Tweet
Chuck Hagel
According to reports beginning on Thursday, Obama is considering nominating former GOP Nebraska Senator, Chuck Hagel, for Secretary of Defense:
After a high-stakes game of musical chairs on Thursday, the stage could be set for Chuck Hagel to take over the Pentagon.
A Hagel move into the Obama administration was first signaled by a White House leak that he’d been fully vetted and reached the top of President Barack Obama’s short-list to replace Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
Hagel is serving as co-chairman of The President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, and is chairman of the neo-liberal Atlantic Council, among other duties and activities. I perceive him as too realistic about policy toward Iran and Israel to make it through the nomination process, should the so-called “Israel Lobby” stand against him.
The first sign that this non-existent lobby might be concerned about a Hagel nomination surfaced Thursday evening, at the White House Hanukkah Party:
On Thursday night, hundreds of American Jewish leaders visited the White House to celebrate Hanukkah, but many also came with a less celebratory agenda: They were there to deliver a warning to President Barack Obama about the potential nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel.
The buzz around the former Republican senator from Nebraska — seen as a top contender to lead the Department of Defense — has Israel supporters worried. Hagel has been a frequent target for Jewish Democratic and Republican groups for more than a decade, even as he is close to Obama, having been a supporter in 2008 and an appointee to the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.
“He was one of these worst senators in his party in memory when it comes to Israel,” said one Jewish Democratic operative. “It’s a terrible idea.”
By Friday, friends of the imaginary “Israel Lobby” were openly characterizing Hagel in the most unflattering terms. Some had the courage to attach their names to their statements. This one did not, probably because it was so over-the-top (emphases added):
Some Jews and supporters of Israel voiced major concerns about the possible nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel to lead the Defense Department, taking to Twitter and the blogosphere this week to slam the Nebraska Republican.
“Send us Hagel and we will make sure every American knows he is an anti-Semite,” a senior Republican Senate aide told The Weekly Standard. The aide continued, “Hagel has made clear he believes in the existence of a nefarious Jewish lobby that secretly controls U.S. foreign policy. This is the worst kind of anti-Semitism there is.”
Whether or not the totally-fucking-made-up “Israel Lobby” is the “us” the anonymous threatener means is up to you.
Helping fan the flames Friday was Stephen Walt, co-author of a book the above staffer no doubt places in the fiction category, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. Walt praised Hagel as a possible choice:
So the Beltway world is a-twitter (literally) with the rumor that President Obama will nominate former Senator Chuck Hagel (R-Neb) to be the next secretary of defense. This is a smart move that will gladden the hearts of sensible centrists, because Hagel is a principled, intelligent and patriotic American who believes that U.S. foreign and defense policy should serve the national interest.
The reaction to the endorsement of “the worst kind of anti-Semite” by the author of the 21st century version of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion was met by heavy, but totally unorganized resistance by spontaneous objection from supporters of the Greatest Democracy in the Middle East. Here’s Front Page‘s Daniel Greenfield (emphasis added):
[T]here are behind the scenes issues and screwing a constituency does not make for good feelings.
The last time this happened was over Chas Freeman Jr, currently doing interviews with Russian propaganda channels about the evils of Israel. Hagel isn’t as terrible a candidate as Freeman, who took money from China and Saudi Arabia, and suggested that China didn’t go far enough in Tienanmen Square, but he’s bad enough.
And when your loudest endorsement for Defense Secretary comes from Stephen Walt, it’s not exactly a good sign for your prospects.
