Hagel

What's up with Chuck Hagel? He was skeptical about Iraq even in 2002, when he voted for the "use of force" resolution. Later, he became a more vocal critic. Earlier this year, he even voted for a Democratic resolution opposed to war funding.

Some are questioning his political sanity.

John Judis investigates that issue in a well-done piece:

Yet what Hagel seems to have lost is not so much his sanity or his grasp of world politics--his recent floor speech opposing the Reid-Feingold bill, which would have entirely cut off war funding, was a model of sober intelligence--but rather the part of the political cerebellum that allows politicians to put career before conviction. In my final conversation with him, I asked whether he saw irony in the fact that, while his anger about the war was driving him to run for president, what he had said and done about the war was putting the Republican nomination out of reach. I told him that he seemed to be paying a price for honesty. Hagel laughed. "Of course there is a price for honesty in politics," he said. "Are you paying it?" I asked. He replied, "I'll let others make that judgment."

I recommend the entire piece.

Long-time readers might recall that Hagel is a strong candidate for the "my favorite Republican" tag -- even though he might make an Independent run for the presidency.


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