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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.”
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President Obama has won the 2012 election, and during the campaign, the GOP presidential nominee has made mistakes here and there, such as wrong comments, and the GOP nominee did fix the comments, and this is one of the examples that how we change our opinions/comments overtime.
Another example is our gun control; and we have gun problems, since Columbine high school and all the way back to JFK assassination. And the urgency for the change of the gun control is not until more than a dozen kids got killed. Thus, it is a wake-up call to all who should change the opinion of gun control.
Changing our views are not unusual; and Mr. Hagel may just have the same right as other, like us, in the opinion of the gun control as in the wake-up call of the Sandy Hook's killings.
Hagel's comments, years ago, should be put aside now, as many, who are Republicans, have voted for our President Obama, and the Congress should be OK Hagel's nomination.
Hagel is absolutely correct about the Bush Administration wasting political capital after 911. I was in Bordeaux, France the day the World Trade Center fell and the caring of the French people was overwhelming. Many people had on "I love New York" Tee Shirts and it took us several minutes to realize they were worn in support of the US. Almost everyone we interacted with while in Europe was supportive and sympathetic as soon as they realized we were Americans. The US had the tears of the world on our side and we blew it. Chuck Hagel has my support as well as President Obama for the rationale, realistic approach they are taking to International policy, the US needs to understand the world's countries do not revolve around us but share the planet with us. We're a strong, rich, yes rich, and civilized country and its time we take the lead again internationally.
Bush burned a lot of bridges and used up a lot of "goodwill" after 9/11. What's news about that ? Why is the Texass Senators knickers in a lather over the truth? Oh, If you're a T and an (R) the truth is usually your enemy.
No time to waste...he has a lot of history to rewrite.
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UNBELIEVABLE!!! ALL you jack asses STILL blaming Bush! Before you open your hate-full mouths again, go check the congressional record and see WHO voted for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. ALL who voted for those wars had the EXACT INTELLIGENCE INFO (oxymoron) as Bush. Also THERE WERE WMD's! SEE THE NEXT POST
However, Hans Blix said in late January 2003 that Iraq had "not genuinely accepted UN resolutions demanding that it disarm."[74] He claimed there were some materials which had not been accounted for. Since sites had been found which evidenced the destruction of chemical weaponry, UNSCOM was actively working with Iraq on methods to ascertain for certain whether the amounts destroyed matched up with the amounts that Iraq had produced.[75][76] In the next quarterly report, after the war, the total amount of proscribed items destroyed by UNMOVIC in Iraq can be gathered.[77] Those include: