Hagel: “Focus Group-Tested Buzz Words…Like ‘Cut and Run’ Debase the Seriousness of War”
Hagel: “Focus Group-Tested Buzz Words…Like ‘Cut and Run’ Debase the Seriousness of War”
This afternoon on the Senate floor, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) blasted conservatives who have turned to “catchy political slogans†to avoid having a serious debate about Bush’s Iraq policy. Hagel argued that using such focus-group tested words like “cut and run†demean the debate and “debase the seriousness of war.†Watch it.
Full transcript below:
Congress fails in its duty when we do not probe, when we fail, we do not ask tough questions, and we fail when we do not debate the gate issues of our day. There is no issue more important than war. The war in Iraq is the defining issue on which this Congress and the administration will be judged. The American people want to see serious debate about serious issues from serious leaders. They deserve more than a political debate. This debate should transcend cynical attempts to turn public frustration with the war in Iraq into an electoral advantage. It should be taken more seriously than to simply retreat into focus-group tested buzz words and phrases like “cut and run,” catchy political slogans that debase the seriousness of war. War’s not a partisan issue, Mr. President. It should not be held hostage to political agendas. War should not be drug down into the political muck. America deserves better. Our men and women fighting and dying deserve better.
Sort Comments By: Top Rated | Date
107 Responses to “Hagel: “Focus Group-Tested Buzz Words…Like ‘Cut and Run’ Debase the Seriousness of War””
Register
RSSLogin
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
Good! I knew that Sen. Hagel really was “one of us!”
June 21st, 2006 at 5:08 pmHagel is a liar. If he says anything negative pertaining to the war it is because he was instructed to.
June 21st, 2006 at 5:08 pmGod Bless Chuck Hegel. He’s a true Republican. I don’t agee with him on a lot of things, but he’s what Republicans used to be.
50 Ways To Dump The Dubya
June 21st, 2006 at 5:09 pmThank you Senator Hagel for saying what needed to be said. I’m sure you’ll make the best of the new basement-level offices to which Senator Frist makes you move.
June 21st, 2006 at 5:10 pmHagel has been a voice of reason on this issue for a long time now. That takes courage and integrity.
June 21st, 2006 at 5:12 pmGod Bless Chuck Hegel.??????????
What the hell are YOU talking about? Good God there have been people like you blogging all damn day.
It’s Hagel-And he would wipe Bush’s ass with his bare hand if a focus group would approve.
June 21st, 2006 at 5:14 pmChuck Hagel is right of course but - after five years of nothing but catchy phrases, what puke senator is going to change his ways.
It is now deeply embeded in the puke senators, most of them at least, to lie, distort, ape, just as their useless leader has taught them.
June 21st, 2006 at 5:15 pmHagel is an asshole.
How many more tens of thousands of people need to be beheaded, raped, tortured, burned, malnutritioned, drowned, blown up, maimed, etc. for the sake of a burgeoning fundamentalist Islamic republic with extremely close and long standing ties to Iran which Bush deemed an axis of evil?
Al Dawa has been trying to make a secular Iraq a fundamentalist Islamic republic for over twenty freaking years!
9/11 + Iraq = Bush’s Fundamentalist Islamic Republic?
WTF?
June 21st, 2006 at 5:16 pmSen Hagel is an honorable man. Which isn’t
June 21st, 2006 at 5:16 pmto say that I agree with everything he says
but he has some honor about him.
straight out of the karl rove playbook… and, please note, it has been karl, his satanic majesty himself, who has taken the lead in using the phrase…
http://takeitpersonally.blogspot.com/
June 21st, 2006 at 5:17 pmI kinda like Hagel….he always seems to end up on the right side of the issse ….at First but then when the heat is on just like Specter he crawls back into the dank hole with the other Repubs….
So when he says:
“Focus Group-Tested Buzz Words…Like ‘Cut and Run’…Debase the Seriousness of Warâ€
I know he will later say “but I will still support our Republican majority position of staying the course”
June 21st, 2006 at 5:21 pmNot being from Nebraska, I don’t know anything about Chuck Hagel. Could some of you please explain why you hold such vehement opinions?
June 21st, 2006 at 5:22 pmGod Bless Chuck Hegel. He’s a true Republican. I don’t agee with him on a lot of things, but he’s what Republicans used to be.
and Good! I knew that Sen. Hagel really was “one of us!â€
Oh Chuck Hagel?
June 21st, 2006 at 5:23 pmYou mean the guy who just yesterday rejected a Democratic amendment calling for no amnesty for Iraqis who kill American soldiers?
Right here. It’s a matter of record.
If by “one of us” you mean people with brains, you’re talking about a different Chuck Hagel.
That’s the floor of the Senate. Will he tell Bush to shut Karl Rove up? Will he implore Ken Mehl-man to cut the crap?
Hagels speaks softly and doesn’t carry a stick.
Republicans are the “cut and run” party.
