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President Barack Obama's choice to lead the Pentagon, former GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel, will likely be confirmed next week, one of his most dogged opponents said Sunday.
"I'm confident that Sen. Hagel will probably have the votes necessary to be confirmed as secretary of defense," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."
After Senate Republicans voted to sustain a filibuster and block the former Nebraska senator's nomination from advancing toward confirmation, McCain acknowledged that Hagel will likely win confirmation once the chamber returns from its recess.
Arizona Sen. John McCain visits Meet the Press to discuss the ongoing battles in Washington over Chuck Hagel's defense secretary nomination, the sequester and government spending, and the Benghazi incident investigation.
"I think it's a reasonable amount of time to have questions answered," McCain said of the week-and-a-half-long window which Senate Republicans demanded to pore more thoroughly over their former colleague's records.
Democrats and the Obama administration have complained that a filibuster for a defense secretary nominee is without precedent. Moreover, they argue that filling the defense post is particularly urgent given outgoing Secretary Leon Panetta's plans to leave the Pentagon, and the looming "sequester" of automatic spending cuts, which fall heavily upon the defense budget.
The administration publicly shrugged off, though, the notion that the delay had damaged Hagel's ability to serve effectively.
"No, he's not going to be a weaker defense secretary," said Denis McDonough, the president's new chief of staff, "he's going to be a great defense secretary."
Wrapped up into the GOP's objections are the desire to ding the administration, a demand for fuller answers to the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks on the diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, and personal quarrels with Hagel over his criticism of President George W. Bush and the handling of the war in Iraq. McCain denied, though, that Republicans' attacks on Hagel were personal in nature.
"99 percent of it has to do with the positions Sen. Hagel has taken," he said.
The Hagel fight has consumed Congress in recent weeks, threatening to expend Obama's political capital as he enters a second term. It's yet to be seen whether this fight, and the looming fight to replace the sequester with other equivalent savings, would affect other elements of the Obama agenda — including gun control, and immigration.
Amid a New York Times report that suggested the White House had pushed ahead with its own immigration bill, McDonough said it was consistent with Obama's promise to simply be prepared with his own alternative plan. Obama, McDonough said, was still hoping that a bipartisan Senate group would be able to produce its own comprehensive immigration reform proposal.
"I believe we're making progress on a bipartisan basis," said McCain, a member of the eight-member, bipartisan Senate group working on the immigration proposal. The Arizona senator said, though, that Obama had had no communications with the Senate group.
"Does the president really want a result?" asked McCain, reflecting Republicans' concerns on the politics of immigration. "Or does he want another cudgel so he can beat up Republicans to get an advantage in the next election?"
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McCain needs to keep his yap shut, he's old news anyway.
McCain's problem is he continues to "concede" things. That's why he is continually Losing, by "moderating." Go Away John. Nobody's listening anymore.
Are there enough votes to recall McCain? If only that were possible.
"Concedes" Yea right, Who got paid off....................................
Time for the pundits to pull this analysis off if they have time - Rumsfield vs Hagel, why would the old Rummy be better than Hagel to the righties, and does that make him more qualified than Hagel? Makes the repubs explain why they think they need to "raise the bar" to qualify to the Rummy Level.
You know if they don't approve any Secretaries, just have the top Civil Service Administrator do their jobs and hire another civil service employee to fill that void...then repubs will really pay possibly if that top GS-16 (or whatever is the highest employee in those Departments) is a liberal and most likely they are not heavy repubs since gov employee lifers. I am sure the new liberal INTERIM Secretaries will love the power and pay/benefits.
So if he has the votes end the filibuster..and move on morons...Lets get this movin...The GOP bring everything to a grinding halt every time they have to DECIDE on anything...It's a waste of time MONEY and Political Capital...They just don't get it....The GOP..they think they are HERO'S to the American People when in fact 86.4 % regard them as inhibitors toward real Economic growth and Progress in general...
They are the DO NOTHING..They stand oppose to everything....and have no ideas of there own..That is the CONSERVATIVE mindset....W.T.F. Get out of they way OLD TIMERS....your time is over..your Wars are over....your Generation is over....The GOOD OL PARTY.....is nothing more than the General Opposition Party....They Oppose anything on General grounds..Because it's.....NEW...and might work ...And caters to the Middle Class... and not Greedy Old People....who prefer Gold Over People....McCain and the like are like fossils that have been unearthed...They they tell the tale of the Past but are powerless to be a Dynamic force toward progress...They stand as a reminder of what huge mistakes following a Failed policy that only caters to the TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN...and like the mighty reptiles of Earths ancient past..A single event has rendered them almost irrelevant.......The Killer Asteroid Administration of....GEORGE W. BUSH....WHAM....bam GOP in a can........ADIOS PENDAJOS...
and McCain confirms that Republicans are not capable of doing anything other than act as bumps on a log.
If these idiots had questions, they could have asked Hillary, but instead just got up on their soapboxes to speak to their 'base'. They have no questions, other than how can they make the other guy look bad. They have no interest in the welfare of their constituents or the country as a whole. They are writing their pages in history as the worst congress ever elected, and are showing the rest of the world that maybe democracy is not a very effective form of government.
