Last week brought a new revelation of more proof of Chuck Hagel’s prejudicial attitudes toward Israel. But most observers concluded that the statements made over the weekend by Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham that they would not support further delays as a vote on his nomination as secretary of defense as evidence that he would easily be confirmed once Congress returns from its recess next week. However the publication of yet another story today in which Hagel is reported to have made disparaging comments about Israel could alter that equation.
Our former colleague Alana Goodman broke last week’s story about a contemporaneous account of a 2007 speech given by Hagel at Rutgers University in which he made the outrageous charge that the U.S. State Department was being run by the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Today Goodman is at it again as she reports that there was yet another Hagel speech at the same venue three years later in which he again offended Israel and its supporters.
Secretary of defense nominee Chuck Hagel said Israel is on its way to becoming an apartheid state during an April 9, 2010, appearance at Rutgers University, according to a contemporaneous account by an attendee.
Hagel also accused Israel of violating U.N. resolutions, called for U.S.-designated terrorist organization Hamas to be included in any peace negotiations, and described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “radical,” according to the source.
Like the 2007 speech, no tape of these remarks has yet surfaced making it easy for Hagel to dismiss the controversy by saying he “doesn’t recall” them as he did in a letter to Senator Graham. Graham was willing to say that he would take Hagel at his word about that. But can he, or any other pro-Israel senator of either party, really believe any further denials or disavowals from Hagel?
It may be that without a tape or official transcript of these events, the mainstream media will ignore the controversies as some have done with the 2007 Rutgers speech. Others will say it doesn’t meet their standard of a genuine bombshell since Hagel can deny them. Of course, some sectors of the media will find nothing wrong with these insults just as many continue to be amazed that anyone is bothered by Hagel’s boasts about standing up to the “Jewish lobby.”
But this latest story does make it clear that the person who has been chosen to lead the Pentagon in the second Obama administration is someone who is willing to parrot the ravings of the most radical anti-Israel figures in the Democratic Party. In effect, what the president has done is to nominate someone who is not only outside of the mainstream of either the Republican or Democratic Parties on Israel, Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran but is another Jimmy Carter.
This development once again puts the onus on Democrats to explain why they are willing to rubber stamp the president’s choice of someone whose views are antithetical to the maintenance of the U.S.-Israel alliance. Senators like New York’s Chuck Schumer spent the weeks prior to Hagel’s disastrous confirmation hearing saying they couldn’t oppose the nominee so long as mainstream and generally liberal Jewish groups were silent about his record. But that changed over the weekend when the American Jewish Committee demanded that the Senate not act on Hagel’s nomination without more debate about his questionable statements and even the Anti-Defamation League demanded an explanation. Even if the New York Times isn’t interested in Hagel’s statements, Jewish Democrats ought to be.
But before Democrats can act, Senate Republicans must not signal that they will give Hagel a pass on his own recognizance. Both Graham and McCain need to say that they will not accept any further disavowals from Hagel of what is a pattern of offensive statements that can’t be washed away by his post-nomination conversion to a position of support for Israel and a tough stand on Iran.
Hagel and the White House may feel they still have the odds in their favor. But if the GOP stands its ground, it will allow Democrats who were never happy about Hagel to start edging away from an unqualified and unsuitable nominee.
That’s right. U.S. State Department was being run by Israeli Foreign Ministry. nHere you go my hero. You’re confirmed without begging Israel for forgiveness. You’re the third besides Obama & Kerry who got the Whitehouse twice and confirmed displeasing Israel. nMcCain is right. REPUBLICANS WILL REGRET THIS. Hagel ain’t neither appeasing nor apologizing to Zionists controlling within-the-beltway to get confirmed. Israelifirsters foolishly sporting Hagel christening is a game that keeps ‘em on headlines though deep-down they know that they are digging their own graves in the Donuthole. In order to let lummy Hagel go to Brussels and chair NATO summit this week. Hagel most get Flummox Warring Industries interested in his appointment to go and gonoph Louisiana’s David Vitter Dachshund as hostage to extort him to come outta hiding and vote IN-FAVOR on the rampage or get Obama use the Gorm vulgar substitute for (God) damn Executive Branch to VETO the filibuster and buy REAL Dante Alighieri hat for Antonin Scalia. nHere’s today’s Israeli hymn mantras to put Hegel’s votes to death. nu2721How Dare Ted Cruz? nu2721Jewish Groups Must End Silence on Hagel. nu2721Interest in Hagel Speeches Isn’t Racist. nu2721GOP Must Hang Tough on Hagel. nu2721Is a Hagel Filibuster Still Possible? nu2721New Hagel Story Could Alter the Equation. nu2721The Hagel-Cruz Bait and Switch. nRed-Tapeworm Republican Frugals gonna frogmarch outta Capitol hill deliberately to celebrate President’s (Jack Daniel’s) Day and most-importantly a toss-for-Death-to-Hagel as their Zionists masters in Tel Aviv ordered them to do so. Sawbones Merkley’s filibuster requires 60 votes for Hagel to be confirmed. Harry Reid’s whiz-bang Cloture was 58-40. Remember the Senate is only 100. It means Hagel most get the Warring Industries in his appointment to kidnap Louisiana’s David Vitter dog to extort him to show up and vote in favor for him or ask Obama to use the Executive Branch to VETO the filibuster and buy REAL Dante Alighieri hat for Antonin Scalia in order let Hagel go to Brussels and chair NATO summit this week. It’s a walking Circus devil-may-care. n
Increase the Haloperidol to 50mg every hour and report back next week.
