside, feeling that everyone knows something that is just beyond your reach, not able to see thru the fog of self delusion, having to compensate with the inane drivel handed out by your masters along with the bare subsistence check(s), all the while with that little voice repeating "somethings wrong in here". The worst, however, is yet to come. What happens when the check(s) stop and the drivel continutes, and you still can't get out?
John--They aren't facts, John. Do you get that? The rantings of D'Souza, Beck and other poor souls are not facts. They are rantings, nothing more.
So many people are too willing to immediately play the anti-semite card the minute someone says anything negative about or dares to even question the actions of the state of Israel.
"Why should the Arabs make peace? If I were an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country. Sure, God promised it to us, but what does that matter to them? Our God is not theirs. We come from Israel, it's true, but two thousand years ago, and what is that to them? There has been antisemitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing: we have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that? They may perhaps forget in one or two generations' time, but for the moment there is no chance." David Ben-Gurion, first prime minister of Israel
"For eight years now, they have sat in the refugee camps of Gaza and have watched how, before their very eyes, we have turned their lands and villages, where they and their forefathers previously dwelled, into our home." General Moshe Dayan, Israeli military hero - 1956
The truth is...He was raised and surrounded by people that didn't like America very much, and some actually hated it, LOOK IT UP.
The truth is...he appointed people to positions of power (like communists, socialists and anti-capitalists) that want to "fundamentally transform" America into another kind of country, LOOK IT UP.
The truth is...he promised to cut the debt in half and yet he has done nothing except speed up our economic collapse, you have to understand that we can't keep spending more than a trillion dollars more than we bring in.
Maybe I'm wasting my breathe sharing with people that likely also hate this country but if any of you care about this country's future, just look into these things so you aren't asking "what happened" when Obama has his way with this country.
You know John, many people have the same thoughts regarding Bush Jr. Why did we go to war with Iraq? Who exactly did Bush Jr. have in his cabinet, and how did the rest of the world regard America while Bush Jr. was president? You don't like or agree with Obama, we get it. Many didn't like or agree with Bush Jr. either. This is America, and we have the freedom to like/dislike; agree/disagree with our duly, legally, and freely elected officials; many have made dire predictions for years regarding communism, socialism, fascism, and any other isms you can name. The country is going to end nonsense will be repeated over and over, yet...we our still a country, and will prevail.
John--You're a fool. The American people rejected your rightwing nonsense. Your source is what The American Conservative calls "the most ridiculous piece of Obama analysis yet written." Read my 393.6 to see how truly pathetic you are.
Whenever someone begins a post with "The truth is...", you KNOW that the rest is going to be lie after lie.
John812, the truth is... you are totally full of it
P.S. This is not what we all hoped congress would be wasting their (our?) time on.
Not a lot of love on here for Israel these days, apart from the usual suspects.
It seems that the worm has finally turned in the majority here at home.
Palestinian state here we come.
Sooner or later, Israel will HAVE to give.
The president’s budget calls for long-term deficit reduction, but its immediate priority is to encourage the fledgling economic recovery. Instead of trying to stabilize the budget on the backs of the poor, it would raise taxes on the wealthy and on big banks and eliminate many corporate tax loopholes.
Unfortunately, thinking while chewing gum escapes most of our friends on the Right.
To put Americans back to work, it would invest $350 billion in constructing roads, rail lines and schools, and encourage manufacturing through tax incentives and research spending. It would maintain the Pell grant program for low-income college students and add new spending for teacher improvement and education reform.
Republicans, on the other hand, would cut taxes for the rich and cut almost all of that spending, heedless of the pain that it would inflict on the economy and the millions of Americans still reeling from the downturn’s effects.
In poll after poll, the public has made clear that it prefers the president’s approach of rebuilding the economy now and tackling the deficit when the fundamentals are stronger. While Republicans have counted on voters blaming Mr. Obama for the hard times, some are beginning to worry that they will be blamed for their obstructionism.
...instead of trying to stabilize the budget on the backs of the poor, it would raise taxes on the wealthy and on big banks and eliminate many corporate tax loopholes....this is why corporate interests are waging this aggressive "it's a spending only" campaign.