June 21st, 2006 at 5:25 pmSen Hagel is an honorable man. Which isn’t
to say that I agree with everything he says
but he has some honor about him.
Comment by Jay
Well said. I have not alwasys agreed with him but have always thought of him as a statesman instead of a politican. The politican thinks of the next election, while satesman like Hagel think of the next generation.
June 21st, 2006 at 5:26 pmThe Senate voted 44-52 today to kill legislation that would have created a special committee to “investigate the awarding and carrying out of contracts†in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even conservative “straight shooters†like John McCain and Chuck Hagel voted against oversight.
I don’t like buzz words either, Sen Hagel — like “oversight.”
June 21st, 2006 at 5:27 pmOh, I found the italicized paragraph in #16 TP, last thread on the front page.
June 21st, 2006 at 5:28 pmThere was a really good discussion on this this AM over at Swords Crossed. It’s titled (& linked): 7 Soundbites to Use Against Roves’ Cut & Run Talk.
They are really very good. Give ‘em a look.
June 21st, 2006 at 5:29 pmwell, ok… but “what’s good for the goose…”
Republican Plan - LIE AND DIE
and, how ’bout that tie? whoo!
June 21st, 2006 at 5:30 pmJim Faith is on the money.
Hagel votes 98% with Bush and fundraises 100% with Bush.
June 21st, 2006 at 5:37 pmChuck Hagel voted against oversight.
Comment by Zookeeper
Well, crap. Go ahead and bust my bubble on him being a statesman, Zoo. I always thought of him as a RINO, but he must be a SINO as well.
June 21st, 2006 at 5:39 pmWow, that really was a sledgehammer blow! Come on. Why are you so mild? People is dying!!!
June 21st, 2006 at 5:46 pmWhat the democrats need to do is come out with a strong force denouncing the use of “Cut And Run”. They need to state publicly and stongly that these words are the republican party words not our partys words. If anyone uses the “Cut and Run” statement, it is used only for political means. To set a timetable is not a defeat. We have supplied more money to these poeple that we actually have. Our children will be paying for this war far after we are dead. To say to the Iraq’s we will help you out with man power for the next 12 months and we will see where we are then. This does not sound like a “Cut and Run” mentality to me.
Come on Democrates. Get yourselves organized and use your own words to state your case. Come up with a slogan that states your plan instead of defending thier slogan.
June 21st, 2006 at 5:46 pmWhat’s with the hot-pink tie? I’s just like Santorums’s tie that was seen all over the net last week. Is there a hot-pink tie club, and what does it mean?
June 21st, 2006 at 5:46 pmChuck Hagel is the best Democrat we have. (Next to Al Gore of course
June 21st, 2006 at 5:47 pmAfter four years of “Squat and Piddle” i think some cut and run may be a move in the right direction.
June 21st, 2006 at 5:47 pmpeople are dying. I meant. Sorry.
June 21st, 2006 at 5:50 pmHagel as Hegel without the musical comedy possibilities.
June 21st, 2006 at 5:50 pmWhat’s with the hot-pink tie?
Comment by WantsOut — June 21, 2006 @ 5:46 pm
that be PURPLE now!
June 21st, 2006 at 5:54 pmand santorum matched his PINK tie with light blue SEERSUCKER!
eeeeewww! hey! shut that closet door!
Chuck Hagel saying cathc phrases shouldn’t be used by republicans is the same thing as a crack head saying that freebasing is bad, while he is in the middle of toking on his glass pipe.
Hagel just like Specter is all bark and no bite.
June 21st, 2006 at 5:55 pm#14
Apparently Bill Winters is ill informed when it comes to who in Congress served in the military.
The 108th Congress 2003-2004
http://fpc.state.gov/ documents/ organization/ 37877.pdf
June 21st, 2006 at 6:00 pmDemocrats.com suggests using “Lie & Die” to counter the repukes’ meme:
http://democrats.com/lie-and-die
June 21st, 2006 at 6:01 pmJohn McCain and Chuck Hagel There just trying playing bad cop good cop
June 21st, 2006 at 6:01 pmActions speak louder than words
June 21st, 2006 at 6:03 pmHagel’s Nebraska’s biggest winner since Bob Devaney but why doesn’t he wear larger American flag pins in his lapels? Does he think they’re corny, too much suggesting phony patriotism the Lou Dobbs way, too much like Bush, the mock militarist? His ties though can’t be faulted.
And Kerry, since he’s about to speak on the Senate floor, would have made a great Victor Mature and even better president.
June 21st, 2006 at 6:03 pmThere’s also the “small” matter of Chuck Hagel being the “head of, and continuing to own part interest in, the company that owns the company that installed, programmed, and largely ran the voting machines that were used by most of the citizens of Nebraska.”
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0131-01.htm
June 21st, 2006 at 6:06 pmSpeaking of Republicans debasing things:
Guy who did 2000 anti-Gore ad on trial for molesting little girls — INCLUDING the little girl in the ad!
