A blogger's take on 2008: "Reminiscing About the Future: Chuck Hagel vs. Hillary Clinton"

This has been popping up on a few blogs and it was interesting enough to share.

In 2008 the strongest Republican candidate will likely be the one with the most rhetorical daylight from the Bush Administration's national security policies. That is not John McCain who has actively courted Bush's supporters.

Hagel has carved a niche as a traditional Republican realist on foreign policy. Other candidates may attempt to break with the Administration in 2008 but will appear opportunistic in doing so. Chris Shays for example is vulnerable to ridicule because he conveniently flip-flopped on Iraq three months prior to facing the wrath of disgruntled Connecticut voters. It's an obvious deathbed conversion with no credibility.

Hagel is different because he rhetorically challenged the rationale of Bush's policies in Iraq even more than some Democrats in recent years. Furthermore, Hagel has rhetorically challenged Bush for portraying dissent as unpatriotic...Nonetheless, it's perception that counts and the press appears eager to anoint the former Vietnam veteran as a sensible and tough centrist who is up to the job.

It's not hard to see Hagel prevailing in the 2008 Iowa caucuses. Even conservative Iowans are far less enthusiastic about Bush's foreign policy. Disenchantment with the Iraq war will only increase nationwide the next two years and probably more so in Iowa...For good measure he might also be able to say, "I'm the only candidate who can appeal to Democrats and independents in a general election."

...

So two years from now the headlines may read, "Republican nominee Chuck Hagel declared he's the one to get America out of Iraq." There will be the necessary platitudes about prudence, coordination with allies, and a methodical withdrawal that preserves our strategic interests. But the message that will stick is only the sensible conservative and military veteran Chuck Hagel can get us out of Iraq. That is powerful.

You can check out the rest of the post here. I can't say I agree with all of it, but it raises some interesting points.

Ohio for Hagel 2008

There is another blog in the Hagel grassroots movement; today the Ohio for Hagel 2008 blog was born. Here is the first post from that blog:

Welcome to the Ohio for Chuck Hagel presidential movement. We are a grassroots network working in and around the great State of Ohio, promoting what we hope will be a Chuck Hagel run for the White House in 2008. It is our belief that America needs a strong leader who can unite this great Country and build a strong foreign policy with our allies around the world. We believe America needs less Government, less spending and better border security. We see only one American who can handle this awesome task, we see Chuck Hagel as this person. We deserve a stronger America, we deserve Chuck Hagel as our next Commander and Chief. If you want to become involved in this great movement please leave your Name and Email address we will be in touch.

Be sure to pop over and support the new Ohio for Hagel blog.

One reader's review of Chuck Hagel: Moving Forward

One of our readers has written a brief review of Charlyne Berens's book, Chuck Hagel: Moving Forward. You can buy the book off of Amazon.com at the right side of this page. Citizen McLain writes:

Overall, the book is a good primer on Chuck Hagel. There is repitition of various issues and it started off a bit weak, but when it got into the substance of his political philosophy, his role in the Senate, in the GOP, the impact of the Vietnam War on his foreign policy, it was more intriguing.

Thanks for the review!

Chuck Hagel - Fiscal Conservative

Chuck Hagel is a committed fiscal conservative and is dedicated to balancing the budget. Collected here are a few examples of his fiscal conservative credentials and votes.

Some of Hagel's comments on the deficit are available here. Chuck Hagel was given an A by the National Taxpayer's Union. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce gives Senator Hagel high marks on this voting record. The American Land Rights Association gave Senator Hagel a 100% rating for 2000-2003. One of Senator Hagel's priorities is entitlement reform, chich you can read about here.




Chuck Hagel was rated as an anti-pork hero by Pork Busters.







You can read about another vote where Senator Hagel showed fiscal responsibility from this year. Here is an excerpt from the press release about that vote:

“At some point, we’ve got to come forward with some courage and discipline to stop this massive hemorrhaging of federal spending. The President is right to say he will veto this bill , which spends over $14 billion more than he requested. I support him and will support his veto. Many of these projects are worthwhile but they should be funded through the normal appropriations process where there is accountability, not stuffed into an emergency bill. The American people deserve better than a U.S. Senate out of control with no fiscal discipline – further eroding the economic strength of this country, and continuing to pile up more and more debt for future generations,” Hagel said.

Technorati tags: Sen. Chuck Hagel, Fiscal Conservative, Voting Record

New GOP Bloggers Straw Poll

GOP Bloggers has a new 2008 straw poll, so go and vote Hagel.

The Washington Post on Chuck Hagel: Moving Forward

The Washington Post had an article yesterday about the recent biography, Chuck Hagel: Moving Forward (you can buy it from the amazon link at the right side of the page). The article, "For Hagel, Standing Up Brought a Fall From Favor," by Eric Pianin blends a review of the book with a look at Hagel's current position in politics, including an element of the popular notion that has emerged in the last week that Hagel is the new McCain.

Berens offers a wide range of opinions and speculation on the subject from political scholars and operatives, but by the conclusion of the book, the questions of whether Hagel will run or could mount an effective campaign are left hanging.

The article and the book touch on the theme of this week, that Chuck Hagel is clearly in the right place within the Republican party.

For all the frustration Hagel expresses about the Republican Party, he is philosophically in tune with many of its traditional stances. He is an ardent free-trader, favors as little government as possible (wishful thinking in an era of exploding government growth) and supports limits to government intrusion in the private lives of Americans, while Bush has authorized warrantless wiretaps of telephones and e-mails.

The book puts Hagel's comments on Iraq into perspective given his life and the article mentions that briefly.

