Monday, March 12, 2007
New Official Site Launched Today
Chuck Hagel has launched a new campaign website today, www.hagel08.com. Head over there and sign up, and perhaps even contribute. Senator Hagel left his options open today in his annoucement and said that he plans to do some fundraising, which will help should he decide to run for President or reelection to the Senate.
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I was surprised as anyone by Hagel's non-announcement, announcement stunt today. I think HE thinks it's a shrewd move to position himself in the crowded field for president.
If any of you missed Hagel's announcement live, we have the video at: www.pagingpower.blogspot.com
Cheers!
-Knightn
Fwd:
GOP in disarray? Is the Republican Party in chaos?
After some harsh words with GOP organizers at CPAC, a group of conservatives started a petition to leave the GOP
http://www.conservativeexodusproject.com/
This is small at the moment, but will it continue to grow?
.
What the hell was Hagel doing? I love Chuck Hagel. He, frankly, is the only one who keeps me interested in national politics. But, what the hell was that yesterday? He gets the national media all to show up at his announcement at UNO -- his alma mater -- to report that he has not made up his mind yet?
I wonder what this says about Chuck's judgment more generally. The press is not happy, as can be seen by the Washington Post column today.
Any ideas how this makes any sense?
I think polls this early aren't very useful as predictions. Even polls late into the election season can be misleading as historical "surprise" election results can indicate, such as Harry Truman's election.
As for Hagel's "non-announcement", I think he knows what he is doing. He is putting his hat in the ring without putting his hat in the ring. He is putting out a fishing line and seeing who bites. And I think, additionally, he is giving himself time to build an image / reputation on the Iraq war or other issues before making the big splash.
Smart guy.
"Putting his hat in the ring without putting his hat in the ring"? Look, that sort of double speak is PRECISELY why people are sick of Washington, and why it SEEMED Hagel would offer a refreshing change. He could have handled that yesterday with a simple press release -- not a big news conference in which he says nothing!
I love Chuck. I hope he runs and becomes the next President of the United States. And, I think he is wise to wait. But, the whole press conference yesterday made no sense. None whatsoever.
I see my post from yesterday is missing. And in it's place are alot of 'anonymous' posts. This seems to be the case of many posts in this blog.
Me thinks the blog author is too much in love with himself and his opinions, and is padding the replies. No matter. My original post was for YOU, Mr. Blog Author, as is this post.
In the huge stage of presidential candidates, Hagel is a nobody. No one knows who he is, he has no war chest to change that fact, therefore he stands a snowballs chance in hades of winning the presidency. Deal with it.
I am the author of this blog and I never post any comments as anonymous (actually I rarely post any comments).
There are issues to be overcome if Hagel decides to get into the race. I won't dispute that. But that doesn't mean that it can't be done.
I'm sorry I haven't replied to people's comments, but it's been a busy few weeks for me and will continue to be so, so I will let you talk amongst yourselves.
Fox News chose not to send a crew to Omaha to cover Hagel's press conference, and its roundtable" was congratulating themselves on that decision, even though they believed Hagel was going to annouce, like everyone else. In the meantime, they DID send a crew to Louisiana to publicize (propagandize?) David Vitter's endorsement of Giuliani. I
think the Giuliani phenomenon is a product of "loyal" Republicans circling the wagons in support of the Bush war policy, and being steered by Murdoch's neo-conservative agenda (is Rush endorsing Giuliani? - I don't listen to him much anymore) to the detriment of all other considerations. I don't believe his mindset will remain predominant among Republicans a year from now, given my expectation that the situation in Iraq will be no better and the situation in Afghanistan much worse. By then I believe the Republican Party will be closely divided between pro-war and anti-war factions, with the
anti-war forces doing better in getting their delegates to the National Convention than they are doing in the polls, because the delegate selection process is a function of the work of party soldiers at the grassroots, not so susceptible to the propaganda of the neo-con media, which controls the opinion polls - a barometer of the mood among the "unthinking" public.
I think Hagel was correct in deciding that now is not the time for him to announce his candidacy. Time is on his side in preparing the Republican Party to accept him. If the Party comes to its senses on Iraq, it will call upon Hagel to save them without him having to ask. If it doesn't, he should plan a third party strategy or be content to run for reelection to the Senate. Ron Paul will still offer the minority of anti-war Republicans a place to mark their primary ballots.
I think, contrary to conventional wisdom, that there is a real possibility there will be no candidate with a majority of the delegates going into the Republican Convention, particularly with the frontloading of the primary campaign in states that will go for multiple candidates now in the race. If anti-war Republicans do their work in the delegate selection process, they could give the nomination to a theretofore "non-candidate" Hagel on the second or later ballot.
But if Giuliani does maintain his surge through the decisive primaries, I will take that as a dual opportunity - the creation of credible third party candidacy, and the prelude of the final divorce of the Republican leadership from its grass-roots, particularly in the Southern states. You will recall that it was the nomination of Humphrey and McGovern during the Vietnam War that triggered the divorce of grassroot Democrats in the South from their party leadership.
Sunday ,Fred Thompson said he may run. Chuck knows all Republicans could and would support Fred. Chuck knows in no way could or should say the same.
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