Obama Picks Hagel for Defense; Anti-War, Anti-Israel Activists Rejoice

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/01/07/Take-That-Obama-Pick...

OBAMA PICKS HAGEL FOR DEFENSE; ANTI-WAR, ANTI-ISRAEL ACTIVISTS REJOICE

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It is official: President Barack Obama will announce the nomination of former Senator Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense on Monday afternoon. In making his choice, the president has fulfilled the worst expectations of his foreign policy critics, while delighting anti-war activists and the anti-Israel left.
The Hagel nomination represents the return of the radical Barack Obama, hitherto hidden under an opportunistic anti-terror persona. There is, as Bill Kristol observed last week (http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs /special-editorial-there-s-no-case-hagel_693692.html), no case for Hagel. His supporters cannot cite any substantive reason he should be Secretary of Defense; instead, they argue that Hagel must be appointed in order to spite many of his critics. Peter Beinart of the Daily Beast confirms that assessment with his weak defense (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/01/07/why-hagel-matters.html) of Hagel this morning: he must be appointed, Beinart argues, to destroy the Republican foreign policy establishment. Not to defend the country, not to strengthen our military, but to win a political argument. Beinart--whose wife worked (http://www.thejewishweek.com/arts/books /liberal_zionisms_champion) for the White House vetting operation, a fact that is rarely mentioned when he comments on politics but is perhaps relevant here--represents the lefts consensus on Hagel. (And on other matters--Beinart is so slavishly politically correct that he is careful to assign female gender to a hypothetical Martian in his piece.) The case against Hagel is clear. He has opposed sanctions on Iran while supporting

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1/7/2013 6:33 AM

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Obama Picks Hagel for Defense; Anti-War, Anti-Israel Activists Rejoice

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/01/07/Take-That-Obama-Pick...

negotiations with Hamas, the terrorist Palestinian group. He voted for the Iraq war but opposed it at a time when pulling out would have led to civil war and genocide. He has openly expressed bigotry against gays (for which he has offered a belated apology). He prefers a smaller military and a humbler America on the world stage. As does Obama. Those pro-Israel, pro-defense Democrats who argued that Hagel was the wrong man, being considered for the wrong job, at the wrong time (http://www.nationalreview.com /articles/336259/hagel-wrong-man-alan-m-dershowitz%23) (as Alan Dershowitz put it) now face the reality that they have been used, and abused, by Obama. Dershowitz in particular renewed (http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2012/08/02/PollakDershowitz-Face-Off-Over-Obama-Romney-Israel-in-Jerusalem-Post) his endorsement after being reassured that Obama would support Israel and stand up to Iran in his second term. Obama misled him, and to many others. Jewish legislators are unsettled by the choice of Hagel, a man who once railed against the so-called Jewish lobby. Sen. Chuck Schumer has refused to endorse (http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/23/16107982-schumer-non-committalon-hagel-as-defense-secretary?lite) Hagel. Even far-left Barney Frank, who covets John Kerrys Senate seat, opposes Hagel (http://hotair.com/archives/2013/01/02/barneyfrank-joins-the-bipartisan-chorus-opposing-chuck-hagel-for-defense-secretary/). Perhaps now we will be spared the absurd, empty boasts of the likes of Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who has insisted (http://www.hadassahmagazine.org/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=twI6LmN7IzF& b=6725377&ct=11622979) that President Obama has been a better, more consistent friend to Israel than previous administrations. It is amusing to watch liberal pundits like Michael Tomasky and Andrew Sullivan fall all over themselves to excuse Hagels anti-gay views: It's really not hard to imagine that what Hagel thought on that issue in 1998 isn't what he thinks today, says Tomasky (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/01/07/the-hagel-nomination.html). So much has changed. Hagels anti-Israel, anti-neocon views trump everything else. The left likes Hagel for the same reason President Obama does: he offers a chance to punish the Republican opposition, first by making them argue against one of their own, second by assigning him the task of slashing defense budgets and capabilities. And all under the veneer of a contrived bipartisanship that unifies the ascendant anti-war left with the rejected isolationist right. Welcome to the new, flexible, second Obama term.

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According this link, Hagel does not have the votes for the appointment. http://www.weeklystandard.com/...
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SNAPPERCAT

And Israeli has the Jews of America to thank....

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1/7/2013 6:33 AM

Obama Picks Hagel for Defense; Anti-War, Anti-Israel Activists Rejoice

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/01/07/Take-That-Obama-Pick...

THE REAL ROYAL EMPEROR

All Jews are not Israelis. Indeed, all Israelis are not Jews. We need to try to make a distinction between the religion/culture and the nation. Otherwise, our discussion seem muddled. Perhaps, you can help me out here. Specifically I have two questions about the Wingnut Talking Points in the article: #1 - Why has the test of how American one is come down to how unqualified and enthusiastic one's support of Israel is? #2 - What is so objectionable about peace?
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1/7/2013 6:33 AM