The President has it right. If the dems controlled congress the economy would be booming, and many of our countries problems would be solved.
ROFL, that is hilarious! The dems DID control both houses of congress for his first two years and had their way on about everything....where did that get you? The slowest recovery in our country's history!
We may not agree on everything that the right does, but conservative principles have made the USA the richest and most powerful country this world has ever seen.
Oh, I forgot, the left hates that and wants to bring us down to the living standard of the rest of the world because "that's only fair"!
John--America became a great power under Theodore Roosevelt, a progressive, and Woodrow Wilson, a liberal. The nation became the richest and most powerful under Franklin D. Roosevelt, a liberal. Didn't take much history, did you? Oh, that's right, you get your "facts" from D'Souza and his ilk. Pathetic.
1) the Secretary Of Defense works for the US, not Israel
2) Israel's star is not on the US flag
3) any politician holding up confirmation based on Israel is a traitor to the US and its citizens
John812 - Yes you are wasting your time if you really think any of us or Obama or his administration "hate this country". No we all love this country in spite of it's imperfections, and I include you in that, but we just don't happen to agree with you on everything.
Hagel is by his record anti-abortion, anti-affirmative action and anti-gay.
But certain "liberals" will twist themselves into pretzels to excuse Hagel's deplorable homophobia and to support this guy because he is anti-Israel. Why? Because they are anti-Semites.
Gee, steve, I guess the Secretary of Defense can do a lot of harm to abortion rights activists, college admissions panel members, and homosexual partners. Who'da thunk it, especially when his prospective employer supports all of those interest groups?
Steve,
Liberals are not the problem, the republicans are the ones against him. Liberals are more forgiving and don't hold elected officials or cabinet members to rigid ideology. Liberals know that most cabinet members will uphold the laws and not mold their cabinet positions to their ideology, but to the laws of the land. Liberals understand that cabinet members personal views and statements can be changed or revisited, with the changing world and population views.
Steve--Liberals are anti-Semites? That's a hoot. And black is white.
Steve - If Hagel actually is all those things you claim, he'll have no trouble from Republicans!
In the natural rise and fall of countries it is typical for the people at their apex to say "nonsense, nothing is going to happen to my country" :)
That's why they are called "Famous last words"...
Yes, we have heard this kind of talk over the years from people playing politics and those that just don't know any better, but we are on the edge of economic collapse whether you care to believe it or not...just keep supporting these crazy policies and you'll find out soon enough.
John--You're a fool. The American people rejected your rightwing nonsense. Your source is what The American Conservative calls "the most ridiculous piece of Obama analysis yet written." You repeat the kind of garbage we used to get from Glenn Beck (the guy who saw conspiracies in the murals on Rockefeller Center) before he was fired by Fox for being really too crazy even for Fox. Read my 393.6 to see how truly pathetic you are.
(PolitiFact) cowbird, come come now, skinny chicken isn't PolitiFact one of your favs?
Sorry, there
prostate John
Is it paraphrasing, used as a noun that bothers you ?
or, verb (used with object) that trips your idiotic blather?
then again, as a verb (used without object) That engages verbal retort, all an-serine & goosey, jonny ovum seed.
Or is it that you are tired of urinating on your ovariesack over by the sump pump?
Do you, really, wash your hands before picking out the greenies, after priapic self service ?
Or, do you contract harlotpurvertgurl for your nasal mining & phallic manipulation ritual?
. good luck with Harleyguyvet he's letting herron ride on back picking ticks and fleas out of his leathery wooly flesh
garcher: Since WHEN did Abassador to the UN become a cabinet post? You are OFF the subject.
fab: YOU might want to CHECK your WIFE to be SURE that SHE is not in a Brothel.
elliot: You need to learn how to SPELL.YOU speak of intelligence when you do NOT know how to SPELL.It's Feisty not FISTY a FIST is a FIST.You know I SUPPOSE like a HAND folded in a cuff.Feisty is pronouced
FE-Y-E-STY
you so called MEN who say that Feisty is vulgar? You can't stand it when a Woman WONT take your shyt can you? Curse, and GET cursed,name call and GET called names.
