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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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If he's going to be confirmed, then stop p*ssing around about it! The American public already thinks people in Congress are a bunch of out-of-touch idiots, why do more to confirm that? Oh, wait - I forgot. You all don't have anything to do with the American public..only self-perpetuation in your jobs. One day you will be up for election and no one will show to vote!! I also like that comment about Demos following their party blindly...I suppose the Republicans follow blindly with their eyes wide open, then. I could go on....and on....sorry to be irritable.
To: Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham + Ted Cruz, the neo Joseph McCarthy: Sirs, have you no shame?
LOL! Republicans shaped their whole agenda for 4 years from 2009 to 2012 to defeat the President in the next election. HYPOCRITES! LOL! They really think Americans are ignorant as if they were born yesterday.....question is, which americans comform with such Republican contempt.
This man (McCain) was a bad pilot, was a bad prissoner, and now is a huge waste of money....with his salary .....many many families could live....the dude is a parasite.....the sad thing.....The GOP is riddled of jokers like him....jejejejeje
What's wrong with this senator? He lives in the first half of the 20th century. Hagel is the right person for this job.
Remember, anything obama wants is bad for this country...... This guy is not a friend of Israel nor is obama, and therefore neither are fit to serve in office. Our commander in chief is selling arms to the muslim brotherhood, which is not a friend of this country. We still dont see obama in jail for Fast and Furious, and we are waiting patiently for that, along with everything else he has screwed up since being in office.... I am happy to report that he has increased payments to everyone that dont work though, so he is very successful in buying votes for the Communist Democrap party..... screw this government that is run by a bunch of leftist liberals that all belong behind bars..... And that doesnt leave republicans out either..... they are all crooks.
Put your tin-foil hat back on - you are hearing those voices again. Paranoia is the first sign of mental illness. Seek help!
Oh, so our government officials main job is to be a friend of Israel? And all my life I thought we Americans elected people to serve the interests of the United States.
vanjonesie, you've got to read/watch/listen to something besides Fox/Beck/Limbaugh, they've rotted your mind.
Q22, Either you are very confused or you failed your high school civics class. The executive branch of our government is not the same as the judicial branch. Members of the executive branch work directly for the President, that's why he gets to pick his own people. And John Bolton is a far right wing dirt bag who worked against everything the U.N. stands for, bush's appointment of him as our U.N. ambassador was a slap in the face to that body. If you don't know what you're talking about shut up.
"Q22
Demorats ruined that long ago with Bork, Bolton and the many Federal Judges that the Democrats tried to filibuster for purely partisan reasons. The Democrat way is the new norm. Quit bitching when it works against you."
lets take our contry back. get rid of all current poilitians and replaace them with citizen who care about the country. and by thye way get rid of the labels democrat and republican this is not a football game it is the USA.
mcshame,
Is McCain really that dumb, or was he born slow?
BigRedJJJ (#140):
Actually, BOTH!!!!!
Mcain is saying that Israel gave the green light to the republican traitors not to block Hagel nomination anymore and move ahead with the necessary votes. Hagel "nomination hearing circus" served as an example to any US politician who dares to put their own country before israel.
Nothing new here really! The Republican obstructionist, party of "No". They continue to cost us so much in valuable time and money. Remember, folks, we are all paying for all the obstructionism out of our taxes!
Funny how Rightwingers were never concerned about all the lies and deceptions of the Iraq war by the Bush administration,not a peep. Never questioned Cheney about his all his Halliburton blood money. Thousands on my fellow soldiers died for Cheneys lies!
Well said!
The main reason the GOP doesn't like Hagel is because he refuses to sing: bomb,bomb,bomb,Iran.
Mainly due to his first hand experience in war. The majority who have been in battle don't like the bitter taste of it.
That said...if we were heading into battle..heaven forbid....I'd want a guy like Chuck leading the way.
hagel is wrong on at least 1 thing. bush was not the worst president since hoover, he is the worst ever, which is not an opinion but provable "beyond a shadow of a doubt."
.'
repubs are more worried about hate talk radio hosts then the country,oh and the nra,,losers and so are losers on the left that suck nra a ss
Revenge: Hagel 'attacked' GW Bush in 2005, so no Defense Secretary, in 2013.
Grudge: Hagel didn't support McCain in 2008, so no Defense Secretary, in 2013.
So much for GOP patriotism,
GOP is Grudge, Obstruction, and Paranoia
Obama cries it is all about Politics .. i guess that harvard education paid off ... No chit.
Everything EVERY politician does is ALL and ONLY about Politics ...
thats right you old irrelevant fossil,Obamas in charge,you guys lost twice,has it sunk in yet?
Maybe Obama should nominate the great"war hero" Rush Limbaugh? Oh I forgot he had that pimple on his a s s ,so he never served like his mentor Cheney.
Excellent post, Jacqueline-1927149 (#50)
tea party = nazi?
I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos.
Hey moron Obama wasn't a D student like Bush was at the ivy league college Yale. I did hear he got a A in Dunkeness 101.
losers all od them,,
"Come on with it, the fact is President Obama nominated Mr. Hagel because he felt he was the best for the job. President Obama deserves the respect of every other president and allow these nominees to move forward. Congress don't get to pick and chose who the presidents cabinet is. That is the presidents job. Barring something drastic they should just move along."
This statement is proof alone of why Republicans are being so discretionary about approving Hagel. Since Mr. Obama seems hell bent on destroying the America that was once great and held high by his predecessors and has proven time and again that he himself is incapable of making sound decisions, it seems only prudent that somebody stand up and impart a little logic.
During WWII our entire country worked as one unit for the greater good of it's citizens. People set aside their differences and stood shoulder to shoulder to help in the war effort. Every man, woman, and child believed that our Govt was doing what was right and just. Not only for our country, but the entire world.
Now our own Govt (The Obama Adm.) has intentionally turned every citizen against each other. His philosophy of class warfare is disgusting. It's un-American, un-democratic, and absolutely despicable. And their biggest concern seems to be to legalize 11 million potential voters who, by our own constitutional decree, are already criminals.
So let's see, our next step is to place a biggoted, slack jawwed, lacky in charge of the world's greatest military?
This is a recipe for disaster. But since Obama hates the concept of democracy and wants every American citizen to be nothing more than slaves to the propoganda machine (including the ones who voted for him, yes you) I guess it only makes sense to weaken our ability to defend our sovereignty as well.
class warfare has been going on since reagan. Keep up. and Hagel is the single most conservative person obama has attempted to nominate to a cabinet position. Take your graces and get over the fact obama has twice the bipartisanship of any republican since LBJ.
Republicans are the stupidest bigoted jerks this country has known since the civil war. They just cannot get it through their small brains that a BLACK MAN IS PRESIDENT. Republicans are for rich,dumb,white guys who inherited their money from their rich stupid bigoted white fathers. For instance--check John Boehner or Mitch McConnell.
obama isn't black, the republicans were the liberal party in the civil war and were the ones who brought up freeing the slaves. That said, the republicans swung far right after that and absorbed the uber conservative southern dixiecrats and it has evolved into bitter old men with no sense of perspective. Admittedly though, the democrats have become equally as arrogant, and neither party is all that competent.