Ignore the N-zi. It's hopeless. See the name, vote down, next comment, please.
Cry Auschwitz Dachau Birkenau
Cry wring cloture's neck… SQUAWK!
boring gorm gonoph anglosexual googledjunk and wikitrash n
Your mind is poisoned by Islam. You are a zombie – bereft of an inner consciousness. Remember: "On the road to Islam….even the trees die."
i appreciate your misery
but you have so much of your own to run your hands through. wiggle your fingers.
Wtf?
It's really very simple. Lewis Carrol is posting on Commentary as a Jew Hater. n n n 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves n Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: n All mimsy were the borogoves, n And the mome raths outgrabe."
Jew Hater! are you kidding? why should a stooopid thing like that? i would worthy the worthless if i did. take it easy sweetheart. politics is sport ain't ideology. nCome to Dubai for Vodka, Coffee, Cookies, Aphrodis Camel Milk, Medical Marijuana, Concerta & Licensed Hookers. n n
do America's latchkey children still go to raves to be cool?
bye
I didn't understand a word of any of that. n nIs English your first language? n nI'll amend that. n nIs English any of your languages?
congrats. you're pregnant sweetheart.
I rest my case.
lol n n
six pointed stars! n nsparkles on a turd n n
Hagel is Barack Obama's anti-Semite soul mate and so is Brennen.
regarding: n nIn effect, what the president has done is to nominate someone who is not only outside of the mainstream of either the Republican or Democratic Parties on Israel, Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran but is another Jimmy Carter. n nread carefully, Jonathan, n nwhat this president has done, is to nominate someone who holds the same positions (vis a vie America the bully, and Israel relationship) he does n nHagel is the mouthpiece for Obama's position and agenda. While Hagel gets to be the face for the implemttion of this agends, Obama can 'lead from behind' and not say anything, presenting the face of 'friend to Israel'. n nThe little sh*t Peres is going to give Obama some fackocta medal, when he goes to Israel. n nAnd having an ignorant moron like Hagel in Defense is an American issue, not a Jewish/Israeli issue..any thinking American should be disgusted and embarassed by this nomination.
Exactly right. n nI think Jews should sit this one out, and let America realize what shits Hagel and Obama are. It's not an Israeli issue. Hagel can't hurt Israel in any real way. n nIts Putzes like Schumer, Levin, Boxer, Feinstein and the rest of the Bagels-Yes-Kippahs-No Jews that hurt Israel. n nAs for Peres, he is giving the Tsar a present for not inciting a pogrom this week.
I disagree. I still am reminded of how the Battleship Bismark was sunk — after she had sunk the HMS Hood and seemed invincible, it was one lucky shot hitting the rudder, jamming it so that the Bismark could only go in one gigantic circle, it was a whole lot of smaller & much weaker vessels that sunk her. n nSinking Hagel will pull in Obama's wings at least a little, and Obama very much could hurt Israel. Let's start with the F-16s going to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, and then the Iranian Nuke problem, and that's just for starters. n nI should add, however, that I don't consider Israel to be a "Jewish" issue — it's more a Western Civilization one and the question of if we are going to live in the 21st Century or the 14th. And as to genocide — it is Christians that they are killing in Egypt right now (big time), but I have no doubt that they would kill Jews just as quickly.
I don;t know. n nI actually favor Hagel coming in. n nThings have to get worse before they get better. Yes, it will be a crappy 4 years, where America's international interests (and economy) are trashed, but that creates an opening for a real change in direction on 2016. n nThe worst case scenario is that Obama muddles through with a limp wristed semi recovery, and so clears the deck for Hillary in 2016. n nI don't think, at the end of the day, Israel will allow Iran a nuclear capability. The US may even take the lead or at least support the effort. Obama will eventually make the calculation that if Israel is planning to act, it may as well be the USA that gets the credit.
