Wednesday, March 21, 2007

One Tin Soldier

The next time you hear Nebraska Repug Sen. Chuck Hagel speaking out against Bushco on Iraq or siding with the Democrats on a resolution of one type or another opposing the war, remember his vote on the Senate bill Tuesday to strip Dubya of the power to bypass Congress in appointing U.S. attorneys, which was embedded in the Patriot Act last March.

At that time, Hagel voted to reauthorize the Patriot Act, which was used to fire the eight U.S. attorneys in question (Carol Lam, David Iglesias, H. E. Cummins III, Paul K. Charlton, John McKay, Kevin V. Ryan, Daniel Bogden, and Margaret Chiara). And yesterday, he was one of the two votes opposing the Senate bill to make Dubya submit his nominees for U.S. attorney to Congress for review (fellow Repug Kit Bond of Missouri was the other). Fortunately, 94 other Senators realized the folly of the Patriot Act provision and moved to correct it.

As a former service person, Hagel knows full well the importance of “talking the talk,” but apparently he needs more guidance when it comes to the “walking the walk” part of the equation.

1 comment:

profmarcus said...

as long as we're on the subject of hagel, i really wish steve clemons would wake the hell up... he's so dug in to being a "reasonable moderate" that he can't recognize hagel for what he is, and, instead, keeps putting chuckie forward as an example of intelligence and balanced judgment for us all... pardon me while i puke... i have the same reaction when he pushes zalmay khalilzad, a pnac signatory, to replace bolton...