And here’s from the Republican Jewish Coalition’s twitter feed:
Chuck Hagel gets a vote of confidence from the author of the infamous “Israel Lobby” bookhttp://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/12/13/top_five_reasons_obama_should_pick_chuck_hagel_for_secdef … cc:
@SenatorCardin
Although some anti-Semitic Israel haters have claimed in the past that the RJC is part of the hysterically imagined “Israel Lobby,” a check of their series of tweets on Hagel clearly show this is not the case:
Obama’s Top Jewish Democrat Opposes selection of anti-Israel Chuck Hagel. Calls Hagel “concerning” to Jews http://goo.gl/PJkZN
Retweeted by RJC National
ICYMI: Likely Sec of Defense Chuck Hagel is paid to advice a bank under investigation for violating Iran sanctions http://goo.gl/tuqaY
Retweeted by RJC National
@moelane well done – see also our Hagel round-up:http://www.rjchq.org/2012/12/hagel-nomination-would-be-a-gut-check-for-pro-obama-israel-supporters/ …@instapunditA handy checklist for the rumored Chuck Hagel appointment.:http://moelane.com/?p=68434
Retweeted by RJC National
How would Secretary Hagel deal with Iran? He shares some thoughts here: http://www.acus.org/event/iran-issue-brief-launch/transcript … (Hint: “the Brazilian-Turkish point”)
That’s just a sampling from their feed, which is spontaneously continuing to run one tweet after another about this possible nomination. The blog Mondoweiss, is keeping up with pro- and anti-Hagel developments, which will probably deepen over the weekend. From The War Over Hagel is On:
The war over Chuck Hagel’s possible appointment to be Secretary of Defense has begun in earnest, but right now at the fringe: leading the attack are neoconservatives at the Weekly Standard and the Republican Jewish Coalition who surely hope to nip this idea in the bud lest a Republican who has been openly critical of Israel gets a top policy job.
Following an earlier anonymous threat he published from an alleged congressional staffer to paint Hagel as an “anti-Semite,” neoconservative godfather Bill Kristol has published “a fact sheet circulating widely on Capitol Hill” (who knows what that means?) that seeks to portray Chuck Hagel as an Israel-hater who would appease Iran. Some of the fact sheet’s assertions will please those who seek a balanced American policy in the Middle East.
The article’s comments cite more links to many articles and blog posts and tweets that are coming in against Hagel from people who have nothing to do with the purported “Israel Lobby.”
So, the question begs asking, “Will Obama actually nominate this guy?”
I seriously doubt it. My wife, mom and I (we’re visiting my 94-year-old mom in Seattle for the Holidays) discussed this over coffee this morning. They feel that Obama may be about to break from his habit of throwing somebody out there – Elizabeth Warren or Susan Rice, for instance – as bait, only to walk away from them, and nominate somebody else for the open position.
I’m not so sure. I think Hagel is merely more chum, thrown off the stern of the FV Obama.
Totally spontaneously.
(semi-snark tag duly attached)
Photo by Nestlé under Creative Commons license.
29 Comments
I don’t think it matters who gets the job to be frank. Obama and the rest of your political elite will continue to face towards Tel Aviv and pray five times a day for the foreseeable future.
mfi
Im glad I checked; do not much like that “chum” word.
Without considering the merits of Hagel, I hope that the Pres. does what he wants to do, and, therefore, we get to see the nags do their thing, as they clearly intend no matter what the topic, subject, time of day. With House leader B, and whiner McCon. they have good examples for crying and carrying on; so be it and signifying nothing.
“do not much like that “chum” word…”
When it comes to using “chum” and “Obama” in the same sentence, that’s pretty much what you end up with.
ok, let’s have the pioneer of electronic election theft be the Sec. of Defense. that makes perfect sense in a country that admires white collar criminals so much that they rarely go to jail, and are rarely prosecuted.
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0131-01.htm
Hagel introduced the power elite to election theft fraud. He’s a fucking hero to the plutocrats. Hagel showed the fascists how they can keep control of the country even after their rotten behaviour is made known to the voters. He solved a big problem for them, and now he’s getting another reward for ushering in the era of electronic election theft. He’s a fucking American hero !!!!!
What a joke our country has become.
Thanks.
I’m not attempting to nominate Hagel. As I noted above, he heads the most prominent neo-liub think tank, the Atlantic Council. Etc….
Thanks for the update, ET. It would be nice if we had someone in as secdef who put the interests of the US first. How would the “non-lobby” people react if the EU told us whom they would be willing to accept in that position? I think that the current reactions show what nation is to be considered before US interests.
Obama will do what Obama does.
At this point, I’m beyond caring. I didn’t vote for the guy last time round and expect that the next four years will be fairly hopeless.
I wanted Hagel to be Secretary of Defense or State in 2008/2009. Count me on the Hagel bandwagon. His views on other issues are irrelevant. The Pentagon doesn’t particularly like him, cuts to the Pentagon are coming, and I want someone like Hagel overseeing those cuts.
Also, as noted, he’s not an Israeli-firster, and never has been. Joe Lieberman hates his guts.