Choices;
Economic freedom and upward mobility? or Menial subsistence & dependency ?
So which is it A. The government needs more revenue ?
..........Or.......... B. The government wants more taxes ?
.........maybe....C. Does prosperity generate more revenue collected by government ?
........possibly..D. Do more taxes generate greater government control ?
.........Really.....E. What is in the best interest of the people, dependency or prosperity?
.............................."just asking"
.................................................."Too have the Freedom to pursue happiness"... OK ?
Duty, honor, country, did you forget about that harlot varicose gurl ?
Your style of presentation is extremely annoying.
W....ell then a. just happy
....................B. That i was able
....................C. too be there in
....................D. Your time of want for something to
....................E. complain For/abou...tea?
....................F.inally have a great transformation... 4ward----------->ho
upstate John
narcissism, now there is a real fun word for all of you daffodils out there! debacle, that's another fun one! Man, this stuff just flows out of every orifice when salivating over your right wing "principles". Crawl back into the holes from whence you came! benghazigate? whew! how about fast and fabulous?
Your ostrich syndrome is showing/? john crust an prostate...
The Quote of the Decade:
"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America 's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America 's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that, "the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better."
~ Senator Barack H. Obama, March 2006 current
Pass it on 'til eternity...
Mother of freedom grasp securely thy torch, An indolent beguiler tarnishes thy porch Whilst this, his undoing shall it be, redolent the smoke lamps light shed on thee. yea tho ye be chided among the failed contrite, your iniquities will if be unveiled too austere in sight. yet ye find thee only self in woe, on the morrow our world's crimson tears doth flow, oracle of deceit find thy sullen ignominy dour, as the Eagle, "your charge" weakens by the hour...
....................................................................Unknown author
Oh my gosh. Give it a rest. Sunday School was over HOURS ago.
Convenient--Dude, the last paragraph sounds like something out of Doonesbury when he portrays the antics of the Red Raider. Hope you're enjoying whatever you're smoking.
Great quote, convenient! Great post!
And that was SIX TRILLION DOLLARS AGO!!!
.
Even though most politicians are liars, Barak Obama is definitely the biggest liar of them all!
Thank you, Mr. President, for suffering these fools so patiently.
Please, Hillary, nominate Barack to the first available seat on the Supreme Court.
Hillary appoint, what?Will that be some kind of senility therapy,in between diaper changes?Besides obama has been disbarred.I guess as part of the game she could pardon him first.
A quadraplegic deaf mute infant from Thailand who has been diagnosed with AIDS is qualified to sit on the United States Supreme Court.
Even disbarred attorneys are eligible as there are NO requirements enunciated by the Constitution. None. This is the way the Founding Fathers wanted it....that justice should be blind.
...and enogh of this disbarred Obama rhetoric. It has been disproven time and time again. Just RWNJ talking points from the likes of Breitbart and other fools.
Print--You can write lots of things on this vine, but you'll be called out when you lie. The notion that Obama has been disbarred is a lie. http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/lawlicenses.asp and http://www.factcheck.org/2012/06/the-obamas-law-licenses/. The truth has been out long enough for you to know better.
Are you implying that only liberals can say inaccurate things.My,my.
Printy,
You are losing it as the hours pass. Take a nap. Come back when you can make an effort to speak more lucidly.
Print--Do you acknowledge that what you wrote is inaccurate? I have been known to err and, when my error was pointed out, admitted it immediately and did not repeat it. Candidly, we should all expect to be called out if we write something that is factually untrue and has been known to be false long enough for us to have known it. In my case, it was something that was not general knowledge.
print money
Obama has not been disbarred. That is a flat out lie. He went inactive as an attorney when he was elected president. You can check it if you're smart enough to figure out how. He and Michelle are both inactive as they are a little too busy to argue cases at the moment. Going inactive just means they don't have to pay dues to the bar association or do continuing education while they occupy the White House. If I were the Obamas I would seriously think about suing you for slander.
Liberals on obama:hear no evil,see no evil,speak no evil,but all of you are sure gonna smell it when the s..t hits the fan.
Liberals like me, I presume?
Hate to burst your bubble, but I'm a moderate....just like my President.
