E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSEx-Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) got into a back and forth with freshman Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) over remarks Hagel made during an appearance on a call-in talk show on Al Jazeera.
The clip cited by Cruz has been making its way around conservative blogs over the past few days. In it, Hagel is asked about an emailed question from a viewer (in Georgia in the United States), who notes the perception that the U.S. is viewed as the “world’s bully.”
Here’s the clip and transcript of that:
EMAIL QUESTION: “Can the rest of the world be persuaded to give up their arsenal when the image of the U.S. is that of the world’s bully? Don’t we indeed need to change the perception and the reality before asking folks to lay down their arms (nuclear or otherwise)?
HAGEL: Well, her observation is a good one, and it’s relevant. Yes, to her question, and again I think that’s all part of leadership.
That’s where the clip cuts off. Cruz admonished Hagel during the hearing for not disagreeing with the emailer. In fact, Cruz concluded, Hagel “explicitly” agreed that the United States was the "world’s bully."
But there was more to what Hagel had to say.
The subject of the March 21, 2009 show -- two months after President Obama was sworn in to a first term -- was nuclear proliferation. Hagel believes, as Obama does, that the world, including the United States, should have fewer nuclear weapons.
Here’s a fuller clip from the show and the rest of what Hagel had to say, including the next question about the “perception” of the United States as the “world’s bully.”
Hagel blamed that “perception” on the Bush administration’s foreign policy. They “misplayed a lot of the great goodwill” the U.S. received after 9/11, Hagel said.
HAGEL: “…And again I think that all part of leadership. That’s why this must begin with the United States and Russia. Look, for example, what President Obama has done in the first two months he’s been in office. His Secretary of State, Mrs. Clinton, has met with the Russian Foreign Minister. She’s been in five regions of the world. The president of the United States is out of the United States now. He’ll be in different parts of the world over the next week. I think that is the beginning of, not just symbolism of reaching out, but, in fact, engaging, listening, finding common ground to build common interests based on consensus. We’re going to have differences. We will always have differences. But we should define our relationships based not on those differences but on our common interests.
HOST: “Well, I mean, that brings us to the new administration that is here in Washington. I think that perception of the United States being a bully in the world has come largely from what the previous administration has done.”
HAGEL: “Oh, I think that’s right. We are now in our unfortunately seventh and eighth years in two long wars. That’s not all America’s fault. Of course not. But I think this last administration misplayed a lot of the great goodwill that were [inaudible] to this country after the terrorist attacks on this country on Sept. 11, 2001. The fact is, the past is the past and we now move forward. Let’s try to get to high ground and fix some of these great problems and challenges for mankind. Working together, I believe we can do that.”
Leave a Comment:
John McNasty was in fine form this morning!
You have to pity the kids who dare step onto his lawn...
WOW! Talk about a hair trigger temper
What I find ironic is this bitter old fool question ANTONE'S foreign policy experience when he himself, doesn't know the difference between a @!$%#e and Sunni!
The GNOP's behavior towards one of their own reminded me of a piranha feeding frenzy... disgusting!
So, the demon's(Ted Cruz) trying to demonize the appointee. Well, isn't that special. I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't stomach much more of the tea party people. I am glad that Chuck Hagel is not afraid to call it what it is.
And just breaking - a 14 year old shot in the head at a middle school in Atlanta - you know - one of those gun-totting red states. A teacher was also shot. No details on the shooter.
But hey, had the 14 year old been armed it wouldn't have happened. It was clearly all his own fault!
We are the worlds bully and have been since Ronald Reagan. I would call us the worlds cop, spoken in a different way. We need to stop being these things. If we are ask to help by a friendly nation is one thing but to invade a sovereign country to remove a ruler that we no longer like is wrong. If we wanted to show our good intentions I am afraid George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Don Rumsfeld would be in front of a judge in the Hague for their war crimes. Over 4 thousand of our good young people and and estimated 100000 Iraqi proves that. We were wrong to invade Iraq, and maybe even wrong to invade Afghanistan.
McCain wants Hagel and everyone to say … you were right … you would have been the best CIC … ever!
Cruz can’t see beyond the Tea Bags that hang from the bill of his NRA ball cap
Speaking of disgusting behavior...and without a hint of irony.
Go back and read some of your posts.
Yes, Feisty, wasn't he? The one that really got me was Inhoffe! The man can barely put together two coherent sentences. Unfortunately, I only was able to see McNasty and Inhoffe this morning while getting ready for the day. I will have to catch up, but I doubt that Ted Cruz can add anything of substance as he is nothing but a crappy tea banger.
Feisty, you know that the GOP turned Hagel away as soon as he "befriended" president Obama, their own public enemy #1. Hagel is not seen as "one of them". He is seen as a traitor to his party.
Seeking, are you sure they wasn't stabbed, run over by a car, or hit with a soda pop? Guns don't kill people. People with guns kill people.
Johntho
Again, I agree about previous administrations, but don't give the man whose been at the throne as the world's bully for the last 4 years a free pass.
Dingle, I think that history will show that president Obama has been one the most diplomatic presidents in current history.
Just curious...what were we when Kennedy & Johnson got us into Vietnam? Or when Kennedy did the Bay of Pigs and started the Cuba embargo?
