Thursday, September 18, 2008

'Chuck Hagel: Reality-Based Republican'

Post is here.

I always knew [Nebraska Sen.] Chuck Hagel was a sexist. Questioning Sarah Palin's qualifications, how dare he!

"She doesn't have any foreign policy credentials," Hagel said in an interview. "You get a passport for the first time in your life last year? I mean, I don't know what you can say. You can't say anything." [...]

"I think they ought to be just honest about it and stop the nonsense about, 'I look out my window and I see Russia and so therefore I know something about Russia,'" he said. "That kind of thing is insulting to the American people."

He went on to veer completely off-message (although Hagel, to his credit, was never one just to spout whatever message was being advanced from on high.) But still, check it out:

"But I do think in a world that is so complicated, so interconnected and so combustible, you really got to have some people in charge that have some sense of the bigger scope of the world," Hagel said. "I think that's just a requirement."

So is Palin qualified to be president?

"I think it's a stretch to, in any way, to say that she's got the experience to be president of the United States," Hagel said.

If Hagel was thinking about endorsing Barack Obama for president before McCain picked Palin, it would seem from these remarks that he may be even more likely to do so now. That would just be a huge get for Barack. I'm sure there's immense pressure on his from both sides. Come on, Chuck. You know you want to.

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