http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2012/12/21/tom-cotton-opposes-chuck-hagel-as-defense-secretary Comments On: Tom Cotton opposes Chuck Hagel as defense secretary by Max Brantley en-us Copyright 2013 Arkansas Times. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, Arkansas Times readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact Arkansas Times. robert@arktimes.com (Arkansas Times Webmaster) Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:01 -0500 Wed, 22 May 2013 20:00:00 -0500 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
To me he is the stereotypical Archie Bunker type bigot. His policies have been anti gay (even now after his late and self serving apology he doesn't support equal benefits for gay military families. He is anti-African American (with a 17/100 rating from NAACP and admires Strom Thurmond as a great role model. anti Woman (vs choice and contraception)
and
Hagel has drawn additional heat from insiders who claim he lacks the credentials needed to manage a department as large and essential as the Pentagon.

“Yes, Hagel has crazy positions on several key issues. Yes, Hagel has said things that are borderline anti-Semitism. Yes, Hagel wants to gut the Pentagon’s budget. But above all, he’s not a nice person and he’s bad to his staff,” said a senior Republican Senate aide who has close ties to former Hagel staffers.

“Hagel was known for turning over staff every few weeks—within a year’s time he could have an entirely new office because nobody wanted to work for him,” said the source. “You have to wonder how a man who couldn’t run a Senate office is going to be able to run an entire bureaucracy.”

Others familiar with Hagel’s 12 year tenure in the Senate said he routinely intimidated staff and experienced frequent turnover.

“Chuck Hagel may have been collegial to his Senate colleagues but he was the Cornhusker wears Prada to his staff, some of whom describe their former boss as perhaps the most paranoid and abusive in the Senate, one who would rifle through staffers desks and berate them for imagined disloyalty,” said Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon adviser on Iran and Iraq. “He might get away with that when it comes to staffers in their 20s, but that sort of personality is going to go over like a ton of bricks at the Pentagon.”

Multiple sources corroborated this view of Hagel.

“As a manager, he was angry, accusatory, petulant,” said one source familiar with his work on Capitol Hill. “He couldn’t keep his staff.”

“I remember him accusing one of his staffers of being ‘f—ing stupid’ to his face,” recalled the source who added that Hagel typically surrounded himself with those “who basically hate Republicans.”

Sources expressed concern about such behavior should Hagel be nominated for the defense post. With competing military and civilian interests vying for supremacy, the department requires a skilled manager, sources said.

“The Pentagon requires strong civilian control,” a senior aide to former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told the Free Beacon. “It’s already swung back in favor of the military over the past five years. A new secretary of defense should push it back in its rightful place, but it’s doubtful Hagel would be that guy.”

“It’s not clear that [Hagel] has the standing, the managerial prowess, or the willingness to gore some oxen,” said the source.

One senior Bush administration official warned that Hagel is ill informed about many critical foreign policy matters.

“He’s not someone who’s shown a lot of expertise on these issues,” said the source, referencing a recent Washington Post editorial excoriating Hagel’s record. “That [op-ed] was extraordinary.”

“Only in Washington,” the official added, “can someone like [Hagel] be seen as a heavy weight. He’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer.”

Hagel is likely viewed positively by the administration mainly because he is a Republican who often criticizes his own party, the source said.

“He’ll dance to a tune played by the White House,” said the former official. “That I think is the real problem.”

As lawmakers consider a deal to avoid sweeping budgets cuts and tax hikes, Hagel’s support for slashing spending at the Pentagon has irked many defense hawks.

“This is a time when a secretary of defense needs to be raising hell about the sequestration cuts,” said the Rumsfeld aide. “It’s not clear that Hagel has any interest in picking that fight.”

Hagel’s reluctance to chastise Iran also remains a central concern.

As chief of the Pentagon it is expected he would avoid planning for a military intervention should Tehran refuse to end its clandestine nuclear enrichment program.

“The military brass is already reluctant to offer up any military options on Iran even though it’s their job to have something on the books and to leave the options of the commander in chief open,” said the Rumsfeld aide. “Hagel will only reinforce these worrisome tendencies.”

“Chances are he’ll view any legitimate effort to talk about military options with Iran as some plot by the ‘Israel Lobby’ to box him in,” the source said.
Posted by Jean Pierre Katz]]> Tue, 25 Dec 2012 15:32:37 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by santhony]]> Fri, 21 Dec 2012 16:44:08 -0600 Arkansas Times
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 51% of Likely U.S. Voters now view Boehner unfavorably, while 50% feel that way about Pelosi. Just 31% have a favorable opinion of the Ohio congressman, compared to 37% who look favorably on the San Francisco Democrat.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_con…

Hey, Saline, you should poke around and find the $8.7 million Mitt Romney spent on his transition office. That's right- before he was defeated-he managed to rack up a federal tab in preparation to his being crowned. Sorry things didn't work out and I'm sure you will gladly pay your share of Mitt's tab.
Posted by eLwood]]> Fri, 21 Dec 2012 12:38:10 -0600 Arkansas Times
This is but the start I'm afraid. There's little respect for the Arkansas delegation in D.C. and it shows. The people of Arkansas are being screwed, and it's now clear it's only going to get worse when Cotton arrives on the scene.
Posted by HolyGuano]]> Fri, 21 Dec 2012 09:09:47 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by arkylikeyou]]> Fri, 21 Dec 2012 09:06:46 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Jake da Snake]]> Fri, 21 Dec 2012 08:42:00 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by RazorbackArmyVet]]> Fri, 21 Dec 2012 08:02:45 -0600 Arkansas Times www.Cato.org and I was glad that President Obama was considering this choice. We got lots of problems at home with our country’s finances. Then why are we paying for Germany and Japan’s defense? Republicans like Romney just don't get it.
http://thedailyhatch.org/2012/10/31/why-ar…
Posted by SalineRepublican]]> Fri, 21 Dec 2012 06:53:39 -0600 Arkansas Times