Personally, I don't want to be the worlds cop anymore (or bully if you prefer that term instead), but to act like the US never flexed it's muscles before Reagan is just rewriting history.
Pass? He has ended one war, and yes I will give you the timeline set by the previous administration, however it still needed to be done by him, and is ending the other and it looks like it is on time or maybe even a head of the time that he said when he was elected. We are not involved in any long term investment in any other country. How is Obama a world bully?
SeekingSanity
Doh! Atlanta is a state now? I thought Atlanta was a city, you know, one of those liberal strong holds in a sea of red.
Dingle,
I agree with you on both GWB and Obama. For some reason people want to act like Obama is a dove, but in fact, I think he's acted more like a hawk. He's not as bad as GWB, but that doesn't mean he's another Ghandi.
As to the diplomacy comment in 1.9, only time will tell. Personally, I really can't think of any significant diplomatic successes from Obama. There certainly hasn't been the equivalent of the China diplomacy from Nixon.
The right loves a saber rattler and none was better at it than Dutch.
I don't know, what would you call killing and terrorizing innocent civilians (including children) all over the mid east with predator drone strikes? We are still in Afghanistan. Why? We used military action in Libya. Why? What do you call that?
Johntho,
Agree with all you said in post #1.3.
AlaskaGirl & Feisty,
It's all much ado about nothing. Since when are people appointed to Cabinet posts supposed to have world views that agree with sitting Senators? Is Hagel not free to form his own opinion on these matters?
thanks to that idiot Dubya and his cronies (Cheney and Rumsfeld) we ARE the worlds bully and have a track record of 'endless wars' to prove it. The USA's roads and bridges are going hell, the bankers that should be in jail aren't and we are spending billions fighting on foreign soil....DUH!
Ron in the first place, it wasn't Kennedy that got us into Vietnam. As far as the Bay of Pigs or the Cuban embargo, they were building rocket pads 90 miles from the Fl. coast? Was we just suppose to over look that? We were also involved in Korea, as part of a United Nations force. I really don't think we were the aggressor there as we just tried to hold ground. Yes we have made mistakes in the past, I don't think Cuba was though, and I don't think Korea was. What I meant by Reagan is he damn near broke us building up our military to feed the industry. I bet you know that.
Hell, McCain don't know the difference between Shiite and shinola!
Ron-1861300
Obama sold himself as a dove, and he still has many fooled.
Hagel won't have a chance.
The Zionazis will make sure of that
You really can't see the forest for the trees can you. Yeah, we was involved in Libya, because we were ask for help by the EU. Not because we were aggressively trying to change that government. What you don't want to mention about those drone strikes is we also have taken out a lot of the Al Qaeda hierarchy. War is hell, any war and in case you haven't noticed, (Benghazi) we are at war. Woman and children die in war. To call Obama a hawk is wrong, just some more hate from right in my opinion. Nitpicking. Nothing else.
Ding, where on earth did you get that Obama sold himself as a dove? Out of what tin foil hat did you pull that?
US never flexed it's muscles before Reagan is just rewriting history...
The list can continue to our actions in Latin America, Mexican American war 1846, Spanish American war 1898. Perhaps the only time the media SOLD a war more than what they did for the Iraq war.
Dingle, hint Obama doesn't sit on a throne. Although I will grant you he has continued some of the Bush War on Terror policies, Patriot act, NDAA.
Ron 186 I agree Obama has pushed the party to the hawkish right. Not many other than D. Kucinich ever called him out over the Libya incursion and ignoring the War Powers act. If he felt it was a worthy, righteous cause he could have pushed/explained why the action was required. If their was a timing issue, fear that civilians would die, he still could have asked for a vote during the first 90 days of operations.
Regarding the Hagel testimony while he spoke to McCain and Graham, never heard a more interruptive, rude and hostile series of questions where the asker never allowed the person to answer. I wish those asking those questions would have to answer for every single controversial or nuanced vote or statement they made. Hypocrites.
I agree we were involved in Vietnam before Kennedy, but he significantly increased our involvement. As to Reagan, I always strongly disagreed with his deficit spending, but he did at least use that (otherwise wasteful) spending to win the cold war - which enabled the military draw-down and helped fuel the economic growth of the 90's.
Dingle - I was totally wrong. Wasn't thinking and of course Atlanta is a city in the red state of Georgia!
Johntho - actually Bush, Cheney and Rumsfield cannot leave the US because of war crimes charges against them by the world court. Should they leave the US they are very likely to be picked up and tried.
Better drones than our bloodied boots on the ground. I don't mean to sound callous, but Johntho is right. We are at war and we will use the means necessary and if it means getting us out of these cesspools that much quicker, then give it all we got, I say. In the case of Iraq and Afghanistan(aren't we all just so tired of it?) I am on the side of the "the end justify the means".
SS: Hence the reason that Cheney did not go to Canada a year ago for that very same fear.
Alaska Girl,
Look at what those loons did to Charlie Crist for having the audacity to put his hand on the President's shoulder!
They would of strung him up if lynching were still legal!
LMFAO Al!