June 21st, 2006 at 6:12 pmand the turd hagel voted against protecting our soldiers again today
likes war
hates our troops
this piece of garbage doesn’t know upon whom to practice fellatio unless instructed
and this winkle is against catchy phrases? why? because he didn’t make them up?
June 21st, 2006 at 6:13 pmwar criminal
How about a neat phrase my Dear Departed Daddy used when we erred and entered a territory that was questionable: Get your ass back here where it belongs! I doubt that Hagel or Rove would find that obfuscating, demeaning, or debasing, However, when he used the phrase we did “cut and run,” generally from the razor strop. It is time for Bushco and crooks to get their collective ass back where it belongs. I started to say before we kick it home but I suspect the kicking will take place in November regardless of where the collective ass is.
June 21st, 2006 at 6:16 pmComment by oldtree
Over here, please, we’re handing out clues.
June 21st, 2006 at 6:19 pmHow about “cut and steal”–referring to taxes, of course.
June 21st, 2006 at 6:22 pmWhen the Repubs say “cut and run”
the Dems should reply that’s code for ’stay and pay’
just like Murtha said.
When you hear ‘cut and run’
reply…no I just do not want to
’stay and pay’
June 21st, 2006 at 6:23 pmReplace the words “cut and run” with the words “we don’t want the smoking gun to come in the form of a mushroom cloud”. Repeat liberally.
-GSD
Chuck Hagel is one of the few sober minded Republicans.
June 21st, 2006 at 6:23 pmeven sober, he is still evil
June 21st, 2006 at 6:26 pmGood it’s about time this “word control” mind game strategy of the Republicans becomes obvious, unacceptable and debunked for what it is. And that is ..unworthy of our great country
June 21st, 2006 at 6:27 pmWell, crap. Go ahead and bust my bubble on him being a statesman, Zoo. I always thought of him as a RINO, but he must be a SINO as well.
Comment by Joe Sixpack
Sorry to pee on your Wheaties, Joe, I gotta do what I gotta do. ;)
June 21st, 2006 at 6:28 pmIs there a hot-pink tie club, and what does it mean?
Comment by WantsOut — June 21, 2006 @ 5:46 pm
The Neocon Gang… (as in street thugs)
June 21st, 2006 at 6:32 pmSorry to pee on your Wheaties, Joe, I gotta do what I gotta do. ;)
Comment by Zookeeper — June 21, 2006 @ 6:28 pm
Very lady-like visual…
June 21st, 2006 at 6:38 pmwho knew hagel was his own man? i thought all republicans were bush zombies. i’m totally disoriented, here- he’s actually taking the war seriously. why the hell did he wait so long? why wasn’t he dressing down his colleagues from the beginning? this cut and run crap has been going on for years. what a pud.
June 21st, 2006 at 6:39 pmWell it’s a little to late now ..the wingnuts new mantra “cut and Run” cowards ” is all you hear now …cut and run …stay and die…
June 21st, 2006 at 6:42 pm“Actions not words” would be a good response to these folks on their soapboxes.
I’ll believe it, Chuck, when I see it.
June 21st, 2006 at 6:42 pmDon’t blink! Hagel may be the only Republican with a conscience you see this election.
June 21st, 2006 at 6:44 pmHey, being from Nebraska, I can tell you that this is pure Hagel talk. Watch, “This Week” and you’ll see his make the same statements. However, he does vote straight Republican on nearly every vote. The consensus around here is that he is focusing on a 2012 bid for president.
June 21st, 2006 at 6:45 pmAll should remember that it was Hagel’s company that counted the votes when he was ‘elected’ as well as many other Republican ‘winners’ that year. That idea alone should ‘color’ his position with respect to any partisan issue that reaches the floor.
I must say that his aplomb is admirable in the midst of the rampant corruption and dismal level of governance provided by the New Repugnikon Machine.
June 21st, 2006 at 6:47 pmI don’t think that we should counter their “cut and run” catch phrase with ANY catch phrase. I’m sick of catch phrases and talking points!
Re: Chuck Hagel, I wish he’d stick to his guns when he comes out with statements like this, bucking the majority. He always ends up caving. He has earned my respect many times, only to dash my expectations by backpedaling. We’ll see how long this stand of his lasts.
June 21st, 2006 at 6:48 pmIs he about to run for his political ass? I’m from Virginia, and we now have a repug in George Allen who is about to run for his. Jim Webb, is about to set this country on a new path, with his vote. Chuck Hagel isn’t a Jim Webb.
June 21st, 2006 at 6:51 pmWell, it sounds like Roves new political slogan is out the window. When a rebub like Hagel stands up and shoots it down, it means the nation has been paying attention and Nebraskan’s are tired of the rhetoric.
June 21st, 2006 at 6:52 pmWar is serious debate.
We must begin to debate seriously.
Who knows maybe we will actually know the seriousness of the war.
You think?
