Just when it seemed as if Chuck Hagel’s confirmation as secretary of defense seemed almost certain, a crucial Senate Republican may be changing his mind about supporting a filibuster of the embattled nominee. As Politico reports, Senator John McCain is now leaving open the possibility of joining a filibuster of Hagel if the White House continues to refuse to release information about the president’s “actions and orders” on the night of the 9/11 terrorist attack in Benghazi that resulted in the deaths of four Americans.
By joining his friend and colleague Lindsey Graham in demanding more data about Benghazi as the price for removing a hold on Hagel, McCain is moving away from his previous stand that a filibuster of a nominee for a senior Cabinet post is inappropriate. With two Republicans saying they would vote to confirm Hagel and several others agreeing with McCain that an up or down vote should not be denied their former colleague, it had looked as if the president’s choice was certain to be confirmed this week. But by adding his weight to the request for more about Benghazi, McCain may have, at least temporarily, changed the dynamic of the Hagel battle. Since the administration has resisted Senate demands to learn more about the president’s involvement in the Libya fiasco, this could mean that Hagel will have to wait until at least after the President’s Day holiday to get his vote.
On the surface, Benghazi has little if anything to do with Hagel’s questionable fitness for high office. Many in the Senate have justified qualms about Hagel’s views about Israel, Iran, terrorism and defense cuts but McCain has taken the position that escalating the use of the filibuster to encompass cabinet nominations is a step towards all out partisan warfare that he isn’t willing to take. But McCain seems to agree with Graham and other Republicans that it is vital that the truth about Benghazi isn’t swept down the memory hole by the administration and their complacent media cheerleaders. If linking Hagel to that affair is the only way to drag more information out of the White House, then McCain may have concluded that it is the right thing to do.
It may be that a delay won’t convince Democrats to abandon their party line on Hagel. The strict partisan divide in the Senate Defense committee confirmation vote illustrated the willingness of pro-Israel Democrats to swallow even as unsatisfactory and unprepared a candidate as Hagel if the president demanded it of them. But if McCain feels that the Senate is being stiffed by the White House on Benghazi that may convince him to take actions on Hagel that he might otherwise not think about. With McCain joining a filibuster, finding 40 votes to stop the nomination would still be difficult but not as impossible as it seems today.
As I wrote yesterday, such a filibuster entails risks to the Republicans. But his dismal performance at his confirmation hearing and the transparent manner with which he sought to disavow previous controversial positions undermines the rationale that the president deserves his choice at the Pentagon. Hagel may still be on track for confirmation. But if the White House isn’t forthcoming with the information Graham and McCain want, it’s going to be even more difficult than he might have thought.
"It may be that a delay won’t convince Democrats to abandon their party line on Hagel. The strict partisan divide in the Senate Defense committee confirmation vote illustrated the willingness of pro-Israel Democrats to swallow even as unsatisfactory and unprepared a candidate as Hagel if the president demanded it of them." n nThese same allegedly pro-Israel Democrats legislators who refuse to abandon Obama would be screaming bloody murder if Mitt Romney had appointed Chuck Hagel. They no longer deserve our respect. Such men and women should minimally be shunned in public.
Good point that if Hagel had been a Republican nominee , the Dems. would be apoplectic. This brings to mind a quote by Churchill: "In a democracy, the people get the leaders they deserve." I suppose this is hardly a ringing endorsement for the intellect of the average American voter.
The Senate Dems ARE apoplectic about having to carry the entire Hagel vote, and it has almost nothing to do with Israel or Iran. Maybe they need to stall if Hagel might be thinking of withdrawing his name. I assume he is not happy about being labelled below average intelligence, or that SNL skit. n
after that abysmal confirmation hearing, there's no reason to support Hagel other than a) blind obedience to Obama, or b) anti-Israel fervor, or both. nobody's even pretending that he's the best person for the job anymore. but now, ironically, the same people who "Borked" Bork and refused to confirm John Bolton are shocked, SHOCKED to discover that the Senate is questioning the president's choice.
Yes, you are right. One may not have liked Bork's jurisprudence, but at least he was a legal giant while Hagel is a mental midget as well as an anti-Semite – forget Israel just look at how he treated representatives of Nebraska's Jewish community, a point never brought up in the hearings. But as long as the Jewish organizations continue to back Democratic Senators who are indifferent to Israel there is no reason to change they will change their tune. Remember that the AJC rewarded Jimmy Carter with an award shortly after he published his anti-Israeli screed Peace not Apartheid. The behavior of our "Jewish leaders" is nothing less than contemptible.
I didn't know we had any leaders. Who elected them? Foxman? Harris? They just represent the members of their very small organizations. They are mainly a small coterie of affluent but unrepresentative "machers" and narcissists, running a highly visible press release operation. They don't represent us, anymore than Hagel or Obama do.
No one elected them, but they (and I include here the useless if not harmful "Federations") have bigger budgets than any of the other organizations – and pay their heads $500,000 plus salaries. Just compare the size of the ZOA to ADL, AJC or AIPAC. I would hope that they are not representative of the 5 million weak (and rapidly becoming both weaker and smaller) American Jewish community, but so far not even faint signs of resistance and new alternatives are visible. If you are from Bethesda you probably know that even the OU office run by Hussein's Harvard room-mate and Wednesday-evening basketball buddy Nathan Diament has been totally co-opted by the White House.