Please pass the Bounty! ;o)))
Disagree again, Ron, Reagan didn't end the cold war, he damn near broke us trying to. The fact is the old USSR, bankrupted themselves trying to fight on two fronts, keeping up with us (star wars) and fighting in Afghanistan. Reagan was a B actor but still and actor and many bought his B.S., I didn't, maybe because I was caught up in his recession, in my opinion, the only thing that Reagan did for this country was bring back the tent cities and soup kitchens from the great depression.
Foreign policy is one of those places that you actually CAN point to and say "both sides do it." For decades we propped up every tinplate dictator who promised to be our friend, just so they wouldn't say they were a friend of the Soviets. We bought ourselves a heap of trouble with that going at least as far back as the Shah of Iran. In the post-Cold War era we've been too quick to send guns and soldiers, not quick enough to take a little time and see how things will shake out on their own. We're entitled to self-determination, but we've been determined to make sure "stability" is the rule everywhere else.
It's good to finally get beyond that with President Obama...and Chuck Hagel is the man to help make that a reality.
No matter what the sabre-rattling chickenhawks and the bitter old man McCain who leads them have to say.
It's called a military action. You wanna talk numbers. How many innocent civilians died during "shock and awe" while you were cheering. Bet you weren't worried about them, were you? But that Obama must be the worst person to ever inhabit the earth. Get a life.
Exactly! Look what they did when Gov. Christie had the nerve to actually hug the president! If they could have impeached the governor they would have! The tea bangers are really big on impeachment. I think it's funny as they have absolutely no clue as to the process and what is considered an impeachable offense. Kinda like their treasony thingy! They are, if nothing else, an amusing bunch of ignorants! Do we really need to get rid of them?! It's kind of fun teasing them like cats do to mice, just before they sink their claws into them!
Beautifully stated, John.
Republicans: "D'oh!"
Mr. Dingleberry,
I care about your opinion.... WHY?
JohnB, good post. One of the best I have seen today.
AlaskaGirl-759554
The Vietnam war ended with the public disgust in seeing flag draped coffins coming home. Drones make bullying...er, military action around the world an option without accountability. Drones have their appropriate uses, but Obama has taken them to a new level.
Johntho
So what about when the EU asks for our help in Mali? Is the EU the authority on justifiable military action? Does their Peace Prize fool you too?
tonybeeerm
Killing innocent civilians is terrorism.
War Hawks, the lot of you.
TO: Feisty Redhead Roselle, IL who wrote:
Feisty, I think John McCain is completely jealous that the President nominated Hagel, instead of nominating McCain himself.
McCain probably thought to himself: "Hey, I'm a Vietnam Vet, and I'm a Republican, just like Hagel. Plus, I ran against Obama and lost, certainly I deserve something for that. Hey, Obama should have nominated ME instead of Hagel. Damn!"
American Girl,
I never thought of that! Good catch! ☺
BAck to your cage, McCain. You had a much better disposition then Im sure :o
Feisty Redhead Roselle, IL
Well at least you care.
As for WHY, I would guess that you, like most other self-respecting humans, care about how you are perceived by others. Most of us want to be perceived as civil adults capable of engaging in adult-like discussion. Admitting that you care is the first step. Bravo.
This is where you're sadly mistaken.
I give a rats patootie what RWNJ's think about me!
99.9% of them here demonstrate daily, whymore access to mental health treatment is desperately needed!
This isn't a popularity contest ya know!
Chuck Hagel is a republican oddity. A delightful oddity whose sense keeps His feet firmly on the ground of reality. McCain, Graham, Cruz, and the rest of these republican ass whiffers think like tumble turds scouting fresh piles. Always abuzz, full of sh^t, and worrying that someone, someday, might fix the plumbing, thereby cutting them from relevance.
Mac Forrester
Such a vivid imagination. You aren't of German ancestry by chance, are you? Something about a preoccupation with fecal humor made me wonder.
I agree with you on Hagel by the way.
Well pal, then you're confused because you're hooked up with a bunch of nuts that love a good war more than anything else. They get to play pseudo-commanders and their rich defense contractor friends get richer.
I read and re read Hagel's comments to the caller and.... what's the problem?
The US isn't randomly sending in drones to kill innocent people. We're doing it to take out terrorists and others who are seeking to harm us. The government would be criminally irresponsible if it knew where terrorists were located and it did nothing. I can imagine an uproar if we had another major terrorist attack on our soil and it came out that the government knew where the mastermind had been hiding BEFORE the attack, but took no action because it was squeamish about using drones.
@DingleB#1.44: If the women of my heritage were truthful no Germans were allowed. Course they could have lied. I find humor, like everything else, relative to logic, as such logic relates to the absurd. Often, politicians bear more familiarity with the trails of waste than the nourishing pruning of sustenance. That being the case, I find bullsh^t quite the utilitarian material upon which to base relative humor. I have read your reason for your screen name selection. You likely do hear much of what you describe, but please rest assured, I would never knowingly exploit the selection, since such would be attacking the honor upholding the selection. Best regards
Throughout history specifically starting with the Spanish American War we have tried to be the cop of the world. It wasn't until late in the 20th and very early in the 21st Century that we became bullies. Sure Reagan did some bullying but it really didn't become all out until Dubya came along. His cowboy diplomacy was diplorable. SoS Clinton had her work cut out for her when she took office. She did a stellar job in getting back former allies that had become alienated due to Dubya's policies. We still seem to want to act as the police for the world. We insist on leading the effort, no matter what it is. You'll hear American commanders refusing to have American troops commanded by anyone but Americans although many other countries have excellent command level officers. As long as we remain the only super power we will remain the cop of the world. We'll have to live with it but we don't have to use our police powers to bully others.