How we get fooled so easily time and time again.
June 21st, 2006 at 6:52 pmThey are great used car salesmen.
We keep buying junks time and time again.
Can we say “PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRATIONS?”
June 21st, 2006 at 6:53 pmVery lady-like visual…
Comment by unbelievable
I know, I learned it from my Mama. ;)
Here’s the memory: My Mama, cigarette clamped between her lips, talking out of the corner of her mouth, “Sorry to pee on your Wheaties, kiddo, but the streetlights are on, time to get your ass inside.”
She wasn’t at the top of her class at charm school…but she had a certain charm…
June 21st, 2006 at 6:53 pmDemocrats.com suggests using “Lie & Die†to counter the repukes’ meme:
http://democrats.com/lie-and-die
Comment by Amy — June 21, 2006 @
Amy - are you aware there is a troll here at times, goes by “amy”…
June 21st, 2006 at 6:55 pmjust want to be sure which one is which - a modifier would help!
just sayin’…
Senator Hagel has had a more reasaonble approach to Iraq for a couple of years now. I am staunch Democrat, a liberal Democrat, and he is the only Republican that I see as reasonable on Iraq. I have a problem with his ownership of ESS stock and I would like him to disentangle himself from that company and come out forcefully for fair, honest, and open elections. I would like to know if *he* was elected honestly.
Given the way the public in this country is, if Hagel came out as a moderate Republican with a willingness to meet Democrats halfway in figuring out Iraq, he could win the presidential election.
June 21st, 2006 at 6:55 pmI’m going with the “lie and die” line….love it. the “pay and stay” works well also.
June 21st, 2006 at 6:57 pmkaty,
She could go with “not the troll amy”
June 21st, 2006 at 7:01 pmwow a republican of substance? what’ll they think of next? an honest one? lol
June 21st, 2006 at 7:03 pmSen. Hagel, I’m not gonna let you off so easy.
The Iraq War was political cynicism from at least as early as Rumsfeld and Cheney directing subordinates to use the 9/11 attacks to justify invading Iraq.
If you’re gonna get serious about the Iraq War and subsequent occupation, demand investigations of charges the war has been a scam from the word go.
I’m not cutting pro-war Dems slack, I’m not gonna hold you to a lower standard.
If you’re serious, you’re serious about the whole thing. The Bush team shouldn’t get a pass for lies and cynical politics in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
June 21st, 2006 at 7:04 pmKerry suggests
lie and die
I like that
Our plan is not cut and run their plan is
LIE and DIE
June 21st, 2006 at 7:08 pmjust had a epiphany about that PURPLE tie -
June 21st, 2006 at 7:11 pmhe’s sending a message? blue + red = purple!
“This debate should transcend cynical attempts to turn public frustration with the war in Iraq into an electoral advantage.”
In other words, Hagel is telling the Democrats not to seize the high ground in the Iraq war debate. Doesn’t that mean he thinks the Republicans are on the losing side of history?
Hey Democrats, wake up and smell the electoral advantage. Or rather, get off your duffs and dare to be accountable for your profound screwups in supporting the war in Iraq, and dare to lead the way out. Don’t leave it to future Presidents and future Congresses.
June 21st, 2006 at 7:24 pmWhy wasn’t a Democrat making this speech?
June 21st, 2006 at 7:27 pmRepublicans have used focus group phrases for a long time, the most egregious of which is using the word Democrat incorrectly. Democrat Party,Democrat Senator, and so on. It’s an obvious slur that gets repeated enough for it to turn up on MSM web sites.
Partial birth abortion as opposed to late term abortion. Evan NARAL caved on this one.
Pro-life? Anti-choice, really.
Language is important, and the right has whupped the left at every turn when it comes to twisting language to make something innocuous seem evil.
What’s an intelligent guy like this doing in the Republican party?
June 21st, 2006 at 7:39 pmWhat, Chuckie doesn’t like “stay and die” or “lie and die?”
He didn’t complain about the catchy Rove slogans in the past - only after the Dems latch on to a couple does he offer an objection to slogans.
He’s right when he says the slogans stop any necessary debate in its tracks and I give him credit for stating so, but regardless of what a repug says, I trust them about as far as I can throw them.
June 21st, 2006 at 8:36 pmThe war is going horribly. The leaked cable to the WaPo told a horrific tale of the conditions. The dead are piling up; there is no end in sight. They are talking about amnesty.
Hagel sounds right and proper, but what have he and his party done for 3+ years?
Do not trust Repugs= they may sound reasonable at times, but look past the facade.
The timing is suspicious and his words are disingenuous.
in the cult of republicanim’s sea of lies, deceptions, and distortions, the occassional reasoned truth spoken by Hagel is all the more startling. Unfortunately Hagel has an umblemished record of proving his idealism to be so much hot air by his perfect record of supporting the bushliar regime’s crimes and being the good paritisan soldier in the republican rubber-stamp congress’ failure to live up to its sworn duty to the constitution, America, and the American people.
