Breaking: Republicans to filibuster Hagel confirmation

So much for the promised restraint. Just a headline on NYT for now

• Only a moron doesn't know AIPAC was behind this. I knew this would happen. This bullshit about "Benghazi" is horseshit. I'm sure the usual idiots will come on here and try and pretend this wasn't always about Hagel not having his head up Israel's ass, but it was. All you had to do was listen to Cornyn, Graham, Cruz, Inhofe, etc. There were more questions about "Israel" than about soldiers. Vile political whores.

• I hope that every last one of them is gangbanged by a group of transvestite midgets

• The GOP I grew up around used to cast a extremely cold eye on Israel and Jews in general. How very odd.

• I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this. Normally I'm for anything or anyone that the Republicans are against. But I saw a Rachel Maddow rant against some of his stated viewpoints and some liberal editorials against him as well. Could someone more well-informed than I help me out on this by providing a quick overview?

• His performance at the confirmation hearing was astonishingly incompetent.

• Hagel and gay rights

  http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/01/judging-chuck-hagels-gay-rights-record.html

  R4%20%20Still%20Confused

• He said, in public, that George Bush was the worst U.S. President since Herbert Hoover. They have to make an example of him to keep the troops in line.

• R5, how did you expect him to respond to Graham's dumbass question about "Who is being pressured by the Israeli lobby?" Was Hagel supposed to name them right there? The hearing was a disgrace and a farce, and they all proved Hagel's point about pressure with the questions and the comments coming from all of these Republicans. The very fact he was even asked that question proves AIPAC's influence. Hagel is not a 2012-2013 Republican. He's to the left of many Dems at this point. He supports defense cuts and nonproliferation. He's a man who doesn't want to send kids to die in wars. He is not a Republican as it's defined today. BTW, McCain wanted him as his Def. Sec (or was it VP) when he was running in 2000. R6, Robert Byrd was a member of the Klan. Bill Clinton started DADT. Why are people being selective when it comes to who they "forgive"? Consider the reality that most of the opposition he faces is from people who couldn't give a shit about gays. Consider who you align yourself with when you attack Hagel. The worst of the worst are attacking him.

• As much as I despise the GOP - and this completely unprecedented move makes me like them even less - there is also something about Hagel that unnerves me. Much of it has to do with his outright hostility towards gay folk and also with his performance during the confirmation hearings. As yet another bird-flip to Obama though, this is reprehensible. The GOP's only point in life is to be the zag to the President's zig. They have no other identity outside of that and their tired antiquated Reagan-esque orthodoxy. I really believe they continue to do themselves no favors with shit like this. We will see, though. Link is for r4

  http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/01/chuck-hagel-anti-gay-slur.php

• The comment Hagel made 15 years ago is not enough to brand him anti-gay.

• Miss Lindsey Graham has won the battle but not the war.

• This is more about the debt ceiling than Hagel, I fear.

• It's not about anything other than Republican resentment over losing the election and a desperate belief that blocking Obama's agenda is going to help them.

• Oh, this is rich. They are going to let the nomination go through after the Senate's brief recess. This was all for show. [quote]Republicans said they intended to allow a vote on their former colleague when the Senate returns from a break in 10 days, but Democrats said the Republican position amounted to a historic filibuster of the nominee for a post that is usually filled with bipartisan support. Democrats vowed to hold another vote when the Senate returns from recess. And all signs indicated that many Republicans who voted against Mr. Hagel on Thursday would not do so then.

  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/15/us/politics/leading-senate-republicans-set-to-block-hagel.html%3Fhp

• Miss Lindsey Graham must be all full of herself and giddy as a schoolgirl today.

• But of course you're branded an anti-Semite if you suggest Israel has an inappropriate amount of influence on our government.

• Harry Reid has only his failibuster deal to blame.

• They're going to regret this. If nothing else, this should push the senate to reform the filibuster situation, at long last. The Republicans are desperate to make being supportive of Israel a wedge issue. But Israel has bipartisan support. The Republicans have fucked themselves over in a doomed strategy.

• The vote will take place after a 10-day recess by the Senate. Hagel will be confirmed. This is all Repug grandstanding. But on another note, who the Christ knows why they have a 10-day recess.

