Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
You will recall that during the Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing for Chuck Hagel to be Secretary of Defense, Sen. John McCain made a complete ass-hat of himself:
[Iit was disconcerting to watch this Neocon war monger demand that his
former senate colleague Chuck Hagel genuflect before him and to praise
"Senator Surge" as a demigod (his media sycophants were unavailable?)
Chuck Hagel refused, insisting that Iraq was "the most dangerous foreign
policy decision since Vietnam." Good for him. Chuck Hagel is right, and
John McCain is wrong.
Sen. "McNasty" is still embittered that his old friend, Chuck Hagel, who endorsed him for president in 2000, later endorsed Barack Obama for president in 2008. Hagel was also highly critical of the Iraq war and the "surge" for which McCain was a principal cheerleader. This is a personal vendetta by Sen. McNasty against Hagel.
The "new" Three Stooges, John McCain, his puppet boy Little Lindsey Graham, and Kelly Ayotte as "Shemp" (replacing Joe Lieberman, who thankfully is gone) have been beating the FAUX News fraud of "Benghazi Fever" for months.
On Sunday, McCain's puppet boy Little Lindsey Graham told Bob Schieffer on CBS’ Face the Nation that he would place a hold on key administration national security nominations unless
President Obama explains how the White House reacted to the Benghazi
attacks and who “changed” the talking points used by U.N. ambassador
Susan Rice during back-to-back appearances on the Sunday political talk
shows in September. Lindsey Graham To Place Hold On National Security Nominees Over Benghazi Attacks.
Chuck Hagel was not in government and had nothing to do with the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, he has no first-hand personal knowledge of the events, and it is not a Department of Defense issue but rather a State Department issue. This witch hunt by the Three Stooges is a distraction, they have had all of their inane conspiracy theory questions answered. It is nothing more than a personal vendetta by McCain against President Obama who defeated his sorry ass in 2008. Benghazi has no bearing on Chuck Hagel's qualifications for Secretary of Defense, and is no reason to deny his confirmation.
There was briefly an attempt to delay the Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation vote by chickenhawk Tea Party tool Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Calgary) who channeled the ghost of Joe McCarthy in an over-the-top attempt to smear Chuck Hagel with insinuation — without offering any evidence — that the former Republican senator may have received money directly from countries like North Korea and Saudi Arabia. ‘Senator Cruz Has Gone Over The Line’: Colleagues Slam Ted Cruz For Irresponsible Rhetoric On Hagel. That was too much even for Sen. McNasty, who upbraided this Tea Party tool:
“I just want to make it clear. Senator Hagel is an honorable man. He has
served his country and no one on this committee at any time should
impugn his character or his integrity,” McCain said.
McCain issued a Statement declaring:
I
have examined the information and responses to Members’ questions that
Senator Hagel has provided to the Committee, and I believe that he has
fulfilled the rigorous requirements that the Committee demands of every
Presidential nominee to be Secretary of Defense. As a result, I believe
it is appropriate for the Armed Services Committee to vote on Senator
Hagel’s nomination and determine whether to move this nomination to the
Senate floor where Members can debate and express their own judgments on
Senator Hagel. I will not participate in any walkout of tomorrow’s
Committee vote – an action that would be disrespectful to Chairman Levin
and at odds with the best traditions of the Senate Armed Services
Committee.
The Senate Armed Service Committee approved the nomination of Chuck Hagel on a 14-11 party-line vote. Senate Committee Approves Chuck Hagel's Nomination As Defense Secretary. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) pledged to lead the charge in a filibuster, the first against a Defense Secretary nominee, once the nomination hit the Senate floor.
John McCain said Monday he would oppose a filibuster of former Senator Chuck Hagel’s confirmation as secretary of defense: “I just do not believe a filibuster is appropriate, and I would oppose such a move.” McCain Opposes Filibuster Over Hagel.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid scheduled a cloture vote on Thursday to end debate on Sen. Inhofe's filibuster of Hagel's nomination, the first time ever in U.S. history that a Secretary of Defense nominee was subjected to a filibuster (while American troops are at war no less). By Thursday, John McCain had changed his tune from Monday, McCain might support Hagel filibuster:
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who has urged his fellow Republicans not to
filibuster the nomination of former Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel for
defense secretary, now tells Foreign Policy magazine that he might oppose a vote to end debate.* * *
McCain said that his vote is dependent on whether he gets more
information from the White House on the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the
U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya — specifically, whether President Obama
personally spoke to any officials in the Libyan government to request
assistance for American personnel in the country. Sen. Lindsey Graham
(R-S.C.) has threatened to place a hold on Hagel’s nomination for the
same reason.
