OK, so they’ve made it clear that they won’t accept even a fellow Republican in the seat. There’s only one logical course of action left: Dennis Kucinich for Secretary of Defense.
You misspelled “Peace”. 
You’re on to something! Let’s rename the Department of Defense back to the Department of War. I mean, what the hell, we’re nearly always at war anyway. Let Obama propose renaming the department but tying it to letting all of his nominees get voted on. Republicans might be so giddy at the prospect of having a War Department again that they go for it.
I think the problem is that we call these guys ‘Secretary’. The position should be called ‘Head Coach’.
Nah, the most powerful non-military title these days is CEO, right?
CEO of War.
I like it.
This whole thing seems silly because it really handicaps Hagel before he even starts the job. Why would conservative Republicans want a damaged brand running the only department they consistently believe is a legit part of the federal government?
Because of who’s in the White House.
If the Dems had the sort of media savvy and influence they are always accused of they would go nuclear on this, calling out the GOP for blocking a SecDef in wartime purely as a political gesture. If it was reversed every Republican in the country would be screaming “treason!”
This is just further proof that there are no more American conservatives. Hitch was the last one, and he was half Brit…
Well, here’s John McCain’s explanation:
So, sour grapes, basically.
Oh. So…the prevailing Republican Party motivation for the last four+ years, then?
They’re holding up the After Hagel they intend to block the nominations of Brennan at the CIA and Cordray for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And there will be others, like the ATF nominee and the head of Medicare. Medicare’s in the same position as the ATF; a full-time nominee hasn’t been approved in years and years. Reid’s caving on the filibuster looks like the biggest fuckup for the Democrats since their catastrophic performance in the 2010 midterms.
Hard to believe the Vietnamese found it so hard to get information out of him when all it takes now is a few persistent reporters and he just ups and spills the beans about the GOP’s sooper-sekrit stragedy.
Just a nitpick about Cordray – yes, they will hold him up, but they’ve also stated that they will never agree to anyone in that spot. They want a bipartisan panel for that role. So, the CFPB will never have anyone at the helm if they are successful. Probably also true for the ATF, I imagine. The head of the ATF didn’t used to have to go through the senate process, but someone put a provision in the PATRIOT act to require it.
That’s true, ATF directors were confirmed even after that. It hasn’t happened since 2006, and I think it’s the same for Medicare. And if there aren’t other people on this list, there will be soon. Hagel’s going to get confirmed in about two weeks, but this is still crazy. A lot of the Republicans in the Senate actually served with him.
The filibuster would’ve ended if Hatch had voted to end it. The Dems needed one more vote* to bring the matter to the floor and Hatch could’ve provided it. He has, in fact, reversed his Bush era position.
*(the end tally was technically 58 votes for ending the filibuster but one of the votes against was Harry Reid, who switched his vote to against for procedural reasons. Hatch’s “present” vote is what effectively killed bring Hagel’s nomination to the floor.).
I have no idea where you get your confidence from. What is the downside of continuing to block this nomination for the Republicans? They’ll have 10 more days to create the image-of-reason for their block:
- Senator Cruz is attempting to link Hagel’s activities to working for the Iranian government or something;
- Conservative religious and pro-Israel groups will continue to apply pressure to their representatives because Hagel expressed concern over the influence and attitude of the Israeli lobby;
- the administration is still not quite forthcoming on Benghazi (no I do not believe that).
What happens to the Department of Defense in the meantime? Panetta is still the Secretary of Defense, the only threat to the department’s functions is the sequestration, and the Democrats have no way to punish the Republicans for their resistance. They got a taste of making history and blocking this cabinet post and they will find it even easier to do so in 10 days.
Because that’s more or less what the Republicans have said they are going to do. And yes, they could be lying, but it’s not just McConnell saying it. They’re taking pains to try to convince people this isn’t a filibuster (which nobody is buying because it’s a lie) because they don’t want to be seen as filibustering this nomination, and they’ve said they’ll vote after their recess because they were able to gin up enough votes to sustain a filibuster but can’t keep it up forever. Which doesn’t change the fact that Harry Reid is a fuckwit.
I’d say it’s more like the dog in the manger, actually. “What? We don’t get a guy we want in that position? Well, then, NOBODY gets the job. HAH!”
By the way, who DO they want?
Ehud Barak, judging from the hearings…
I say withdraw his nomination and put up Bernie Sanders instead. That will show them what happens when they filibuster one of their own!
I think the calculations are different because this is so high-profile. Also, Hagel floundered so helplessly at his hearing that the scent of blood has not yet faded from their nostrils.