He said he voted for Hagel because he believes the President has the authority to appoint the nominees of his choice.
I saw that, but there was more to the story. That was what they chose to rest their case on. He had been fighting with the leadership to stop the nomination from coming to the floor and they refused to join him or back him.
AFTER the vote, he stifled himself a lot, but if you read the other things he has said about it, you will get the general idea that he lashed out at the leadership and that is what drove his vote which didn’t really matter in the end anyway.