June 21st, 2006 at 9:19 pm.
god damn why does have to be so ‘us vs them’?? The bile that was spit out on this message board over the very concept of praise for Chuck Hegal is really too much.
The Senator said something important that needed to be said. OK, so maybe you don’t like him in general (I’ve got my suspicians - didn’t he own the voting machine company that made the machines that he was elected on?) but these were true and important words. I see plenty of hipocracy by Republicans like John McCain, Chuck Hegal and Arlen Specter but at least they say something contrary every once in a while! At least they’re not completely 100% bankrupt like that dickhead from Texas who slandered Murtha last week or that moron from Georgia whom Colbert interviewed that couldn’t even name the Ten Commandments, after he’d sponsored legislation to require them to be displayed in public places!
May Hegal just had a limit, just couldn’t stand seeing pussies who had never served in war or even in the miliarty talk about how the Democrats ‘always cut and run’ (when have they EVER? Except for a war that begins with a V, when has America ever cut and run? I mean WTF?? And hey, it was Democrats who got us into that war and Republicans who ended up finally withdrawing the troops).
A message to the douche bag kool aid drinkers uttering focus-group slogans AND to the combatative us-against-them every-Republican-is-an-evil-puppet-with-a-conspiracy crowd that I see on some of these message boards: THINK!!!!!
June 21st, 2006 at 9:31 pmPEOPLE, let’s remember who Hagel is. The former CEO of ES&S machines. He sold the voting machines to the state, sold the company and ran for the Senate. Of course, Nebraska used the ES&S machines for the vote. He is a Republican blovating liar. Do not trust him (or any other Republican for that matter).
June 21st, 2006 at 9:34 pmD Bernstein;
June 21st, 2006 at 9:45 pmProgressives, liberals and Democrats have been shit on by Republican hacks like Hagel and worse (Rove, et. al.) that we CANNOT put any faith in the words they may speak. ACTIONS speak louder. If Hagel wants us to belive him it is up to him to prove his worth. Stick the words where the sun don’t shine. ACT, tell the American people that Chimpy McFlightsuit that lied about WMD, destroyed Americas’ reputation, started an illegal war, lied about the Iraq-OBL conection. If Hagel can show those gonads then I will give him some slack. Until then he is just another blovating Republican hack and I don’t belive him.
Why is cut and run a good strategy at this point? Seems like we are close to establishing a viable democracy in the middle east and now we want to pull the plug? Why?
June 21st, 2006 at 9:45 pmCAPTION CONTEST!!!
June 21st, 2006 at 10:07 pmEastwood. Clint Eastwood.
Comment by concerned conservative
June 21st, 2006 at 10:16 pmAre you Rip Van Winkle? Do please tell me, what makes you say “it seems”? Zarqawi´s death? The recently non found WMDs? Furthermore…a viable democracy? A puppet president? that probably applies to US. How old are you? Like 10 years?
I enjoy listening to Senator Hagel. When he talks it seems like he is speaking his mind instead of merely regurgitating the latest Republican propaganda.
June 21st, 2006 at 10:41 pmHagel would have a little more credibility if he hadn’t just joined every other crooked piece of shit Republican Senator in voting against an investigation of war-profiteering outrages in Iraq. What a pack of gangsters!
June 21st, 2006 at 10:59 pm#75, I think Eisenhower first committed military “advisors” to South Viet Nam in the late 1950’s. Before him, Truman, had supported the French before they were defeated.
June 21st, 2006 at 11:28 pmAs for cut and run - which is an unfair term carelessly bandied about - It was Eisenhower who finally pulled our troops to south of the 38th parallel in Korea. It was Nixon who oversaw the troops finally leaving VN. Reagan pulled troops from Lebanon. It was GHWBush who pulled out after Kuwait.
It is wrong and unfair to condense very complicated wars into slogans, but having said that - how did the slander get attached to Democrats?
What happened? Chuck Hagel forget to drink his kool-aid for a day? Or maybe he’s seeing a de-programmer on the side? He should know better. Rationality is a dead giveaway for escapees from the Cult of Republicanism. Even money the Dark Prince will have him back in the fold by morning.
June 22nd, 2006 at 12:02 amCan we trade Lie-berman for Hagel?
June 22nd, 2006 at 12:20 am37 & 76.
And let’s keep in mind that Hagel still owns seven figures worth of stock in ESS. Jesus god, people - he’s in it so deep his knees don’t knock…
JF
June 22nd, 2006 at 12:33 amMy problem with Hagel though, is that he is one of the 19 Senators who voted in favor of Amnesty for people in Iraq who kill American soldiers.