Reagan was an opportunist. When he went to the Berlin Wall, for example, and told "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall", Gorby was just waiting for orders from the American president wasn't he? All we had to do was ask and no one bothered before to ask. Of course Reagan had intellegence reports that told him that the Soviet Union was falling apart from within and that the wall was likely to come down in a few years anyway. He was a great actor as he could play the part well and convince people that he actually knew what he was doing. As US Presidents go Reagan, in surveys of expersts, rates about a C+.
What you don't want to mention about those drone strikes is we also have taken out a lot of the Al Qaeda hierarchy. War is hell, any war and in case you haven't noticed, (Benghazi) we are at war. Woman and children die in war. To call Obama a hawk is wrong, just some more hate from right in my opinion. Nitpicking. Nothing else.
The drone strikes indicate a furthering of our involvement in a region that we should leave alone. Al Qaeda attacked us because we had been over in the middle east for years messing with their lands. Everyone acts all surprised that people would take up arms against an occupying force but we would do the same thing if another country came in and do what we do over there. We need to pull out of Afghanistan, pull out of Iraq, and get our military bases out of the region. There is no reason for us to be involved over there. So every time an innocent person is killed due to Obama's drone strikes you can be damn sure I blame him. We need to stop being the aggressor. Its always our way or the @!$%#ing highway and by highway I mean drone strikes or 'pre-emptive' war.
They should send McCain over to Pakistan/Afghanistan and let him teach the Taliban to speak English. When he was a POW, he taught his captor to speak English so he would know what the other prisoners were saying. He is a living argument for term-limits and a mandatory retirement age for Senators and Congress.
Hagel's comments are totally DISGUSTING.
Time for him to submit his resignation and get in the back on the unemployment line.
Hagel was right.
First we stole this land from the native tribes and slaughtered their people, then we farmed the stolen land with slave labor. No wonder the U.S. has long had a reputation as a bully in the world.
The USA is the world's bully. Who is a bigger bully than us? The bully Senators are offended by that notion. Hilarious.
We are the world's bully.
Congress people are intimidated by the Israel lobby.
There I said it. I guess that puts me out of running for Secretary of Defense.
What a humiliating, ridiculous process prospective officials have to go through.
It's right out of Orwell's book, "1984".
"No senator, I never said that 2+2=4...honest!
"And If I ever did say it, I'm sorry, please forgive me!"
"It equals 5 or 7 or whatever you or some politically powerful group says!"
No wonder public confidence in government is down the tubes.
Yup, being a bully is terrible, unless you redefine what it means to be a bully. So the US has been defined as being a bully, they've been called imperialists, and worse things. So, what has the US actually done? They've liberated millions of people from brutal dictators, spend trillions of dollars to do so, shed the blood of thousands of her sons and daughters, and for the privilege of doing all that, what has the US ever asked for? A plot of land to bury her dead! How terrible and selfish! How dare we try to impose freedom on anyone?
Admittedly, I've got to admit, I'm becoming more and more convinced that we should bring all our troops home. It's clear that the rest of the world and a lot of our own citizens don't understand or appreciate the concept of freedom. And they certainly don't appreciate us helping others to obtain freedom. So, the best thing we can do is bring all of our military home and leave them with the sole duty of defending the country. So, if anyone attacks or threatens us, we just blow them off the face of the earth. Rather than try to contain countries like Iran, just leave them to their own devices. Then, when they threaten us, don't dicker around, just be done with it. No more Iran! All it takes is a few well placed bombs and no American lives will be lost. Can't wait for the next mullah to call America the great Satan and proclaim "death to America!" No troops, a couple of bombs and the problem is solved. Of course, we need a different President, because our current President would revel in leading their charge!
What a great defender of America that Chuck Hagel!
Going on Al Jazeera to bad mouth America and call it the "world's bully"...
.
.
Of course you would want this guy as secretary of defense...
If you were president of IRAN!!!
Bully is putting it lightly, the world can see even the justice system can be seen with its sentences for playing with the riches money, murder gets 20 taking riches money gets 100
Funny how the bully gets all upset when confronted with being a bully.
Blaming previous administrations is folly too since our foreign policy dramatically changed after we were attacked by Japan @ Pearl Harbor. The US had a more isolationist policy and was content to supply our allies instead of direct involvement. Everything changed after Peral Harbor. We adopted a more involved approach and esseantially became the unofficial world police. We have set up countless puppet dictators to server our purpose and guess what, they all turned on us eventually. We basically bribe countries to hopefully do our bidding so overall, yes, we are a world bully. If our policy makers would step back and actually listen to what other countries are saying and wanting even if we just leave them alone we would probably be better off.
We need sensible people like Hagel and not more shoot first and expect the rest to fall in line types. That approach only works until the other kid gets a bigger stick than the one you have.