In the fall of 2004, Harold W. Andersen, the retired publisher of the Omaha World-Herald, wrote a column for the paper declaring that Nebraska Republicans were tired of Hagel's criticism of Bush's handling of the war in Iraq. Hagel responded that it was his responsibility as a senator to ask the hard questions that "were not asked when we sent young men and women into Vietnam."

"Where were our elected officials then?" he asked, with the same straight-from-the-shoulder forthrightness that has gotten him into hot water with his party.

Check out the article if you want the full review of the book. I have read Charlyne Berens' biography of Senator Hagel and I highly recommend it.

Technorati tags: Chuck Hagel Moving Forward, Washington Post, Charlyne Berens

"Chuck Hagel: Thinking"

There is an excellent post, "Chuck Hagel: Thinking," by Scott Harrop at 'Just World News' that is worth a read.

I have long been interested in Senator Chuck Hagel, a self-styled “Eisenhower Republican” from Nebraska. Still mulling a run for the Presidency in 2008, Hagel’s latest bout of independent “free thinking” deserves greater attention and scrutiny.

It is a decently long post, otherwise I would share it in its entirety here, as it is an excellent piece. Be sure to check it out.

Technorati tags: Sen. Chuck Hagel, Just World News

Chuck Hagel - Republican

Lots of people have called Senator Hagel a RINO (Republican in name only) or a liberal and that baffles me. Chuck Hagel has drawn the ire of many due to his (largely accurate) criticisms of President Bush on Iraq, but that does not make him a RINO or a liberal.

Chuck Hagel is clearly a Republican as his politics and his voting indicate. His political action committee has been raising and spending money to help out Republicans across the nation for the 2006 election. As of August 14, 2006, Sandhills PAC had given $314,500 to Republican candidates. Check out the list of candidates if you're curious. Also, Senator Hagel has been very active in helping his state's Republican party lately as well. Read more about it here.

As for his voting record, here are some bits that may help to clear up any confusion. While Senator Hagel does voice his disapproval, that is a minority of the time, as you can see from his voting record.

	Year	Hagel's Support of President Bush's Priorities in the Senate
	2005	89%
	2004	94%
	2003	98%
	2002	98%
	2001	96%
Source: Congressional Quarterly, January 2006

Interest group ratings (based on voting records) are another way that we can get a sense of where the senator stands. For instance:

Club for Growth 2005 Congressional Scorecare for the Senate:
Chuck Hagel scored a 99%, ranking him #4 in the Senate on their issues

Also, military groups, such as the Non Commisioned Officer's Association, the Military Officer's Association, and the Vietnam Veterans of American have all rated the Senator very high on their issues, which are typically something that corresponds to the Republican point of view. Check out those scores here.

This week we will explore Senator Hagel's voting record on fiscal and social conservative issues.

Technorati tags: Sen. Chuck Hagel, Republican, Voting Record

Chuck Hagel the Conservative (first in a series)

Chuck Hagel is a conservative with cross-over appeal who has the leadership and vision to guide the United States in the 21st century. He has been attacked due to his opposition to the way the war in Iraq has been carried out, and called many names and his issues positions distorted.

Over the next few days we will run a series of posts about Chuck Hagel, refuting the myths that he is anything but a conservative Republican that is willing to work across the isle and be civil.
To frame the discussion, we give you this quote from a post at GOPProgress.com.

In sum, the labels conservative, moderate and libertarian do mean something. But don't buy it when conservatives slam you as a closet liberal because you think that allowing warrantless, unsupervised wiretapping poses a problem for civil liberties, or because you think drilling in ANWR is an inadequate solution to our energy problems, or because you want to see real entitlement reform, and you don't see protecting two little words as being of equal importance.

It's a good piece and you may want to read the whole thing. The timing of this series turned out to be excellent as Senator Hagel addressed this issue on Fox News Sunday yesterday morning.

I don't base my analysis and judgment and votes on war, national security, on a party position. I don't think that's the right thing to do. I don't think Americans really want us to do that.

Now, if you look at my record, my voting record — I've been in the Senate 10 years. Do you have any idea what my voting record is in support of the Bush administration position the last six years, the Republican Party? It's about 95 percent over 10 years. My record is about as conservative as any conservative Republican in the United States Senate. It is constantly — the American Conservative Union constantly rates me as one of the highest.

So I don't apologize, Chris, to you or anyone else for my position. My conservative credentials are pretty clear.

We'll explore Senator Hagel's conservative credentials over the next few days.

A nice article

There a nice article, "Republican policies, spending contradict traditional GOP values," that's worth a read.

This morning's Fox News Sunday

Be sure to check out the video of Chuck Hagel on Fox News Sunday this morning. You can see it over at Think Progress or read a summary about it here.

What are Chuck Hagel's chances?

There are a number of blogs out there following the 2008 race. One of them is Race 4 2008. That blog had a post recently about Chuck Hagel's chances in 2008 that I wanted to discuss. I find his reasoning very flawed.

His assertion is that Chuck Hagel has a slim chance of winning. While I concede that Senator Hagel has an uphill battle to the White House, I disagree with many of the author's reasons. He argues that Senator Hagel is too liberal to win the nomination, but we have discussed here in the past that Chuck Hagel is not a liberal at all, but indeed a fiscal (here) and social (here and here) conservative.

The author argues that Hagel is a one issue horse (Iraq being the issue). While I agree that Hagel's stance on Iraq is important, it is simply a piece of a larger view of foreign policy that is one that our nation needs today. In the era of globalization that we live in today, we need a far sighted foreign policy that takes our security, energy concerns, and economic concerns into account, and that is what Chuck Hagel provides. Senator Hagel also has a strong record on domestic policy issues, but that has not been as highly visible in the media so far.

While some may depend on the outcome of the November elections, Senator Hagel has the right message at the right time: a shift in course for the Republican party.