The first time Obama was elected (2008), I wondered if the majority of Americans who voted for this twenty year disciple of Jeremiah Wright were still thinking Americans or if the American majority lost their minds. Obama's re-election (2012) removed all doubt.
None of what he is reported to have said is wrong. I suppose he will be forced to recant, but as Galileo said, "Eppure, si muove."
Piss off. No one reads what you have to say.
You seem to do.
I see your name, I say 'piss of'f'. Its a pavlovian response.
We have no doubt that you regularly say the same thing about A. Hitler. Had you been of the World War II generation, you would have definitely thrown in your lot with him. And that would have been fine, had you served on the Russian front.
His Jewish Papa must be very proud of him.
That's wrong. You can't understand ethnic conflict unless you understand the behavior of both sides.
What is wrong about it?
ethnic conflict? n nwhat ethnic conflict? n nbetween pagans and monotheists?
You think being white or Anglo Saxon or Aryan makes you some sort of ethnic free yardstick measure of man and America. Think again. So you and Hagel tell yourselves that the gas in the coal mine won't affect you because the canary is just the Jew. And that spinning sophistic fantasies that sacrificing the canary will magically make the impending mine disaster go away measures up to some kind of American first heroics. The canary isn't the problem here. Iran and N, Korea are jointly conducting N. Korea's tests to refine their nuclear delivery system. Hagel's stated position that Iran must be appeased because it is a regional power on the ascendancy too strong to resist is not the stuff of American assertion, heroism, or pride.
Forget "Canary in the Coal Mine" and look at Egypt. These folks can and will kill Christians just as fast as they will kill Jews — and they are quite explicit about the "Little Satan" (Israel) and the "Big Satan" (USA) — and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that it isn't just the Israelis whom they wish to "push into the sea." n nFrom what I have seen North Korea isn't even particularly anti-Semetic and may well be a bigger immediate threat (itself) to Japan than anyone else. Even the ChiComs don't like DKRP — it has to do with things like forging their currency, being the route via which one smuggles foreign-made automobiles into China without paying import duties, and the stealing of trains. Seriously — the ChiComs provide North Korea with grain so as not to have hordes of refugees crossing into China,and the North Koreans literally stole the trains — let the crews walk across the bridge back to China but wouldn't let the trains go back. Now the Chinese load the grain into "old" boxcars that they know they won't get back and just push them across the river — get them up to speed on the Chinese side of the border and then just let the uncoupled cars fly downrange on their own without either brakes or an engine (or crew) where they eventually stop somewhere on the North Korean side of the border. n nWhen people proclaim that they want to kill *me* — and are working on a means as to how to do so — I am inclined to (a) believe them and (b) to consider others whom they also wish to kill as natural allies against a common threat. And when even the ChiComs are afraid of North Korea, that gets my attention.
yeah but the North Koreans now have Iranian nuke scientists in on their nuke tests.So by themselves yeah tip the railroads down the hill–and good luck ChiCom mandarins (what a hilarious picture that is) but we have no way of knowing if they are testing for themselves or testing for Iran.
Iran and DKPR are actually quite similar in a way — despotic leaders and a populace that really wishes they would go away. The Iranians are all in their 20's — the generation that would be in their 40s were all killed in the wars — and they want to be French. To party and have girls looking pretty and the rest. And the North Koreans simply want to eat. Remember when the tanks ran over the officers of the unit that complained about stufff? That is what is going on there. n nBoth regimes are dangerous and dangerous to the USA.
Does the US want a secretary of defense with such a poor memory and a reputation of insulting the only democratic state in the middle east? I can only imagine Hagel's views on Assad, who has provided new perspectives on the concept of "collateral damage." Does Hagel think the Jews control the defense department as well? Is that really where he wants to work?
Most humorous is Hagel's claim that the Jews control the state department! Lol!!!
This actually is a common claim. I had to listen to Hussain Ibish a whole lot more than I ever wanted to, and will never forget his line "the Israel lobby is like the Corn lobby." n nRemember that we are dealing with people who lack the ability of logical thought…. n
If this goodman person is correct about these speeches given by Hagel then it behooves anyone who was in attendance at these times to stand up and corroborate those statements. This is not a party loyalty thing nor does it involve ideology, the truth is the truth, if he made those statements them they should be part of the debate. On the other side let him be affirmed and when he says something really heinous then impeach is mangey buut.
Yes, but what is really needed is a tape of his remarks to help him "recall." Without it, you got bupkis.