I agree with Hagel in total. We have been the World's bully since Ronbo was in office. It is time we move beyond being the bully on the block before someone cleans our clock. A bully is never too big to be beaten down and in our instance it has been financially. President Obama and Hillary have been trying to mend fences that Dubya and Cheney, the Darth Vader, have destroyed even with our allies. I would approve of Hagel if for nothing else he has been on the battle field of a senseless war and has not forgotten the cost to this country as a whole.
Great to get the Zionist prospective from Ido and Duqu. They want another war for Israel, this time with Iran.
If Hagel did say that the U.S. is the world's bully, he is correct. We are, and it is bankrupting us.
My God, we agree on something.
I knew you'd come around :)
It may not matter, but I agree as well. :-)
Osama Bin Laden's plan was to bleed us dry over in the Middle East. We foolishly took the bait.
DingleBalls, it's amazing to hear you and the other liberals on this site continue to critize President Bush! I just wonder what you would have done given the circumstances he had; the first twin tower bombing; then the marine tower bombings, Sadam using WMD on his own people; funding terrorists camps in Iraq and the list goes on and on. Then a few months into Bush's Presidency, 911 happens which kills 4000 Americans!! So I guess you AH's just would have done NOTHING but ask OBL for forgiveness! So you AH's can spin it anyway you want, but President Bush was not problem....'the damn terrorists' were and still are! Want proof, why is your savior, the current President of the US following the same basic policies of President Bush? STFU!!!!!!!!
NJ John, any man or woman with a half ounce of intelligence would have thought about what bin Laden was trying to do. Heck, the Bush family were once business partners with this guy. They should have known what he was trying to do. I believe Bush Sr. knew what bin Laden was up to thus the falling out with Junior. Bottom line we had a half wit in office who was not capable of forming full sentences and bin Laden outsmarted him. bin Laden knew his opponent from business dealings and just flat out used him to destroy the US through our economy. Dubya did not figure this out until it was too late or he might not have figured it out to this day.
I notice he has stayed pretty quiet including the fact the RNC did not invite him to the 2012 kick off in Florida. His own brother, Jeb, made mention of Dubya by saying, he kept us safe, end of comment. That says mountains about this feeble minded Bush. I guess he was shorted on the DNA in that family. He did live up to his grandfather's legacy, Preston Bush and his WWII legacy. Well now that I think about it his father's too during the Iran/Contra Affair. Real big men aren't they?
The Bush Family starting with the Patriarch who was the Nazi's banker....royally have screwed the US up.
Feisty. Progressive Power Productions posted another new episode of "Darth ROOOOOOVW." AKA. Karl Rove. The GOP/Teabegger "Master Of Madness and Misinformation." It is posted on yesterdays FR Programming Notes. How did you like the episode that Proggressive Power told you about to read? You will really like yesterdays posted episode. Are you still putting the episodes on your Facebook? Enjoy!
Hey Prog!
Thanks for reminding me, I found it!
Funny... funny stuff!
Especially the yellow rotting teeth which are exposed when the Dick sneers! LMAO
Hagel was just stating facts, and as usual the GOP/Teabeggers do not comprehend what is truth. The GOP/RNC "Mental Illness" in full force. It is getting to be even more "Insane with John McCain." The GOP/Teabegger "Clown Show" is in full production America!
McCain has no tolerance for BS, maybe because he was tortured for years as a POW and all he had to do to stop it was bad mouth America and he refused. Hagel gladly does it with out anyone beating him into unconsciousness. Maybe that is why McCain finds Hagels anti- America dribble offensive. just sayin'.
Oh crap, Al Jazeera. That the international English addition is recognized by journalists from around the world as being largely independent of the Arabic version will fall on deaf ears. So, I post their site.
http://www.aljazeera.com/
addition should read edition
blackcatwhitecat, thanks for posting that site. I've tried a few time to address some of the intellectually lazy in here (mosty on the right) with the fact that all of their subs are not the decaptiation network.
Yeah. Good luck with that. I watched an interesting interview with former VP Al Gore and his comments about selling his company to Al Jazeera is definitely in line with what you stated.
AlaskaGirl ...
Was it when he was on Jon Stewart? I'm not really sure how I felt about that interview.
Yeah, Layton it was. I just appreciated that he clarified who/what about Al Jazeera. He took alot of heat from people that may or may not have understood the transaction of selling an American cable co. to a bunch of "A-Rabs".
Watching John MCCain this morning as he rudely questioned his 'friend', all that came to mind,was, what a bully. Wow, with friends like that who needs enemies. whatever has been the cause of John McCain's anger and disdain for a fellow republican, a former Senator, a fellow veteran of Vietnam, could be any number of reasons, but clearly he needs a course in anger management.
All I see when Sen. McCain is on camera, and for some reason he's on a lot, is someone who is bitter and stayed past his time. Its a shame that the voters in Az. voted to continue his time in Congress, as he clearly has one agenda, to undermine the business of the US unless it involves war. He can't be working on AZ. business, he's all over the map on everything and everywhere. His legacy has been reduced to nothing but being acrimonious and angry.
I agree, Ginger. He is like a simmering pot ready to boil over at any minute. Just watching him sit there he seems as if he will explode at any minute. I think the man is verging on insane. I think it's time to hang up the roller skates.
