Armed Services Senate GOP put Israel Over US on Hagel Nomination for SecDef

Senate Republicans on Armed Services spouted lies and innuendos during the confirmation hearing to try and impugn Secretary of Defense nominee Chuck Hagel 

Senator Graham (R-SC) sunk to a new low on Chuck Hagel on CNN this morning:

Graham went further Sunday and described Hagel on Fox News as a "radical."
"We're doing our job to scrutinize, I think, one of the most unqualified, radical choices for secretary of defense in a very long time," Graham said. 

I cannot believe that Graham called Hagel a radical - even McCain does not come close to going that far.  Graham is an insult to the US Senate along with Senators Inhofe (R-OK) and Cruz (R-TX).  If they think this is going to help GOP win in 2014, it is going to do the opposite.  They still don't get they lost the election and don't have a right to choose the Defense Secretary.

Republican Senators are small minded people who are acting like spoiled brats when someone disagrees with them.  They are an insult to America and reflect poorly on their position as Senators all because they hate a black man being President.  There I said it - this is about Obama being black and white Republican males of the US Senate cannot stand it as many of them come from southern states and seem to be still fighting the Civil War.  Heard it said too many times in my State not to think this is driving the GOP in the Senate/House to be obstructionists and why they refuse to work with Obama.  The Republican Party as a whole needs to grow up and act respectful of others who have different ideas or don't look like them.

Senator Hagel fought in Vietnam as enlisted, was wounded, and has always put our national security first along with the men and women of our Armed Forces. Now this same group of Armed Services Republicans joined by other Republicans are filibustering his nomination putting our national security at risk.  The Hagel nomination obstruction by Senate Republicans is the final straw for me supporting Republicans at any level in the foreseeable future, if ever.

Senate Republicans except for four (Cochran (R-MS), Collins (R-ME), Johanns (R-NE) Murkowski (R-AK)  who voted against the filibuster continuing are a disgrace to the oath they took as Senators since it seems this vote to filibuster is all about revenge against Hagel for daring to speak the truth on Iraq if you take John McCain at his word.  Frankly I think it was because Hagel didn't believe that Sarah Palin was qualified to be President who McCain chose for VP which is driving McCain revenge.  Others are after Hagel for not supporting Israel security over the best interests of the United States.  Neocons think everyone should support Israel at all costs along with perpetual war that rewards the defense industry and cost American lives.  The GOP priorities our out of whack when it comes to national security IMHO.  Must admit that Hagel earned even more of my support when his comments about Palin came out:

"I don't believe she's qualified to be President of the United States," Hagel told me. "The first judgment a potential President makes is who their running mate is--and I don't think John made a very good selection." He scoffed at McCain's attempts to portray her as an experienced politician. "To try to make the excuse that she looks out her window and sees Russia--and that she's commander of the Alaska National Guard." He added, "There is no question that this candidate is arguably the thinnest-résumé candidate for Vice-President in the history of America."

Senate Republicans filibuster of Hagel are putting our national security now at risk since Secretary of Defense Panetta left the position at noon Friday and is now an acting Sec Def until Hagel is confirmed AFTER the recess. The audacity of GOP Senators to put the recess over national security.

With American forces still fighting and dying in Afghanistan, al-Qaeda at large in Pakistan and across the Middle East, nuclear North Korea, a NATO defense ministers’ meeting next week, Republicans are sticking to their obstructionist ways over Israel. Americans have come to learn that Republicans hate this country nearly as much as they hate the President, but it is unimaginable that the party that prides itself in being adamantly pro-defense, is jeopardizing America’s national security and its troops around the globe just to show if you are not with their pro-Israel program, you are with Iran; and will not be Secretary of Defense.

Fortunately for America, the Senate Republicans are not going to defeat this nomination as several Senators have said since going on recess they will vote to allow the nomination to proceed to a 51 vote margin not 60 votes which Inhofe demands.  Maybe they don't like getting clobbered by military and friends of military telling them to allow a vote on Hagel and do it now.  Pretty good job to be a member of Congress - work 16 days and take a 10-day vacation.

While Hagel was serving in the United States Senate, he wasn't afraid to speak out when he thought President Bush was going down the wrong path on the Iraq surge.  Hagel has also called out the Bush Administration on getting us into Iraq under false pretenses.  He was right there were no weapons of mass destruction and the lead-up to Iraq War was filled with lies from the Bush Administration.  As more and more information comes out, more people will be joining Hagel in their disgust at the Bush Administration on Iraq.

If you only read one book, you must read  Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War by Michael Isikoff and David Corn.  Monday night at 9:00 p.m. est, Rachael Maddow, MSNBC, will have an expose on how we got into the Iraq War while also fighting in Afghanistan.

