Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma is the Ranking Member (senior Republican) on the Senate Armed Services Committee. He has promised National Review Online that he will lead a filibuster against the confirmation of Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense. He says that he and “several” of his colleagues will place holds on the nomination and that it will be “a long, long time” before Hagel can expect a vote on the floor of the Senate. His rationale is that he believes that Mr. Hagel is anti-Israel. It is a somewhat astonishing accusation considering that the chairman of the Armed Services Committee Carl Levin is Jewish.
Hagel’s nomination will probably be approved by the Committee tomorrow on a party-line vote. There had been some discussion of the Republicans walking out in protest but McCain said that would be disrespectful of the chairman and not in the best traditions of the Armed Services Committee.
To win confirmation, Hagel will need five Republican votes, and he only has two on the record right now (Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Mike Johanns of Hagel’s home state of Nebraska). In the last twenty-three years, there has been only one cloture vote on a cabinet appointee. That was forced on Interior Secretary nominee Dick Kempthorne in 2006. The filibuster was defeated 85-8.
Filibustering a major cabinet position like State or Defense would be unprecedented. The reasoning is just plain nuts. There are currently 12 Jewish Senators (all Democrats) who are all going to vote for Hagel’s confirmation, yet we’re supposed to believe that some Presbyterian yahoo from Oklahoma knows better than they do who is and is not a friend of Israel? A man whose main accomplishment in life has been to drive the Quaker Life Insurance Company into bankruptcy and liquidation? A man so deep in the pockets of Big Oil that he’s been calling climate change a hoax since 2003? A man who is such a reckless pilot that one man complained to the FAA, “I’ve got over 50 years flying, three tours of Vietnam, and I can assure you I have never seen such a reckless disregard for human life in my life. Something needs to be done. This guy is famous for these violations.”
I’ve said before that I don’t care whether Hagel is confirmed or not, but I’ll put the president up against Jim Inhofe any day. Let the people decide who is being unreasonable here.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/02/ted-nugent-state-of-the-union-steve-stockman.php?ref=fpb
I hope Nugent enjoys his full-cavity search.
HA!!
I’m not sure giving Ted a global stage to act a fool is a good idea.
He will fit in perfectly on that side of the aisle.
Umm, doesn’t the secdef seek to further the president’s policies/views and not necessarily his own? Does it even matter what he is for/against?
I hope Harry Reed and the 5 Democrats (he would not name) who would not support real filibuster reform are happy.
leahy, levin, feinstein, boxer, baucus, reid, that is why GOP can continue to abuse the rules to their advantage.
Didn’t McCain already state that he would not support a filibuster even though he’s voting against Hagel’s nomination? Is there functionally a difference between a hold and a cloture vote other than the Majority Leader gives the ‘holding’ Senator(s) notice if he’s bringing the nominee up for a vote?
Or will the Senate Republicans run to their fainting couches if Reid “runs roughshod over Senate tradition” to bring up a vote while another Senator has a “hold” on someone?
yeah, McCain did say that about cloture. A hold is basically advance notice that unanimous consent will not be forthcoming. Or, in other words, a hold means a cloture vote will be required.
Call your senator. Tell them that filibustering a cabinet or ANY appointment is unconstitutional. The Constitution states “he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.”
There is nothing about holds, filibusters, or other such crap. All that crap is unconstitutional. Time to go nuclear.
“There are currently 12 Jewish Senators (all Democrats) who are all going to vote for Hagel’s confirmation, yet we’re supposed to believe that some Presbyterian yahoo from Oklahoma knows better than they do who is and is not a friend of Israel?”
Silly question. The Christian right, which has its own definition of “Friend of Israel” (with friends like that, who needs enemies?) accounts for about 18% of the national electorate, but in Imhofe’s state and throughout the south and some other states it is a lot more than that. The actual Jewish vote nationally is 2% (in 1940, by the way, it was 4%); only 30% of that 2%, or 3/5 of one percent of the American electorate, voted for Romney. The Jewish vote in the Bible Belt is truly minuscule.
Levin might be Jewish, but he HATES AIPAC.
MJ Rosenberg worked for him in the 1990’s I believe. Levin hates them more than most Senators.
Yes but Levin always, always, votes the AIPAC line. So what does that say?
That every Senator does? Except for Chuck Hagel. Maybe 1 or 2 others, I gotta check the roll-calls.
Levin sandbagged Filibuster reform so I have no pity for him. This is the fallout of his selfish cowardice.
So what if Jewish Senate Democrats find Obama’s Republican Party nominee sucfficiently pro-Israel? Inhofe believes all Democrats of all ethnicities can go fuck themselves.
No, the most delicious part of Inhofe’s insanity is that AIPAC itself does not oppose Hagel becoming the Secretary of Defense.
Let that sink in for a second.
Shmuley Boteach, America’s Worst Rabbi (TM), takes to the Dead Breitbart site to let us all know he is Very Upset about AIPAC’s betrayal of Israel’s security, using the worst argumentation techniques you’ve read in a while (he invokes Rabbi Hillel, I shit you not):
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/02/04/AIPACs-Silence-on-Chuck-Hagel
Here’s my pull quote from this schlemeil’s bitchfest:
“What are brave United States lawmakers like freshman Senator Ted Cruz of Texas to make of AIPAC’s surrender? Are they to feel that they are the ones charged with protecting Israel, while organizations whose stated purpose it is to do just that sit on the sidelines?”
Oh, man, it’s good to laugh.
Isn’t there any obligation for members of US Congress to have the security of We The People as priority? Why is a US citizen like Shmuley Boteach, who ran for office as NY representative, attacking his President and smearing US foreign policy. It’s treacherous as he has a profession as hasbara writer for the Jerusalem Post as so many other US bashers.
John McCaine in yesterday’s CNN interview called the civil war in Syria the greatest defeat for Iran since the Khomeiny revolution of 1979. The GOP party of Bush isn’t dead and continuea its Neocon policy in the Middle East through different actors. See the continued talking points on Benghazi to block the Brennan and Hagel nomination.
The policy for an invasion of Iraq was a joint decision by Sharon-Blair-Bush. The result was a boldened Iran with a new power base in Iraq by a majority of Shias. This development led to a policy change on Assad’s regime and once again bowing for Israeli propaganda (Netanyahu) and the existential threat to the world coming from Teheran.
Call them out for what they are: US bashers are traitors to their country and the GOP has united with them through their fundamentalism and voter base of christian evangelists, annually welcomed to Jerusalem by Netanyahu and Peres.
CUFI: We Pray for Opposition to Chuck Hagel
There are currently 12 Jewish Senators (all Democrats) who are all going to vote for Hagel’s confirmation, yet we’re supposed to believe that some Presbyterian yahoo from Oklahoma knows better than they do who is and is not a friend of Israel?
Is that racist? Anti-Semitic, maybe. Don’t let Bill Kristol hear you talk like that.