Verging? He is way over the cliff. He went off the rails when he ran for POTUS. A reasonable man bending his opinions to the far right just twisted his psyche into a pretzel and he has never recovered.
It's all theater, folks. Chill out. McCain just has to get in a tizzy to appease his people and maintain the illusion.
We're still at war in Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan. We're still occupying Iraq and will indefinitely. We still maintain bases in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Turkey, Afghanistan. We still provide Israel 12 billion a year in arms and aid. There is still, somewhere in Washington, right this moment, a group of people in suits planning their strategy for invading Iran. The United States is still the most heavily spied upon, least private and (on paper) least free nation of people on the planet.
None of these things will change regardless of how one group of Politicians with R's and D's next to their names go about questioning another politician.
Hagel will be confirmed and despite the little play, nothing is going to change until the world finally does what people need to do with bullies - either kick their ass or completely ignore them.
Oh - it isn't that America is the world's bully. The American Government, Military and Industrial/Corporate Complex is the world's bully.
The majority of the American people are the ones being bullied.
I'm wondering if he may have been brainwashed when he was a prisoner, kind of like the Manchurian Canadate.
jjj, I hope you are wrong, except for confirming Hagel, but fear you are right.
We went into Iraq for the 42" oil pipeline from Kirkuk to Haifa and into Afghanistan for the TAPI gas pipeline.
"The pipeline would be a dream," Yosef Paritzky, Israel's minister
of infrastructures, said as reported by Salon.com. "We'd have an
additional source of supply, and could even export some of the crude through
Haifa. But we'd need a treaty with Iraq . . . to build the pipeline."
Once Chalabi assumed a position of influence in the new Iraqi government,
Israel would get its treaty, the neoconservatives were assured.
http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/19725/iraq-to-haifa-oil-pipeline-could-spur-economic-rebirth/
Oil companies proposed the pipeline in 1995, but
it dropped off their agenda after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan the
following year. The plan was revived after the United States-led invasion of
Afghanistan in 2001, and received backing from the Asian Development Bank,
which financed feasibility studies.
Iran
can sell gas to India at a third the price of Turkmenistan. This is the ENTIRE
issue. In Turkmenistan Israel holds the lease rights to sell this gas and US
companies are building the pipeline called TAPI. This has gotten Iran upset and
that is what the whole reason for petroleum sanctions. We have US military
holding the Taliban at bay in the North all the while prince and his private
paramilitary mercenary forces are executing pipeline security privately in the
South to lend some sort of propriety to this whole sham of a war.
Oil companies proposed the pipeline in 1995, but it dropped off their agenda after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan the following year. The plan was revived after the United States-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, and received backing from the Asian Development Bank, which financed feasibility studies.
Iran can sell gas to India at a third the price of Turkmenistan. This is the ENTIRE issue. In Turkmenistan Israel holds the lease rights to sell this gas and US companies are building the pipeline called TAPI. This has gotten Iran upset and that is what the whole reason for petroleum sanctions. We have US military holding the Taliban at bay in the North all the while prince and his private paramilitary mercenary forces are executing pipeline security privately in the South to lend some sort of propriety to this whole sham of a war.
It would be interesting to see a poll conducted of foreign folks like Germans, Japanese and others to see if they would accept having to be responsible for their own protection more than rely on US bases on their soils. That would start putting them to the test to really determine if they are willing to accept our policies or would they rather have more autonomy from US influence at the price of having to defend themselves or let the risk of being invaded by enemies increase if the can't do it as well as we do it for them.
We don't have bases in the countries you list, there for their sole protection. To think so is the height of hubris, they are there to position ourselves better to get somewhere else fast. Most bases in Germany are being phased out, they certainly don't need us to protect them. The folks in Japan would dearly love us to leave Okinawa have stated so many times.
Precisely.
I'm not sure about this, but I believe that some countries don't put up a big fuss about our troops being stationed on their soil because we not only pay them (rent?) to keep our forces there, but the troops spend a great deal of money in local towns/cities. It's good for the economy.
Jack in Portsmouth
hammer meet nail
bcw,
Yeah, ain't that the truth. Sex isn't the only thing that makes the world go around.
Sex isn't the only thing that makes the world go around
......But, it is the most fun!
Well, I'd have to agree with you there!
I'm a woman, trust me, we know these things! Ha!
Is it time for cocktails yet? I am parched and in need of libation after completing monthly reports and such!
Or as Ogden Nash wrote:
Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker...so tomorrow is DDI what's the cocktail of the week?
"Insane McCain" obviously has some real "Cranial Damage." The war in Iraq was a huge mistake, and it took our eyes off the ball of the real terror threat that is still in Afganistan. "W" not only 'pottted' an illegal war for oil profits in Iraq. He never paid for it! "W" put it on credit card. Again!
illegal war? seriously -- seems to me the dems & republicans voted yes to strike, no prez can unilaterally go to war even though the current empty suit seems to think he can "drone" at will, send in arms and some military intelligence to Africa (for France), Syria rebels, help overthrow Mubarak, etc. But that has no effect on you because of your lapdog mentality. Get some skin in the game and get back to me on GWB even though he hasn't been in the WH in over 4 yrs. Face it your boy toy is in WAY over his head.