• [quote]But of course you're branded an anti-Semite if you suggest Israel has an inappropriate amount of influence on our government. Bullshit. Many people, including many Jews, believe this. But you can't blame Israel for the Fundamentalists who think Jesus won't return unless the Jews control Israel in which case the poor Jews will be condemned to eternal damnation.

  Jew

• Yes, r16 - it's preposterous to suggest somebody's an anti-Semite just because he recycles one of the oldest and most harmful anti-Semitic tropes. Next they're going to call you an anti-Semite simply for quoting the "Protocols"! Or a racist for suggesting that black people are more ape-like than Caucasians!

• Hagel hates jews

• We have Harry Reid to thank for that. I wrote him, emailed him and Tweeted him. Let Harry know this is on his head and even worse to come than the Hagel filibuster.

• You're an idiot, r22.

• [quote]Yes, [R16] - it's preposterous to suggest somebody's an anti-Semite just because he recycles one of the oldest and most harmful anti-Semitic tropes. Not quite. Israel is another country with lobbyists in Washington. Questioning the degree of its influence is like questioning the influence of the NRA or the Oil lobby. It's not the old anti-semitic "Jews control everything" charge. Not that I don't suspect R16 would endorse both. People who say things like "of course you're branded an anti-Semite if you suggest . ." are using an anti-semitic argument to deny they are anti-semites. And they are not doing it with a sense of irony. He left out part of the formula: "DARE to suggest."

• [quote]If nothing else, this should push the senate to reform the filibuster situation, at long last. They've lost their opportunity. Senate rules can only be changed at the start of a new Senate - that's why the issue came up first thing in January. Any future filibuster reform now has to wait until the next Senate starts in two years.

• I am so happy!!

• Harry Reid's a Mormon traitor. Everybody knows he's not a real Democrat.

• Now now, R26. It's true we didn't reform filibuster rules, but that's because the Republicans promised they would stop abusing them. I know Mitch McConnell. His word is his bond.

  Harry%20Reid

• Republicans hate Hagel for a couple of reasons: Obama picked him, they lost the election, he spoke out about Bush countless times, and Israel, the issue they brought up more times than any other topic at the hearings. They couldn't care about anything else. Hagel is not anti-gay, and is on record about what he would do in relation to them. Hagel is not going to take it up the ass from Bibi. Israel hates Obama with a passion. Bibi backed Romney, a man who said he would kick the can in relation to Israel vs. Palestinians. Bibi got more rounds of applause than any of Obama's SOTU addresses. Hagel's comments about the Israeli lobby is spot on, and anyone who doesn't think so has their heads up their ass. With Hagel, Israel doesn't stand a chance. They will not be catered to. This drives AIPAC up the wall. This is their last shot. Hagel is more than qualified. Remember, Republicans also lost their shot at destroying Clinton over Benghazi. They are going to look for anyway to get to the president. Hagel is Take 2.

• [quote]Yes, [R16] - it's preposterous to suggest somebody's an anti-Semite just because he recycles one of the oldest and most harmful anti-Semitic tropes. Next they're going to call you an anti-Semite simply for quoting the "Protocols"! Or a racist for suggesting that black people are more ape-like than Caucasians! Disable the Megaphone desktop tool, you troll.

• [quote]They've lost their opportunity. Senate rules can only be changed at the start of a new Senate - that's why the issue came up first thing in January. Any future filibuster reform now has to wait until the next Senate starts in two years. And I, like so many people, were outraged about this. The media, mmm, not so much. It came back to bite them.

• He was cute as a button!

  http://www.defence.pk/forums/china-far-east/233212-hagel-says-military-view-shaped-vietnam.html

• Hagel in the Pentagon would signal another turn away from the neocon global agenda. This is a good thing for the country, but there are many powerful interests that don't want it to happen.

• Thank you for proving my point, R21.

• R28, wipe the shit from your lips when you're talking to us, especially when you're honking inaccuracies.

• These Republican asswipes are just doing this to fuck with the President who has beaten them at every turn lately. A handful of Republicans truly dislike Hagel for speaking out against the neo-cons and the Iraq war. Chief among them is Hagel's old friend, John McCain. Even McCain stood up for Hagel yesterday when that shitstain Ted "Joe McCarthy" Cruz attacked Hagel's patriotism and loyalty to the United States. The fact remains that Hagel's record is that of a real conservative and a real Republican. His progress on the Iraq war is laudable and clearly genuine. After his confirmation as Secretary of Defense, he will bear watching on other issues.