There likely IS a tape, quite possibly a videotape — most large universities — and I *know* that UMass Amherst does this — quietly record any event that may be controversial. UMass used to go so far as to have the campus police collect samples of the fliers that were posted on bulletin boards across campus. n nThe administration does this so that they know – and can prove – what was or was not said. Then when the big money donors call to complain, they have somewhere to start with damage control. And the audio recording literally is nothing more than popping a standard cassette tape into the PA machine.
Gramps — I would be quite surprised if Alana Goodman was wrong.
How about this old Hagel story? Hagel was the head of a company that made vote-counting machines. When he decided to get into politics, he beat Ben Nelson by 15 points in a race where the polls had them tied going into election day.
https://www.commondreams.org/views03/0131-01.htm
Now for the conspiracy-theorizing: How does somebody who the Democratic left considers an election thief, someone to be kept away from power at all costs, become a person that the Democratic party loves and insists be given a position of high power? Did ES&S flip either election for Obama, or simply turn off the logic they had to flip close elections to Republicans, and this is a quid pro quo? There’s nothing solid there, but when Bev Harris started asking questions, she was threatened with a lawsuit. That’s all down the memory hole even though the story ranks high in a web search for Chuck Hagel, who has been in the news lately. Isn’t it strange that this old story hasn’t come up in talk about Hagel, not even in the blogs?
It's a shame the quality of many of the comments at 'Commentary' has deteriorated into a slanging match from both sides. n nIt seems to me that if the remarks reportedly made by Hagel are actually true – regardless of whether or not you like them – then there is no reason to preclude him from office.
There is one other wild card here — mental illness and/or stroke(s). Hagel is likely at high risk for the latter — those with a mercurial personality tend to run high blood pressure, and he is old enough to be worried about that. A mercurial personality — as we have had described by Senate colleagues and hinted to by staffers — can also be mental illness related — and he well may either not remember having said some of the things he said. This is a wild card and I admit it as such — but never forget that Towers wasn't confirmed to the same position 3 decades ago out of concerns that he drank too much. n nAnd I would be REALLY surprised if there weren't videotapes of his speeches, quietly tucked away in the admin building…
"But if the GOP stands its ground…." n nIf they do, then we can all breathe a sigh of relief. If they can't, then what are we waiting for??? Either the Republican Party changes and demonstrates to voters that it is an effective vehicle for both winning elections and advocating on behalf of conservative ideas and principles, or we need a new party. n nOne hates to say it, but over the decades the GOP bizarrely "cultivated" an image that no one really likes. Call it the opposite of warm, fuzzy and reassuring. The presidency of George W. Bush was the last straw! And if we didn't get it then, let us recall the McCain/Palin 2008 ticket! Bizarre enough for you? Imagine those two leading the nation! n nAnd then, after four years of Barack Obama all but convinced the majority of voters that he was ruining the country, along comes the GOP and nominates Mitt Romney to run against the slickest politician to come along for the Democrats since Bill Clinton. Mitt Romney. What were they thinking? n nThere is no reason whatever to believe that 2016 will be any different. Marco Rubio, the current Republican champion, comes across as a "smart kid." So does the guy in second place, Paul Ryan. So, now, instead of a "wounded warrior," the "wife of a fisherman" and a failed governor of Massachusetts—we'll have two boys (both of whom Hillary will eat alive) leading the conservative charge! n nHere's another idea. Why not find a Republican governor at the top of his/her game, a politician with a remarkable career to advertise, preferably one that involves turning around a state in trouble, and who has the rhetorical skills necessary to attract voters from the center-Left? And how about someone who is interesting, fun, and not "conflicted" when it comes to rape, nor prone to preaching about her religious beliefs, nor tempted to wade into the abortion wars, unsympathetic to gay-bashing, in favor of conserving the natural beauty of the United States, and both fun and interesting? Sound like a winner to you? n nThe only trouble is this: at the margins of the Republican Party are those "special interest groups" who scare the bejeezus out of any candidate whom the majority of Americans would vote for! How that problem will be resolved is a complete mystery. Stay tuned. n nBut keep in mind that we may be faced with forming a new party. Either that—or Hillary could be our next president. n n
"Why not find a Republican governor at the top of his/her game, a politician with a remarkable career to advertise, preferably one that involves turning around a state in trouble, and who has the rhetorical skills necessary to attract voters from the center-Left? And how about someone who is interesting, fun, and not "conflicted" when it comes to rape, nor prone to preaching about her religious beliefs, nor tempted to wade into the abortion wars, unsympathetic to gay-bashing, in favor of conserving the natural beauty of the United States, and both fun and interesting?" n nThat's how we got Mitt Romney……
he is vile