Their was a time when Republicans appealed to the brightest, now they appeal only to the dumbest, least educated .... ridiculing anyone with an education. Says something when they ridicule anyone with an education ... they clearly don't want a base capable of thinking for themselves.
mcpain and graham cracker are so shallow and their vendictive motives show through all too bright.
macpain and graham cracker are some of the reasons the GOTP looks like circus clowns. sorry did not mean to downgrade circus clowns they a least know what their job description is.
Anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-Israel. What's not to love? Seems the pugg party would block Baby Bush if Obama nominated him.
All of this political grandstanding by John McCain and his ilk is the primary reason I'm no longer a Republican. And to think that McCain and Hagel were once friends. And if elected, McCain was giving Hagel consideration as Defense (War) Secretary! The whole lot of them are disgusting hippocrits. I can't help but wonder what they thought of the "intelligence breakdown" that caused 9/11. Oh wait. Geo. W. was president at the time, so nothing was amiss. The GOP-What a pathetic bunch.
John McCain you're an ol' fart
You continue to live the 20th Century while society and the country has passed you by. You are increasingly becoming less relevant and that's a good thing.
I just want to know when they had you in that prisoner of war camp did they turn you and are you now a commie spy/mole
overrun, look up "Songbird" and find out about it and why McCain was nicknamed Songbird...
Overrun. Dude, You were overrun my moron disease
sheepdog, everyone should look up the history of "Songbird" McCain, the war hero?
What needs to be done is get rid of these over the hill clowns like McPain so things can get done.Thousands die in wars brought on by the politicians and that's fine but when four of their own die at an embassy all hell breaks loose.What a joke these clowns are.Hows that voting working out for you?
No thanks to this Jacka$$. I used to have respect for McCain. Not anymore...
McCain and the rest of the party of no are just clowns and the Republican rarty is on the way out. I'm sorry for you good ole white boys it's time to change or get the hell out
FACT
This guy has said many things in the past that should keep him for getting this position in Government.
Obama lies 24/7 (just like 99% of politicians) he says 1 thing about an issue at 9am ... another thing about it that 1pm and then at 3pm claims he has never heard of it ... even though it is all on tape.
And people let them all get away with it .... Politicians say things, then claim well that was 2 years ago doesn't matter now (obama loves that line) so then why believe anything they say or claim now.
Time to FORCE ALL Politicians of both parties to pay for their words and actions like the rest of us would have to in the real world
Your opinion isn't FACT, but just your opinion. People aren't letting the president get away with anything. Perhaps they just have a different opinion than you do. Everyone has an opinion but the majority of Americans think the president is worthy of another term. Enough people think Hagel is capable enough to do the job.
Obama get away with lies 24/7 .. he ignores the Constitution > even the courts told him he went against the Constitution ....
His debt is killing America ... he is a fool and clown ...
mcpain is the Manchrian candidate. reprogramed by the communists to destroy democracy. the GOTP lead by mcpain does not want to have a secretary of defense leaving us vulernable to our enemies and he is part of the GOTP that want our economy to collapse in the wake of the sequester by leaving town for a 10 day vacation.
the problem is they are old. all of them. they have all been in power since i was a kid. the leadership anyway. we need to throw them all out. we will never get new ideas from the same old leaders. remove and replace.
agree!!!
its like going from a flip phone to an I Phone. old technology is replaced with newer technology so why shouln't we replace old old politiainn with old bad habits with new politians with new ideas.
Republicans are deliberatly confusing disagreement on policies with qualification.
Hagel has different policy stances than republicans do (thank God!) but that does not mean he is not qualified. The same way that democrats allowed countless Dubya chronies be confirmed, whether cabinet positions or judicial, knowing that they technically have all the qualifications for the job, even as the Dubya policies turned out to be detrimental to America and led to every crisis we face now.
McCain is a senile old dick. And anyone that actually thinks Friends of Hamas gave hagel money have been duped into believing nonsense. It's hard to believe people are that guillible, but send me your checking account pins and I'll make sure they're protected.
MCLAME,PLEASE RETIRE ALREADY.YOU HAD YOUR Day in the sun,now your a burnt up old man,like the rest partym
President Obama needs to tell McCain and Graham: GO TO HELL !!!!!
Oh he'll be confirmed, we just wanted to do what we always do, act like petulant,spoiled children.
Steve-I firmly believe that the GNOP is working to make this a 2 class country. The obscenely rich and the abject poor. There's a reason that 90% of the new wealth in the last decade went to the top 2%. The GNOP says that they're for individual initiative, but they don't mention the obstacles that are placed in an individual's path by their legislation to overcome. Take a look at Paul Ryan who went to college on Social Security Survivor's Benefits, even though his family didn't need them. And Marco Rubio, whose parents are and were the recipients of Medicare, and had better lives because of it. I said it once, and I'll say it again. They don't care about the have-nots. Just the have-mores. The hippocracy is mind boggling. And 47% voted against their interests by voting for Romney. This is why the GNOP doesn't want to fund education. They want stupid, ignorant, gullible voters.
time to install the younger generation of polticians.Both parties have to be revamped,and term limits imposed.
There are term limits, it's called the vote.
Like the vote that re-elected Charlie Rangel after Congress found him guilty of crimes ... vote like people who elected a guy with Alzheimer's 3 times, and elects people over 90 even .... and on and on.