Geez, not liking Chuck Hagel sounds a lot like overbearing, nagging mothers not liking their son’s girlfriend in the ad nausem sitcoms on TV since the early ’50s. Who wrote this script? Where’s Sal and Lenny when we need them? When exactly did Isreal and TeeVee become a country? Discuss amongst yourself. I’m too, too verklempt!
that’s a great reason to nominate Hagel right there.
And Lieberman is no longer in the Senate, so he can’t do anything about it. Another plus.
It’d be nice to see an ex-Enlisted Man reach the top rung…! ;-)
You’re pointing to the one thing that his fellow Republicans (including those in the RJC) would like the most about him.
Now, if I thought that Obama did this for strategic reasons (as opposed to trying to pre-cave to the Republicans), here’s my thinking as to his rationale: “Okay, I’m going to pretend to placate the Republicans by nominating Chuck Hagel — a fellow Republican of theirs and a conservative one to boot. But the nonexistent PNAC Lobby will immediately start to screech against him, and probably loudly enough to get the Republicans and many Democrats to oppose him — at which point I say ‘Hey, I tried to be nice to you Republicans, now screw it. Here’s Sam Nunn. And if you shit on Nunn, here’s Max Cleland. Let’s see if you dare crap on him.” (Now, if I were Obama, I’d nominate James Abourezk over Sam Nunn, just to be a real prickasaurus, even though his military background consists of four years of Navy service from 1948 to 1952.)
Hear, hear! Hagel would come down on the JCS like buckshot on butter.
That’s why the PNAC Platoon doesn’t want him as SecDef — because he doesn’t bow to Tel Aviv five times a day. The institutional chair-warmers in the JCS, the ones slated to go to nice cushy chairs in the boards of directors for the companies that feed at the Pentagon’s trough, don’t like him either.
He could possibly survive the opposition of one or the other, but not both.
Since when does Obama make his own personnel decisions?
Election theft fraud…and then add …from the State that brought us MKULTRA..and the Franklin Coverup!
Perfect choice by the chosen one…his masters don’t even try to hide anymore !
Obama nominate the first known case of a politician stealing an election electronically in America?
Why not? That’s the system now. He was the pioneer so surely worthy.
Anti Semitic Israel haters? Is Teller serious tossing out that hairy old chestnut, the claim that any meaningful criticism of Israel is anti Semitic? If I want to hear AIPAC propaganda I’ll go straight to the source, thank you. You do know AIPAC I presume…the Israeli lobby that exerts a totally imaginary influence over congress.
Ed, not responding to your points, just the general news that Hagel is being seriously considered by our plutocratic elites. good article, thanks.
If you will notice, ET is NOT saying that criticism of Israel is anti-semitic. He is linking to and quoting tweets and other items from those who do equate anti-Israel statements with being anti-semitic.
Hagel got over 80% of the vote. Seems rather absurd to say he used fraud.
From your link: “Odds are both won fair and square, the American way, using huge piles of corporate money to carpet-bomb voters with television advertising. ”
Of course, if you really only care about what Israel fanatics want, then it certainly helps to create pseudo controversy. Tell us what you think about AIPAC first. Somehow I think you think AIPAC is great for America. We all know AIPAC wants war with Iran and we all know Hagel doesn’t. Your shrillness gives the lie to your supposed concern about voting fraud.
So tell us Kilgour what you think of AIPAC.
you missed the snark tag, cerberus.
Anthony Zinni for either SoS or SoD
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Zinni
No one cares that Hagel is a 1%er, a Republican and, to boot, a Republican with ethical issues?
When Obama took office, there were no positions in his administration more important than Treasury and Defense; and he gave both to Republicans.
So far, his Secretaries of Defense have been Gates, a Republican, Panetta, a Nixon Republican turned Democratic and now, possibly Republican Hagel.
Of course, Obama has finally self-identified as a moderate Republican himself, so why would I expect him to put Democrats in important positions?
Hagel’s a Fascist. Who cares?
Ah, but normally his being a fascist would be fine with the nonexistent lobby represented most vocally by the RJC and PNAC — you know, the folks who lied about Iraq so we would attack it?
However, this particular fascist is one of the few politicians on either side to have the guts to stick it to both the Pentagon and the nonexistent lobby ET mentions, so of course the nonexistent lobby doesn’t like him.
Well, I had no idea. That’s a scary story.
agree