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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy Hagel? Is there not even one actual fucking Democrat who can be SecDef?
What the fuck?
Autumn
(45,120 posts)reteachinwi
(579 posts)Cynicus Emeritus
(172 posts)He's looking for a job. Only problem is he is one who would might prefer the deaths of 20-50K Americans in Iran, and our Social Security.
But what do I know? I'm just a dumbaxx schmuck that doesn't believe in propaganda.
xxxsdesdexxx
(213 posts)YvonneCa
(10,117 posts)SDjack
(1,448 posts)dogman
(6,073 posts)You and I will never understand. At least I don't think I will.
leveymg
(36,418 posts)Can't think of one who would also be plausibly acceptable to the Pentagon bureaucracy and top uniformed military. Not one.
Wes Clark comes close, but he's perceived as a threat and an outsider to the political Inner Circle.
It's time for the Dems to break with AIPAC and to bob the tail that's been wagging this country. For our good. For Israel's. Maybe, Obama can do that this time around, he seems to be trying a bit harder. Better late than never.
Still Sensible
(2,870 posts)to secure some meaningful cuts in defense spending, the political calculation is that it will be somewhat easier to achieve if there is a republican SecDef leading the charge.
DonViejo
(60,536 posts)by Glenn Greenwald? I'm not a Greenwald fan but, in all honesty, this particular column changed my way of thinking about him.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022143812
s-cubed
(1,385 posts)cut the military budget substantially. That makes some nice to me: rather like Nixon going to China. I'll believe defense cuts when I see them. But I find it comforting to have someone who saw the horrors of war in person, not some chicken hawk.
leveymg
(36,418 posts)Well said.
indepat
(20,899 posts)they'll probably wait a few days longer before doing so.
PennsylvaniaMatt
(966 posts)It will be easier for President Obama to get cuts to the Defense Department because if it were a Democratic Secretary of Defense, the GOP would call the Democrats "soft on defense" and "soft on terrorism." If a Republican Secretary of Defense calling for cuts, then the GOP would have a hard time opposing them.
Plus, it seems Chuck Hagel is one of the last people in the GOP not calling President Obama a "Kenyan-born terrorist sympathizer." He was a vocal critic of the Iraq War and wasn't afraid of ruffling feathers in his own party.
When it comes to some of the criticism within our own party when it comes to gay-rights and abortion issues, all I can say is he will be serving as Defense Secretary and his boss will be a pro-gay rights, pro-choice Democratic President. There will not be too many times when his past stances on gay-rights or abortion will get in the way of his duties as Defense Secretary.