Republicans are still protesting President Obama’s nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) to the position of Secretary of Defense, despite the failure of a weeks-long campaign to discredit Hagel’s record. On Monday, Iraq veteran and freshman Rep. Tom Cotton (R-AR) accused Hagel, a fellow veteran, of voting against the military and changing his stance on the Iraq War because of its unpopularity. After initially supporting the war, Hagel became an outspoken critic of the Iraq War and the Bush administration in general.

When CNN’s Wolf Blitzer confronted the new Congressman with the fact that much of the information justifying the war turned out to be false, Cotton suggested that Iraq may have had a hand in the terrorist attacks on 9/11:

BLITZER: But you don’t believe that Iraq had anything to do with al Qaeda or the attack on 9/11?

COTTON: The evidence is inconclusive there, but I know that Saddam Hussein was widely believed by all western intelligence agencies, not just the United States, but western European countries not in a rush to war, to have weapons of mass destruction. Our sanctions regime was beginning to crumble and we couldn’t be able to contain Saddam Hussein if we hadn’t confronted him at the time.

BLITZER: With hindsight, he didn’t have weapons of mass destruction, didn’t have stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. All the commissions point out he had nothing to do with the attack on 9/11, and he was being contained by the U.S. and the international community.

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The Bush administration insisted both that Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and was working with al Qaeda before launching the Iraq War. However, the 9/11 Commission concluded in 2004 that no link existed between Iraq and al Qaeda or the attacks. A decade later, Cotton is perpetuating a soundly discredited myth that even former president George W. Bush no longer believes.

President Barack Obama announced today that he has nominated his top counterterrorism adviser John Brennan as the next CIA director and former Republican senator from Nebraska Chuck Hagel for the position of Secretary of Defense, ignoring weeks of neoconservative criticism of Hagel’s record.

“Chuck Hagel is the leader that our troops deserve,” Obama said in the East Room of the White House during the announcement. “He is a champion of our troops, and our values, and our military families.” Outgoing Secretary Leon Panetta said that Hagel is “a patriot, a decorated combat veteran…and I believe his experience and judgment makes him an excellent choice for Secretary of Defense.”

In taking over at the Pentagon from Secretary Panetta, Hagel is tasked with implementing a time of change that began in Obama’s first term. Hagel — who served in the Senate from 1997 to 2009 — was an early supporter of the Iraq War, but quickly became an extremely vocal thorn in the side of the Bush administration as an outspoken critic of the war’s prosecution. That war has now ended under President Obama, with the war in Afghanistan due to come to a close during Hagel’s service in Obama’s Cabinet.

Despite his credentials, and the strong likelihood that he will be confirmed, the path to the Pentagon will be one littered with false attacks and cheap shots that ignore the nuance of Hagel’s past statements. The smear machine has been gearing up for weeks as President Obama weighed his final decision and the White House sent out trial balloons. In response, an avalanche of bipartisan and high-level support has come out in defense of Hagel’s strong record, a few selections of which are listed here:

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The lead-up to today’s nomination of former GOP senator from Nebraska Chuck Hagel to be the next Secretary of Defense has been marked by an aggressive smear campaign by neoconservatives determined to scuttle the bid. Among the ringleaders of this campaign has been the Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol, who has deemed Hagel unfit for service at the Pentagon.

It turns out though that Kristol was less worried about Hagel’s positions when he was being considered for a much higher position than Cabinet Secretary: Vice President of the United States. Hagel was among those on the short-list to be named as Vice Presidential candidate under then-Gov. George W. Bush on the Republican ticket in 2000. At the time, Kristol was a supporter of the possibility that Hagel would be a heart-beat away from the presidency, making the rounds on several cable shows to make the case.

When reading the transcript of Kristol’s appearance on Chris Matthews’ Hardball on Jun. 7, 2000, the irony is palpable. During the lead-in to the show, Matthews said, “Then we’re going to talk about what’s alleged to be a smear campaign against George W. Bush’s likely candidate for VP, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. That smear campaign, according to Bill Kristol, who’s going to join us, is being led by Senate Republican leader Trent Lott.” Kristol went on to accuse Lott of attempting to kill the chance of Hagel getting the nod, while forgoing the chance to bring up any negatives on Hagel when directly asked by Matthews. But Kristol made his feelings about then-Senator Hagel quite clear:

KRISTOL: Trent Lott does not like people [like Hagel] exercising independence.

MATTHEWS: Because they’re the very kind of people that you, Bill Kristol, like, right? You’re always championing the mavericks.

KRISTOL: Well, somewhat, yes.

The next week on Fox News, Kristol was more effusive in his praising of Hagel’s qualifications when talking with host Paula Zahn:

ZAHN: I want to have a broader conversation about that later, but I’m going to quickly continue to go down this list. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska?

KRISTOL: Impressive and attractive first-term senator, some foreign policy experience, a McCain supporter. So he reaches out to the McCain voters. I think he’s a pretty — has a pretty decent shot.

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