June 22nd, 2006 at 2:17 amKen Mehlman, GOP Chair has actually developed 2 offspring of CUT AND RUN to apply to timetables of 1 year or 1-2 years…
They are now using:
CUT AND RUN
CUT AND JOG
CUT AND WALK
Apparently Ken views ‘cut and run’ as being associated with immediate withdrawal, so now the GOP will use CUT AND JOG and CUT AND WALK so that the GOP can cover themselves with enough bumper stickers to apply to EVER leaving. I’ll be waiting for future slogans when those 2 run out. and no longer apply…. CUT AND CRAWL, then CUT AND LIVE IN THE WOMB, then CUT AND BE CONCEIVED and eventually CUT AND YOUR PARENTS HAVEN’T EVEN MET YET.
Yes, I know..silly but that’s my point.
June 22nd, 2006 at 2:28 am“Cut and run” is just an abbreviation for “cut one’s loses and close a business”–something any sensible business person does when continued loses seem inevitable. So it’s foolish to push it as an inevitably negative description, but of course playing that kind of sound bite until American believe it is what has worked so well for the Republicans, as with “Kerry waffles” in the last election. Regardless of that, though, is their implication that only Democrats would cut and run militarily. Ignoring whether of not it was or wasn’t the right thing to do, doesn’t anyone remember that we ran out of Vietnam in debacle in 1973 under Republican President Nixon, and Republican President Reagan had our military out of Lebanon in less than 48 hours after the Marines were bombed?
June 22nd, 2006 at 5:02 amthe political side to Iraq, and some little discussed background
June 22nd, 2006 at 5:14 amhttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/6/21/175438/510
For many years, I’ve used a phrase to describe Chuck Hagel whcih I believe is quite apt. It covers the fact that he occasionally comes out with brave and true statements like the one we’re discussiing today. It covers the fact that his voting record is completely dissonant with those statements and unswervingly toes the line for the Bush regime’s agenda. And it takes into account the many similar independent off-the-reservation pronouncements which we’ve been hearing from him on the Sunday talk shows ever since the summer of 2002. And here is that phrase:
“I’m not a maverick but I play one on TV.”
June 22nd, 2006 at 7:09 amWhile I’m about it, I suggest that folks take a second look at exactly what Hagel said here. From the context of the rest of the paragraph, it is clear that he was attempting a holier-than-thou even-handed condemnation of the attempt to politicize this issue on the parts of evil partisans of any stripe. While the reference to “cut and run” is clearly a swipe at some Republicans, the condemnation of attempts to “turn public frustration with the war in Iraq into an electoral advantage” is equally clearly a swipe at Democrats. This guy is playing for the David Broder school of politics, that’s all. Nothing to see here.
June 22nd, 2006 at 7:19 amIf a Republican isn’t running away from their party then there is something wrong, as in screwed up in their head, wrong with them.
There may be some good Republicans left here and there, I don’t know. The good need to seperate themselves from the fascists before it’s too late for them.
A Republic needs a collection of good ideas not a mixture of good and bad just for balance.
Bush represents the worst of the worst.
.
June 22nd, 2006 at 8:02 amBeing from Nebraska, I am used to the politics here. Politicians really believe they can’t get elected unless they vote as far right as possible. The so-called “Democrat” senator Ben Nelson is a true Dino. At a meeting with one of his aides, I protested Nelson’s support for the FMA and the fact that the Nebraska progressives have no one representing them in Congress. The aide said “But if Senator Nelson voted with the left, he couldn’t get elected and there wouldn’t be any Democrats from Nebraska in Congress.” Duh!!! There is a Republican running against Nelson in November who comes across as an absolute Neo-Nazi - my daughter came home one day and asked if I’d seen the ads for this “really scary guy” running for Congress. Pete Ricketts actually makes Nelson look moderate. I can’t vote for either one. Therefore, I am moving towards supporting Hagel. (He is not up for re-election this year). He opposed the Iraq war before the invasion and has remained vocally against it. His immigration plan was quite moderate, and he abstained from the asinine FMA. So, being from Nebraska, he is more courageous than any of the other politicians in speaking his convictions. Unfortunately, he is a politician and still does what he think he needs to do to stay in office. At this point, I could consider supporting his run for President, weighing the alternatives.
June 22nd, 2006 at 9:19 amOBAMA - HAGEL 2008
June 22nd, 2006 at 10:19 am“Cut & run” are Rove’s words. Since we know what a sleazoid that fat butt is, cut & run doesn’t cut it anymore. Bush’s sloganeering has not produced anything good for the country. “Compassionate Conservative” No Child Left Behind “Dead or alive”, “Bring it on”, “coalition of the willing”, Mission Accomplished - all failures just as Bush is a failure. Hagel fought in Vietnam and he knows Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld are all pieces of scum, but, since he (Hagel) is a Republican, he tries to play it safe. He too wants to be president.
June 22nd, 2006 at 10:37 amHagel talks a good game but I suspect it’s merely an attempt to appear as a maverick as a bet that this might allow him to have his cake and eat it too later, when he runs for president. If you check his voting record, however, he’s still as conservative as they come. Thus he talks like a maverick but votes the party line every time. I admire his willingness to speak out but he hasn’t backed that up with action yet. Believe your eyes not your ears.