The doc (documentary) is partly based on the book Hubris by David Corn and Michael Isikoff but reportedly goes beyond it. An NBC press release claims the documentary features “new and original interviews with members of the Bush administration, the CIA, members of Congress and other insiders who were part of the internal debate over the ultimately faulty-intelligence that led to the invasion of Iraq.

Since the Republicans in the Senate decided to filibuster Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense, I have been on Twitter thinking a few friends and I would be pretty much alone in his defense.  Not even close to being true as retired members of the military are furious, many of them Vietnam Vets or their Dad's fought in Vietnam.  A new organizing group on Twitter, @UniteBlue, has given all of us new friends who share a lot of commonality.  People who have been Republicans for years are now saying they will not support one Republican in '14 after this filibuster of Hagel.  GOP misjudged how made Republicans already were at them as they put Party over Country time and time again with their hatred of the President.  Childish actions out of grown men are not attractive and frankly disgusting.

The people on Twitter are livid that for the first time in the history of the Senate, a party has decided to filibuster the DoD nominee until after their 10-day recess.  Note to Israeli lovers in the GOP, we are at war in Afghanistan with men and women in harm's way and you decide Israel is number one over this Country?  President Obama didn't choose a Secretary of Defense for Israel but for the United States which GOP Senators seem to be having a hard time understanding that the US comes first over Israel.

Spying by Israel on the US defense industry has been going on for years and occasionally they get caught like when they sell our defense secrets to China.  This is our ally?  Selling our defense secrets to China along with our weapons we provide Israel doesn't seem like it is much of an ally:

The C.I.A. says China has been acquiring advanced military technology from Israel for more than a decade on programs for jet fighters, air-to-air missiles and tanks. The agency said the sale of Israeli military technology to China "may be several billion dollars."

We give away our technology to Israel and they sell it to China for billions, yet the Israeli lobby puppets in the GOP Senate (Inhofe, Cruz, McCain, Graham plus others) is against Chuck Hagel for pointing out the fact the Israeli lobby has affected our foreign policy and IMHO still does.  Hagel knows first hand as he has been a member of the GOP Caucus in the Senate and is well aware of the Israeli influence.  Thank God Romney was not elected or we would be on the verge of war with Iran the way the Israeli Hawks in the US Senate are acting.  Putting Israel over the United States' national security and our troops in Afghanistan should get the Republicans on Armed Services fired.

Senator Inhofe (R-OK) was a total embarrassment at the hearings on Hagel.  Where he got his allegations that he tag teamed with Cruz (R-TX) is anyone's guess because Inhofe was arrogant, condescending and lying about Chuck Hagel based on phony information.  Will never support or vote for the Inhofe again as he crossed the line on the Hagel nomination. Cruz following Inhofe's lead bordered on McCarthyism during the confirmation hearings as he attacked Hagel with lies until even McCain couldn't take it any more and defended Hagel:

The exchange prompted John McCain to jump in and defend his former friend, Hagel: "Senator Hagel is an honorable man. He has served his country and no one on this committee at any time should impugn his character or his integrity." Cruz, on the defensive, replied that he hadn't "impugned [Hagel's] character."

So happy that Sen Claire McCaskell was reelected to the Senate from MO because she took on Inhofe:

The ranking Republican Jim Inhofe repeatedly invoked—as he did when questioning Hagel several weeks ago—a purported endorsement of the appointment by the Iranian government. “He’s endorsed by them,” Inhofe said. “You can’t get any cozier than that.” (As Matt Duss has noted, the attack stems from a statement from Iran's foreign ministry spokesman that the government hoped for "practical changes" in U.S. policy toward Iran.) Later, the Missouri Democrat Claire McCaskill warned Inhofe to "be careful": “What if some horrible organization said tomorrow that you were the best guy that they knew?”

The award for honesty and integrity at the Hagel hearing goes to Senator Bill Nelson (R-FL):

The most remarkable exchange came when Texas Republican Ted Cruz, who's led the campaign to expose "foreign funding" Hagel purportedly received, implied that the nominee had not been forthcoming, suggesting that a "conflict of interst" may lurk and even that Hagel even may have taken money from North Korea, an enemy of the U.S. But Bill Nelson, a Democrat from Florida, fired back: “This Senator feels like that Senator Cruz has gone over the line,“ Nelson said. "He basically has impugned the patriotism of the nominee." 

This morning on a segment on Face the Nation about Hagel's nomination not one word was mentioned about the Republican filibuster which shows more and more the inside the beltway media are out of touch with America as they use press releases to report.  As you can see from Politicus the number of times Israel and Iran were mentioned versus little mention on Afghanistan, etc. shows that this group of Republicans on Armed Services do put Israel first along with the defense industry who wants to start a war with Iran so they can make more money.  Despicable actions on the Hagel nomination by GOP Senators who have sworn an oath to the United States not Israel.

