I Can't Wait To See the Real Chuck Hagel !!

Jewish Democrats, and Democrats who represent Jews, are coming around to the idea of supporting the anti-Israeli, anti-Semitic Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense.  For it seems as if he has done what it necessary for him to earn Senate confirmation: he has rejected every past position he has ever held.  All neatly done in a letter to Barbara Boxer, as reported by Jonathan Tobin:

In it, he didn’t merely apologize for his bragging about standing up to the “Jewish lobby,” but also backtracked from previous stands on the U.S.-Israel alliance, the threat from Iran and even specified that he now considers Hamas and Hezbollah to be terrorist groups.

As expected, Hagel flipped on his anti-gay stance as well as his opposition to abortion rights for members of the armed services—issues that are important to the liberal Boxer. But by explicitly reversing his positions on Middle East issues that he had held throughout his years in the Senate and after he left Congress, Hagel has made it clear that he is willing to say anything necessary to win the approval of pro-Israel Democrats without whom he cannot win confirmation.


Jen Rubin feels there is a lot left unsaid:

Then there is his apology for his “Jewish lobby” remark, which his supporters have either denied or dubbed trivial. Hagel now says he apologizes for a “poor choice of words.” But Boxer apparently neglected to ask him about his even more noxious declaration that he is not the senator for Israel. Was that also a poor choice of words? Moreover, this is not a mere choice of words. Hagel said that the Jewish lobby “intimidates” lawmakers. Which lawmakers? Was he intimidated?

None of this hangs together. Nor does it answer the many questions surrounding Hagel, among them his comments warning against “isolating” Iran, his refusal to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization, his belief that Israel and its conflict with the Palestinians is at the root of all the Middle East’s problems or his call for direct negotiations with Hamas.

Jen is right, of course, but it doesn't matter.  Chuck Schumer has already endorsed Hagel based on the Boxer letter refuting every past position he ever held.  Luckily for Hagel, he never tied a dog carried to the roof of his car on a road trip 20-odd years ago.  Then, he would have been disqualified.

Me, I like the fact Hagel did not apologize for his belief in a "Jewish lobby", but simply regrets his phrasing.  Expect to hear a lot about the "Zionist lobby" once Hagel is given the job to take apart America's defenses...

Here's where Jonathan Tobin is dead wrong, by the way:

There’s good reason to believe that Hagel was chosen precisely because the president privately shares some of those views that the nominee is now disavowing. But this is also a president who understands that his political capital is finite and can’t be squandered on anti-Israel grudges when there are much larger and more important battles to be fought in the next four years. The campaign against Hagel may not succeed in stopping his confirmation. But by forcing him to start talking like a neoconservative on Israel, it has demonstrated that there is a limit to how far even a re-elected Obama can go when it comes to straying from the foreign policy mainstream.

On so many levels, wrong. There is no limit to how far out of the mainstream Barack Obama can go; he's been given his "flexibility" by the American people, and the media won't hold him to account. Furthermore, this is a president who believes his political capital is infinite, and can count on the media to morph every one of his hissy fits into a story about his strong leadership and benign countenance.

Just as Obama ran on "One America" and has been the most strident partisan president in American history, Hagel is saying whatever it takes to get the Secretary of Defense post, and will freely go back on his word afterwards. Again, no one will hold him to account - not the media, not the Democrats, not the Jews.

Ah, my fellow Jews. For them it is that I want Chuck Hagel to be elevated to Secretary of Defense. Because he's gonna fustigate Israel, and defenestrate the Jews.

And it is look past time for the Jews to be protected from their continual poor choices...