June 22nd, 2006 at 11:35 amQuick take headlines: Nuke ‘em Thursday…
Here’s an idea: throw a missile or two at North Korea ……
June 22nd, 2006 at 12:14 pm[…] *Video- Sen. Hagel addressing the Senate […]
June 22nd, 2006 at 12:32 pmThat a senator’s truth telling is considered both worthy of note and honorable demostrates better than a thousand revelaing documentaries how the American political “system” has been utterly and completely debased. That his words would not find their way into the MSM proves that the 4th estate is now incapable of functioning as intended by the founders when it is run by for-profit corporate interests.
June 22nd, 2006 at 12:52 pmI am also from Nebraska. We have had two Senators from this state in recent years who were known as mavericks within their parties–Republican Hagel, and Democrat Bob Kerrey. Nebraskans have overwhelming supported both these men because we appreciate their honest expression of their opinions. Hagel is the only Republican I have ever voted for, as did a number of my Democratic friends–not because I like his voting record. I hate it! It is unbelievably conservative! But I appreciate his frankness. The same was true of Bob Kerrey. In a very red state, he was pulling 70+% approval ratings. They show that, at least in Nebraska, people appreciate politicians who say what they think rather than what the polls tell them to say. It is why I won’t be voting for Ben Nelson, despite his scary opponent this November. He does everything according to the polls. How is it that other politicians haven’t taken a lesson from the great support the two mavericks have received in this state?
Regarding other comments made here about Hagel. Just because he has a sober, realistic view of war (due to his experience) it doesn’t make him a liberal. He is not being inconsistent. He is a pragmatist in many ways. He also voted against the prescription drug program. But he has taken stands I strongly disagree with too. We forget in today’s political climate where everything is neatly divided between two camps, left and right, that many people hold more complicated views of things.
I appreciate Hagel for saying things that have needed to be said, such as “I took an oath to uphold the Constitution, not a President.” Where are the others? Why is he the only one in the Republican party? And why are there not more Democrats saying the obvious? Pathetic.
June 22nd, 2006 at 1:23 pmNow if we could just get the media to stop this “No Unified Message” crap they’ve been saying about the Democrats. As you can see, Republicans don’t have one either and it’s damn near impossible to achieve.
June 22nd, 2006 at 2:52 pmAnother wolf in sheep’s clothing.
June 22nd, 2006 at 5:31 pmPlease don’t be fooled. Hagel is out for himself. He is posturing to be President, and has thus been playing this separatist charade from Bush for the last few years, while continuing to enable the thieves and murderers below the radar.
June 23rd, 2006 at 2:27 amHey god of the god of gods,
June 23rd, 2006 at 1:12 pm‘Malnutritioned’ is not a word. Being a god, I thought you would have already known that.
[…] Cutting & Running Tags: Chuck Hagel, Propaganda, Rhetoric. Tags: Chuck Hagel, Propaganda, Rhetoric “Congress fails in its duty when we do not probe, when we fail, we do not ask tough questions, and we fail when we do not debate the gate issues of our day. There is no issue more important than war. The war in Iraq is the defining issue on which this Congress and the administration will be judged. The American people want to see serious debate about serious issues from serious leaders. They deserve more than a political debate. This debate should transcend cynical attempts to turn public frustration with the war in Iraq into an electoral advantage. It should be taken more seriously than to simply retreat into focus-group tested buzz words and phrases like “cut and run,†catchy political slogans that debase the seriousness of war. War’s not a partisan issue, Mr. President. It should not be held hostage to political agendas. War should not be drug down into the political muck. America deserves better. Our men and women fighting and dying deserve better.“ […]
July 3rd, 2006 at 4:19 pmComrades,
Don’t worry, in November we’ll make all of them Cut-and-Run right out of power when we take control of Congress!
But, you’re loosing focus again! There is a greater, clearer and more dangerous threat too our party that will shortly perpetrate our air-waves on ABC’s “The Path to 9/11â€
These traitors at ABC are betrayers of our new mother land. Where I come from, this Robert A. Iger would be dragged through the streets in front of the tomb of our glorious leader Vladimir Lenin and shot in public. The producers, directors, writers and anyone associated with this propaganda would be picked up in the early hours of the morning by our State Security Chief Lavrenty Beria (The Black Hand) and taken to a Siberian labor camp never too be heard from again.
For many years I have been loyal to ABC and the Pravda (truth) that our Socialist Liberal ally has put forth in order to progress our ultimate goal; the decline and absolute destruction of America and the capitalist traitorous pig’s like ABC.
I ask you Mr. Robert A. Iger, “Have you no shame Sir�
Comrades, we must not give up the fight. It has taken us many years to groom you and your elected leaders.
Remember what our great leader Nikita Khrushchev said:
“ We can’t expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism ”
It’s more important now then ever before that we stand together and stay focused! We can not allow this abomination of propaganda to go forward.