The media was remiss to report on the national embarrassment that was the Senate’s armed services committee hearing on Hagel’s nomination last month, or the number of times Israel and Iran came up during questioning. Israel was mentioned 178 times and Iran was next at 169, while the same senators barely mentioned Hagel’s views on Afghanistan where American soldiers are currently fighting, Pakistan that still hides remnants of al-Qaida, or North Korea, a nuclear capable country where more than 30,000 American troops are deployed. However, they thrashed the Israel issue mercilessly and attempted to impugn Hagel’s character by implying he “has ties to the Iran foreign ministry,” courtesy of Jim Inhofe, and questioned if money in his “bank account came directly from Saudi Arabia, came directly from North Korea” from the reincarnation of Joe McCarthy, Ted Cruz. 

Emboldened by Cruz and Inhofe’s conspiracy theories, Republicans blocked a vote on Hagel because they contend more time is needed for him to produce speeches he is alleged to have given, and to provide further documentation on the funding of organizations he’s been affiliated with. Hagel’s detractors represent an array of groups that include neo-conservative warmongers, evangelical groups such as Christians United for Israel, and the hawkish pro-Israel group, the Emergency Committee for Israel, and their goal is to shift the discourse to Israel instead of America’s defense. The Christian Zionist organizations opposing Hagel are part of Republican opposition because he threatens long-held conservative ideas about foreign policy, and at what length America is willing to go to disregard its own security in the defense of Israel. 

Republicans railed against Hagel for suggesting there are options to dealing with Iran besides joining Israel in a major war with the Islamic Republic, and Inhofe’s only concern remains Hagel’s position on Israel. He said, “The anti-Israel history of Chuck Hagel is real. We can’t have someone at the Pentagon who has made these kinds of statements,” because his statements are contrary to the pro-Israel at all costs crowd in Republican ranks. Hagel’s so-called anti-Israel statements are in regard to peace with Palestinians such as, “The Israeli government needs to understand that implementation of the peace agreement is in its own interests,” and “Peace comes through dealing with people. Peace doesn’t come at the end of a bayonet or the end of a gun.” He also is being harshly condemned as anti-Israel for saying, ”I think we should continue to pursue openings with Iran, we need to understand cold, hard realities and be very clear-eyed and clearheaded, but every opening we should take.” 

The idea that there cannot be Middle East peace without all-out war to defend Israel is toxic to neo-conservative ideology, and it informs the primary opposition to Hagel’s nomination as Secretary of Defense; not grudges or Benghazi frenzy. The Israel-first conservatives are staunchly opposed to any peaceful resolution in dealing with Iran, and the idea that Hagel believes it is in Israel, and America’s, best interest to open up a dialogue to address their so-called nuclear ambitions is tantamount to declaring war on god almighty. 

Republicans are wont to obstruct anything the Obama Administration has attempted to accomplish, but their allegiance to Israel is compromising national security as well as violating a long-standing principle that the President picks his own cabinet. Hagel  once had the support of Republicans such as Mitch McConnell who said Hagel was one of the “most respected foreign policy voices in the Senate,” and McCain said he “would make an excellent secretary of state,” but now they are besmirching a fellow Republican over Israel based on conspiracy theories advanced by the likes of Ted Cruz. 

Excerpt:  Read More at Politicususa 

Please call your GOP Senators and demand a vote on the Hagel nomination immediately when they return empty-handed with anything that could derail Hagel's nomination.  McCain said the ten days will answer their questions like I believe anything he has to say today after saying Hagel is unqualified but will be confirmed.  Who is unqualified is John McCain to be a US Senator after his antics since the 2008 election culminating in the Benghazi attacks against the President.  Guess these Republicans forget that unlike them Hagel has to go through a whole vetting process including FBI investigation before he is even nominated.  Wonder how some of these Senators with their statements would fare under the same investigation.

One word to Texans:  You blew it big time with choosing Ted Cruz as your new Senator who is much more like Joe McCarthy then he is like Kay Bailey Hutchison who he replaced.  How McConnell ever assigned Cruz to Armed Services is beyond my imagination.  He should be removed from Armed Services for his antics and not subject to any classified information.  If I was in DoD testifying before Senate Armed Services I would ask that Ted Cruz not be in the same room if I was giving the Senate classified information after what we saw out of him at the Hagel hearing.

Next up will be the Republican antics to delay a vote on the Brennan nomination for CIA Director as they are stuck on stupid about Benghazi ignoring the attacks on our embassies during the Bush years.  They also conveniently forget that the GOP in Congress is who stopped additional funds for security for our embassies - didn't think it was necessary.