In an unprecedented move, Senate Republicans filibustered Hagel nomination:
Senate Republicans delivered a sharp rebuke to President Obama on Thursday when they began a filibuster of Chuck Hagel’s nomination as secretary of defense.
The confirmation process stalled Thursday when GOP senators deprived Hagel of the 60 votes needed to move it to its final stages.
* * *
The official tally Thursday was 58 votes to end the filibuster to 40
against doing so, but 59 initially backed Hagel — Reid changed his vote
to “no” so he could use parliamentary rules to quickly reconsider the
nomination. Four Republicans — Sens. Thad Cochran (Miss.), Susan
Collins (Maine), Mike Johanns (Neb.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) —
joined 54 members of the Democratic caucus in voting to end the
filibuster.
Another Hagel vote is scheduled for Feb. 26, when the Senate returns
from a 10-day break. That vote is also likely to require 60 votes to
move to confirmation.
* * *
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — who has gone several days
without saying anything publicly about Hagel — has deputized Sen. John
McCain (R-Ariz.) as the weather vane by which to judge when Republicans
should yield on the filibuster.
That has, at times, made it difficult to discern the party’s position.
On Monday, when some GOP strategists were pondering a walkout of the Armed Services Committee's consideration of Hagel, McCain issued a statement declaring
that the nominee “has fulfilled the rigorous requirements that the
committee demands” and that he deserves a committee vote.
During
Tuesday’s committee hearings, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) demanded more
information on Hagel’s speeches, suggesting that the nominee could have
received money from nefarious sources such as North Korea. That prompted
McCain to lecture Cruz that “no one on this committee at any time
should impugn his character or his integrity.”
By Tuesday night,
after voting against Hagel in committee, McCain joined Sens. Lindsey O.
Graham (R-S.C.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) in writing the White House,
threatening to filibuster unless more information about the Benghazi
attack was released.
By Thursday, after receiving that
information, McCain and others called Cruz’s demands for more
information on speeches “reasonable requests” that might turn up new
information. “There are other questions that need to be answered, and we
feel that the intervening week and a half, almost, is sufficient time
to get those questions answered,” he told reporters just before
supporting the filibuster.
Sen. McCain told FAUX News host Neil Cavuto He’s Opposing Hagel Because Hagel Was Mean To Bush:
Speaking to Fox News host Neil Cavuto, McCain said that he still
believed that Hagel would get the votes required to be confirmed. What
followed was the clearest indication yet that he’s still bitter that
Hagel turned against the Iraq War:
McCAIN: But to be honest with you, Neil, it goes back to
there’s a lot of ill will towards Senator Hagel because when he was a
Republican, he attacked President Bush mercilessly and say he was the
worst President since Herbert Hoover and said the surge was the worst
blunder since the Vietnam War, which was nonsense. He was
anti-his own party and people — people don’t forget that. You can
disagree but if you’re disagreeable, then people don’t forget that.
McCain had just voted “no” on the bid to end debate on Hagel’s nomination, supporting the Republican filibuster.
Just days ago, McCain insisted that he would do no such thing, and is
currently claiming that he’ll vote to break the filibuster following the
Senate’s President’s Day recess ten days from now.
UPDATE: Politico reports that the Three Stooges will also delay the nomination of John Brennan to be head of the CIA over their bullshit "Benghazi Fever" conspiracy theories of who changed the talking points given to Susan Rice, despite the fact that these questions have already been asked and asnwered ad nauseum.
John McCain debases the U.S. Senate, and embarrasses Arizona. His Three Stooges act with his puppet boy Little Lindsey Graham has grown tiresome and destructive. The personal vendettas of this embittered old man are a disgrace.
"You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately… Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!" – Oliver Cromwell Address to the Rump Parliament (20 April 1653)