Dotties girl - still spouting your total ignorance. Yes, Congress voted to go to war in Iraq and Afghanistan based on the lies put forward by the Bush administration. Try checking out the CIA documents that have come out showing Bush KNEW ahead of time we were going to be attacked AND knew Iraq had no WMD - there was proof - but it was conveniently left out of the documents put forth to Congress.
Oh, and we have no boy toy you racists moron. For the first time since Clinton left office we have an actual President.
Dotties girl & SeekingSanity
You both need to wake up. Ever notice how the faces and rhetoric change, but the actions never do?
We were involved in Iran in the 1950's, making headway in Iraq in the 1970's and 80's, plotting with England over the establishment of Israel in 1910's, 1930's, 1940's and continue to provide aid today.
Egypt - we've been supporting dictators for 30 years
Libya - we've had clashes there for 35 years
Afghanistan - involvement since the 80's
Do you really think that it is just as simple as someone in the White House telling congress about yellow cake uranium and they all take a vote? No one checks anything out? No one questions the intelligence (you do realize senators have access to intelligence as well and many sit on the intelligence committee - but they all voted based on 'yellow cake uranium and WMD's'?)....Notice how Obama 'ended the war in Iraq,' yet there are still five permanent bases and the same number of troops in country as there was when the war was 'ended?'
IT'S A PLAY YOU MORONS!!!!!!!
Considering how McCain treats his wife, I'd say he's the big bully!
Like her mysterious broken arm during the 2008 campaign?
Like Hillary's head injury? Where was Bill when that happened? Did she get that from him because she mouthed off or because she didn't want to testify and did it to herself? See, I can throw stupid partisan accusations also. It's fun! No wonder you are on here doing it all the time. You are like a sprinkler hooked up to a sewer line. You just spew @!$%# all over the place and are equally useless.
Hillary could kick Bill's a$$ and probably has more than a few times.
Interesting, many of these countries receive a lot of foreign aid, as well as many work here and then send the money back to their country while we struggle to get our economy back on it's feet. Oddly it is the UK that is revealing how much the USA is loosing.
Revealed: How immigrants in America are sending $120 BILLION a year to their struggling families back home - more than any other country in the world
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2271455/Revealed-How-immigrants-America-sending-120-BILLION-struggling-families-home.html
It's a world economy . . . .
CIT:
We do n0o give that much of foreign aid. Mostl of our aid is to sell our military weapons that create wars. The humanitarian Aids has been 1-100th of one percent of our GDP. It is roudnign error on our military budget.
really -- not that much in foreign aid -- ANY amount of foreign aid is too much when you have our country near bankruptcy because of debt, people unemployed, the most increase in welfare programs.
Dotties girl,
Please understand that the United States is a sovereign nation and sovereign nations CANNOT go bankrupt.
Dotties girl,
Well, I'm glad you're somebody's girl, because you don't seem to be your own [sovereign] person.
You really don't have the slightest idea about foreign aid--both the positives and the negatives--undoubtedly because you've never left the continental N.A. As SeekingSanity put it:
Well Dottie, if you like, we can start with cutting Israel's aid from the US. in 2012 they received $3Billion...we could do a lot with that couldn't we......but the conservatives would have a lot to say about that cut, wouldn't they?
Dennis, Columbus, Ohio
Sovereign nations cannot go bankrupt, but they can have economic collapses, currency collapses, hyperinflation, depressions, social break-ups and violence following from any of those things (such as a rise in violent crime and school shootings), unfettered corruption, unserviceable debt.....
Cruz is an idiot...he actually makes Sara Palin sound like she has an IQ. MCCain is probably one of the few Republicans who could have made a difference but is too old to lift the weight so he just shows up with the same rightous indignation like some old hound dog and no longer leads, he's a failure waiting for a stroke.
Now we know the tactics Cruz is going to use. Straight out of Fox News boot camp. Take things out of context and use it to trash a good person. It is going to be a long six years in Texas with this guy as a Senator. God help the United States
Hagle won't be worth a damn when it comes times to haggle.
When US goes to a third world country, they ask who are the bad guys and look for them.
When China goes to third world coutnry, they ask who are the good guys, we can build business and relationship with.
We feel good and Chinese win and get loved by the host.
We spend hudreds of Billions in Afghanistan with fewer friends while China made tens of Billions of dollars exploring and exploiting natural resources.
If Hegel and Obama want to change it, I welcome it.
We need a smart forieng policy and not feel good policy. Drug addict take drug to feel good. But at the end he is a loser.
Nice post! And, the more i learn about "Chucky" the more i like him....
Obama is just looking for another "yes man". Won't hire anyone that will challenge him, but he's already quite "challenged" in a job he is inept at. But the lapdogs have voted and we'll up that 47% that pay no taxes to 60% in no time. Helps to have people dependent on government to live.
Dotties girl - even the Republican leaders say your "47%" reference is stupid and moronic. If you'll recall - I doubt your memory is that good - they put Romney down for the same despicable lie. But of course, you only quote lies and stupidity - we expect no more from you.
So, did Dottie have any kids that weren't born brain dead? So far, every one of your posts have been straight off the Fox presses.
