Sen. Hagel: "If we don't debate this, we're not worthy of our country."

[sabra]

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/01/vietnam_veteran.html

<snip>

At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on a non-binding resolution that opposes Bush's plan, Hagel said:

• "We owe it to those men and women we continue to send into that grinder."

• "I think all 100 senators should be on the line on this. ... If you wanted an easy job, go sell shoes."

• "If we don't debate this, we're not worthy of our country."

The panel's chairman, Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., said the measure is "not an attempt to embarrass the president. ... It's an attempt to save the president from making a significant mistake with regard to our policy in Iraq."

[Strelnikov_]

1. I am at a loss to figure out what Hagel's game is

When I say game, I mean how he sees weaving his current stance into his political future.

I do not see how it helps him win the Reich nomination considering 67% of the Reich acolytes still 'support' the occupation, and these represent the most likely to participate in the primary.

His rigid stance also cannot be helping his prospects in being appointed to a high level position (VP?) to further his career.

The only two conclusions I can draw are:

- He is setting up for an 'Independent Republican' run, or

- He is that rarest of breeds, an honest Reich politician. One who is putting the good of the nation, as he sees it, ahead of his political career.

[Arkansas Granny]

2. I think the fact that Hagel served in Vietnam might have a great

deal to do with his stance on Iraq. He is apparently one of the few Republicans who has actually served in the military.

From his biography on his website:

Hagel served in Vietnam with his brother Tom in 1968. They served side by side as infantry squad leaders with the U.S. Army’s 9th Infantry Division. Hagel earned many military decorations and honors, including two Purple Hearts.

http://hagel.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Biography.Home

[Old and In the Way]

3. I wonder, too.

Perhaps he's trying to salvage what remains of the Republican Party. He seems to understand how Iraq and corruption could doom his Party to political obscurity if Bush is allowed to continue his folly. He may also sense that Bush is ready to double down this disaster by taking on Iran next. I think he posseses a fair amount of common sense which is in very short supply in the GOP these days.

[Strelnikov_]

4. To be the Lincoln of the party that emerges from the modern day Whigs

a.k.a. the GOP.

Quite possible

The party was ultimately destroyed by the question of whether to allow the expansion of slavery to the territories. Deep fissures in the party on this question led the party to run Winfield Scott over its own incumbent President Fillmore in the U.S. presidential election of 1852. The Whig Party never elected another President. Its leaders quit politics (as Lincoln did temporarily) or changed parties. The voter base defected to the nativist Know-Nothing Party, Republican Party, various coalition parties in some states, and even to the Democrats.

[lyonn]

5. Could it be he is an honorable person?

He has been there and done that, meaning Vietnam. Have we forgotten there are that type in Congress. All repubs are not in it for the glory, or at least we can hope. Hagel seems to be one of those rare species.