Posted on 02/19/2006 8:48:28 AM PST by new yorker 77
I was flying this past Sunday so I bought the New York Times (which is really the only time I buy a newspaper....what does that say about the news print business?) and I read the Magazine cover story on Chuck Hagel. Senator Hagel is the type of Republican that media liberals love, because he is almost always good for a shot at President Bush, particularly when it comes to Iraq.
And that in and of itself is fine, each party could use more Senators who don't always toe the party line all the time. But it is one thing to buck your President or party on substantive policy issues out of conviction, and quite another to take cheap shots at leaders of your own party.
I don't know the tone with which Hagel uttered his snide comment on the Cheney shooting to the Omaha World-Herald that "If he'd (Cheney) been in the military, he would have learned gun safety" but unless it was a bad attempt at a joke, this comes across as the type of cheap shot I'd expect from left-wing partisans. And to that point, Ari Berman over at The Nation latched on to Hagel's comment Friday as the "best zinger of the week."
I don't know how serious Hagel is about higher positions in politics. If he is content being a Senator from Nebraska he can probably get away with this stuff for as long as he wants. But if he has aspirations for higher office, as a Republican, he is going to need to change his attitude and change it quick.
Otherwise I can give him and any of his would be supporters a piece of advice -- comments that win kudos form The Nation and the New York Times are not the path to winning the Republican nomination or a VP slot. Sucking up to the Washington press corps may get you good coverage in the Washington Post and on CBS News, but it is not going to win Republican votes in 2008.
If Hagel cares about his standing in the Republican party he ought to clarify his remark or publicly apologize to the Vice President.
Posted by John McIntyre at 01:34 PM
Whores ARE cheap.
It's either Senate-titus or Washington-osis! The longer they stay, the worse their case gets.
I can't 'figger this scum-bags angle.
In order to do that, you'd need a device that always tells you which way the political wind is blowing. ;)
Ronald Reagan switched parties..remember?
I think the time is right for a highly visible person to give the democratics a real platform to save their party.
The current leadership doesn't do or say anything positive. They just hate Bush and obstruct...and not always in that order.
There may be a method to Hagel's madness.
If the GOP leadership won't cut his legs off....so be it. Le the MSM use this fool all the want. He is going absolutely no where on a National level for which he aspires.
Nor do 95% of the American public even care what he says. The MSM like him, that's all.
Just another cheap shot wannabe.
Did Hagel ever serve in the military?
Hagel should be "released" from any obligations he might have incurred when he joined the Republican Party. Let him join Jumpin Jim Jeffords in obscurity and ignominity for his lack of principle and fawning worship of the leftist press.
Hagel is a RINO p*ssy.
Nebraskans need to challenge Hagel in the primary with a real candidate. Otherwise he'll be like McCain is here with Democrats climbing over chairs by the tens of thousands to vote for him in the general election.
Oue traitors have vote getting appeal.. to the other side.
Hmmm, so people that have been in the military have never had a hunting accident?
I'd rather go hunting with Dick Cheney than driving with Ted Kennedy.
He sure is.........along with his buddy McCain......sucking up to the lamescream media at the expense of the party and what it stands for. RINO'S in sheep-dip. :(
Well said. Oklahoma is an early primary state and Hagel's chances here are zero, zip, nada. When Hagel's named surfaced as a possible VP candidate in 2000, my neighbor said that would be the biggest mistake that Bush could make. She called him McCain lite!
Hagel has gotten worse since then.
I will vote for Hillary Clinton before I will vote for Chuck Hagel. Can't these RINO Senators ever just shut up?
Has the Oklahoma primary date been moved up?
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