Potties girl. I think that even someone with the most rudimentary intellect would surmise that Hagel is not anyones "Yes Man." That is why the right does not like a fellow Republican. They all know that you are suppose to worship at the "teats" of Limbaugh, Norguist, and Wolfowitz!
The United States as "The World's Bully"? I believe the Conservative term for that is "American Exceptionalism".
I really don't know what to say, here. All of this hate--especially from my friends on the right. Born, bred, raised, registered Republican until Newt's programs seemed to be the opposite of the advertised Progress for America. As I was born ambidextrous, it wasn't too hard to go a bit centrist when I saw the Republicans going so far off the wall. Would have welcomed McCain in '08, but Palin was so unpalitable--even Rudy would have been a better choice. Now I'm old enough to be one of the "47%ers," and unless they've made a killing in the stock market, I don't see how ANYONE over 65 could vote Republican.
No wonder Obama wants Hagel. He appears quite adept at blaming everything on Bush. The fact that Obama has increased drone attacks with no regard for due process is totally irrelevant in their minds, I guess.
Jim - Oregon
And yet somehow in your mind, an unprovoked invasion of a sovereign nation IS due process? The deaths of over 4,000 American Service Members and as many as 100,000 Iraqis in order to establish a "footprint" in the Middle East IS due process?
You think Hagel is alone in blaming Bush? Why do you think Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz have been taking "domestic" vacations since leaving office...think "the Hague".
Who are you...and who is anyone else, for that matter...to complain about "due process" while it is still denied to those at Gitmo?
Republicans! Take out of context the few words they want and then smear someone with incomplete and inaccurate "facts".
I read the entire text. Read my response below.
World's Bully? Hagel should also have pointed out that terrorism so rampant in the West prior to 9/11 has all but ceased. We're Teddy Roosevelt's Bully with a Stick I guess. Mess with us and you'll have hell to pay. This guy should go down in flames.
Big Bill--The point Hagel was making is that the US is now engaged with the world in fighting terrorism in ways that it could have been engaged in the years after 9/11 had not the Bush administration conflated the war on terror with the neo-cons publicly ill-defined aims in Iraq. That's a valid point.
I ws listening this morning when Hagle first came on .... Good Lord, someone needs to give that man speaking lessons .... I wanted to gouge his eyes out in the hours it took to introduce his family ..... jeesh!!! But, this guy scares me ..... like a time bomb getting ready to go off when you least expect it. And when it does ....... it's going to be really ugly!!!
Comments??
I am a teacher working overseas. It is the perception of many (in my experience most) that we are the world's bully. Stating a fact or acknowledging the truth is not anti-American.
Yes, it is... in this context.
Say you work in Customer Service, as an EMPLOYEE....
You know your company's policy is wrong (just saying...), but do you go around bashing your EMPLOYER to their customers?
Uhhh... NOPE, you don't.
The Sec Def does not make policy, it is their job to execute, and defend policy.
to--And the current policy of the US is to reverse the perception that it is a bully, which is precisely what Hagel said.
tobnpr
Secretary of Defense does not make policy? This post is the top adviser to the President on all defense issues. He will certainly have a hand in any policies that come out.
Your example is bunk in so many ways.....here is a better example: A person about to be promoted to CEO is asked how he sees the company. He gives an honest answer to the board and they have to weigh that against their interests in determining whether or not to hire him.
You do understand that the job of Secretary of Defense is not equal to or even remotely similar to your $8 an hour job as a telemarketer, right? The Secretary of Defense doesn't punch a clock and get 15 minute smoke breaks - they are charged with running a nearly trillion dollar operation and report to quite possibly the most powerful person on the planet.
LOL - it's not a customer service job. Hagel didn't apply through the want ads. He wasn't referred by a staffing agency. He doesn't have a copay on his dental insurance.
But who do they call on when they're in trouble? The Syrian rebels need our arms, they needed our help in Libya, France needs us to refuel jets in Mali. Frankly, I agree about Iraq. Once wmd's weren't found in Iraq, we Republicans should not have nominated Bush for a second term. That was my minority Republican view. The Republican Party would have been better off if it had followed my advice!!! We should have totally concentrated our efforts on Bin-Laden and Afghanistan.
@jjj-2003719: The most powerful person on the planet is God.
Hagel committed an unpardonable sin. He questioned the neo-con foreign policy of GW Bush. Therefore, certain Senate hawks (many of whom are chickenhawks who never saw combat) will oppose him no matter what. In two weeks that will be irrelevant as he will be confirmed. You know what the call the person confirmed by one vote? Mr. Secretary.
Just echoing the Campaiger-in-Chiefs's words...
And, he never said the "PERECEPTION" was incorrect.
Strike one, Chuckie....
Strike two, Israel....
You're almost out.
And gee, how did that "reset" with Russia, work out, Chuckie?
Putin thinks Obama is a spineless joke. Any idiot that can read body language knows that ex- KGB would like to snap his neck.
to--Perception is in the eye of the beholder. During the Bush administration, when asked who is the world's bully, people around the world responded "the United States." See post #23.
tobnpr,
You know who else thinks Obama is a spineless joke? Osama Bin Laden!