Even moderates see through you on the Right.
The @!$%# hit the fan with GWB. Cleaning up a Repuke cesspool takes time and patience.
Only a complete idiot would have started 2 wars and cut taxes at the same time.
Let's go back a little farther;heard of the housing bubble,it bursting,resulted in the 2008 recession.The glass/stegal act(slick willie's pet project)is the direct cause of the housing collapse,and therefore the root of our problems.obama has only seen to it that it contiues and deepens,primarily because he lacks clinton's administrative skills.
Print-The Glass-Steagal Act is also known as the Banking Act of 1933. You may have that confused with another law passed by a Republican congress.
Old Vet - This was posted on the NewsVine a couple of hours ago I think it's worth reading
Confrontational??! You mean like that hateful smear campaign you all did
to Rice? Or the character assassination you all have attempted on Hagel when he
couldn't even defend himself - that kind of confrontational? Oh, honey - you
haven't seen Obama do confrontational yet. Cause you ain't got nothing cookin'
in that pot, baby.
You just explain how nominating a combat- wounded veteran, former
Republican member of the United States Senate, foreign relation committee member
and sitting member of the military intelligence advisory committee to the
Department of Defense is so far out of the mainstream as to be confrontational?
Because that really is all you can bring up in the confirmation hearings - or
are you gonna get up before the Amnerican people and declare that Hagel is not
loyal enough to the State of Israel? Really think that's gonna fly outside of
the lobbyist studded halls of Congress? Or are ya' really gonna stand up and cry
"this man is against us automatically sending your children off to another war
to die!" ?
No what you really mean, Senator Graham is
that Hagel committed a grievous sin that you all just can't let lie. He dared to
be the only Republican who stood up and revealed the Iraqi War for the ill
conceived farce that it was and openly declared against all the Emperor's men
that sat on your side of the aisle that it was detrimental for our country. And
he was @!$%#ing right!
And that, dear sir,is what really sticks in your craw.
So you can suck on your teeth all you want. But face it.
Obama out played you, you SOB
Barbara--Thanks. I hadn't seen that. It's wonderful.
Barbara- Best Post I've seen, Thanks
It sounds like many up here get their talking points from MSNBC but maybe you should all think about this...
This network seems to have 2 major projects....
Throughout the week during prime time (when the most people are watching) they discuss angry politics and talk about the "other side" with anger and vitriol...
And then all weekend they run prison shows and follow around criminals and convicts....
Isn't it obvious that their target audience is the disgruntled masses, the disenfranchised, convicts, criminals and those that they can influenced by "stirring the pot" with angry politics!
Pot meet kettle. FAUX only spins to the old, white haters that want to live in 1950.
Ozzie and Harriet played to morons then and it still does.
So you are suggesting that it is ok, because "the other side" speaks to conservatives?
Give me a break my friend.
Sane,
Actually, having grown up watching the show, I imagine that both Ozzie AND Harriet would have been rather moderate in their political views, although Ricky would have become an avowed liberal and his brother, David, the Tea Party chapter President.
John, don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining and then hide under the FAUX umbrella. lol
MSNBCMFE, I grew up watching that show too. I think it portrayed a unrealistic pacifism even then though.
Mayberry wasn't real either but it sure sold to the masses. We were a more tolerant society on the surface then, but the hate ran deep and still does.
Unrealistic, to be sure....but Ozzie was kinda hip in his way.
Speaking of Mayberry, were there ever any black characters on The Andy Griffith Show? Being set in North Carolina, I would imagine one or two would have been in the background on occasion, but for the life of me I can't recall a one.
Gotta love Otis and the key hanging next to the cell door, though. THAT'S justice tempered by mercy!
I wish we could all live in Mayberry TBH. But the fact is we never did. Illusion sold then and it sells today.
I remember seeing a black person in the background of a couple of scenes, but never a speaking part. And so it was then.
I hope we all have a voice in 2013. I don't like the outcome of all elections. I know others feel the same.
I will however, respect the outcome and still hope hope others feel the same.
This has been fun but there are other sane voices on this vine, undoubtedly clearer than mine, who can hold back the tide of rightwing ignorance. Goodnight and God bless.