We must do whatever it takes to keep this film from airing on Sunday the 10th, 2006, we only have a few hours left.
It is your duty as loyal Liberal Socialist Democrats to rise up in solidarity and put a stop to this immediately!
Senator Harry Reid, one of our courageous and distinguished Senatorial leaders from the state of Nevada, reminded the capitalist traitorous pigs at ABC of their license from the FCC. Please Senator Reid, we’re your loyal comrades in arms and begging you to use all the glorious power you possess. You must stop this film! You must push forward with an iron fist and crush this despicable display of propaganda.
If this film isn’t stopped from airing on ABC, Sunday night, I’m afraid all our efforts since the cold war and the aspirations of our great leaders from glorious years past and Nikita Khrushchev’s dreams and predictions will have been lost.
If we loose now, the great Liberal Socialist Democratic Party, we have nurtured, will decline into the ash heaps of history never too be heard from again.
Where are our great defenders the A.C.L.U.? There silence is deafening. Their founder; Roger Nash Baldwin a supporter of the Communist Party would not let this despicable propaganda go unchallenged.
Remember comrades, we destroyed Senator Joseph R. McCarthy in the 1950’s while attempting to exploit and expose us.
This should be an easy task. We already have many supporters in positions of power. If we wish to control this country, then we must be more diligent in our efforts to stop this ABC film.
You must!…. I repeat, you must contact our comrades in arms at their offices in Washington.
Now I’ve done all the work all you have to do is contact our “elected officials†below by e-mail or call:
Clinton, Hillary Rodham- (D - NY) Class I
476 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4451
Web Form: clinton.senate.gov/contact
Reid, Harry- (D - NV) Class III
528 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3542
Web Form: reid.senate.gov/contact/email_form.cfm
Kerry, John F.- (D - MA) Class II
304 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2742
Web Form: kerry.senate.gov/v3/contact/email.html
Landrieu, Mary L.- (D - LA) Class II
724 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5824
Web Form: landrieu.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
Levin, Carl- (D - MI) Class II
269 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6221
Web Form: levin.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
Rockefeller, John D., IV- (D - WV) Class II
531 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6472
Web Form: rockefeller.senate.gov/services/email.cfm
Schumer, Charles E.- (D - NY) Class III
313 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6542
Web Form: schumer.senate.gov/SchumerWebsite/contact/webform.cfm
Kennedy, Edward M.- (D - MA) Class I
317 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4543
Web Form: kennedy.senate.gov/senator/contact.cfm
Feinstein, Dianne- (D - CA) Class I
331 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3841
Web Form: feinstein.senate.gov/email.html
Leahy, Patrick J.- (D - VT) Class III
433 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4242
E-mail: senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov
Stabenow, Debbie- (D - MI) Class I
133 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4822
Web Form: stabenow.senate.gov/email.htm
Durbin, Richard- (D - IL) Class II
332 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2152
Web Form: durbin.senate.gov/contact.cfm
Lincoln, Blanche L.- (D - AR) Class III
355 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4843
Web Form: lincoln.senate.gov/webform.html
Feingold, Russell D.- (D - WI) Class III
506 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5323
E-mail: russell_feingold@feingold.senate.gov
Harkin, Tom- (D - IA) Class II
731 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3254
Web Form: harkin.senate.gov/contact/contact.cfm
Bayh, Evan- (D - IN) Class III
463 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5623
Web Form: bayh.senate.gov/WebMail1.htm
Biden, Joseph R., Jr.- (D - DE) Class II
201 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5042
E-mail: senator@biden.senate.gov
Boxer, Barbara- (D - CA) Class III
112 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3553
Web Form: boxer.senate.gov/contact
Menendez, Robert- (D - NJ) Class I
502 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4744
Web Form: menendez.senate.gov/contact/contact.cfm
Nelson, Bill- (D - FL) Class I
716 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5274
Web Form: billnelson.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm
Obama, Barack- (D - IL) Class III
713 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2854
Web Form: obama.senate.gov/contact/
Byrd, Robert C.- (D - WV) Class I
311 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3954
Web Form: byrd.senate.gov/byrd_email.html
Cantwell, Maria- (D - WA) Class I
717 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3441
Web Form: cantwell.senate.gov/contact/index.html
Conrad, Kent- (D - ND) Class I
530 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2043
Web Form: conrad.senate.gov/webform.html
Dayton, Mark- (D - MN) Class I
123 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3244
Web Form: dayton.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm
Dodd, Christopher J.- (D - CT) Class III
September 10th, 2006 at 9:21 pm448 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2823
Web Form: dodd.senate.gov/index.php?q=node/3130
Guest Voice: Republican Senator Calls for Phased Troop Withdrawal From Iraq…
The Moderate Voice occasionally runs Guest Voice posts by readers who don’t have a……
November 28th, 2006 at 12:02 am