Hagel is a closet leftist. Hagel (along with Kerry, Daschle, and other leftist senators) supported Clinton on going to war with Iraq in 1998, yet Hagel was against Bush going to war with Iraq in 2002. Read about it in the Weekly Standard at:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/607rkunu.asp And there is this from the National Review:
"In 1998, when the Lewinsky scandal was smashing Bill Clinton's credibility, Hagel gave a speech on global conflict. It was vintage Hagel, full of high-minded apprehension, and it earned the rookie senator plaudits from the likes of the Washington Post's David Broder, the embodiment of the capital's liberal establishment. "Congress must be very careful in what we say and what we do as we proceed along a very dangerous path. We must be careful not to weaken or neuter the president in front of the world," said Hagel. "America must speak to the world with some sense and some semblance of unity. We cannot allow our foreign policy to unravel before the eyes of the world during a very dangerous time."
It's the exact reverse of Hagel's behavior toward President Bush. Some one might remind him that words have meaning."
Read the entire NR article at:
http://www.nationalreview.com/12aug02/miller081202.asp