Top Republican ‘hawks’, John McCain and Lindsey Graham respond to the Chuck Hagel nomination
Lindsey Graham
President Barack Obama today announced his nomination of former Nebraska Senator, Chuck Hagel, to serve as the Secretary of Defense, replacing current Sec. Leon Panetta.
“Chuck Hagel is the leader that our troops deserve,” Obama said. “He is an American patriot. He enlisted in the Army and volunteered for Vietnam. As a young private, and then sergeant, he served with honor alongside his own brother.”
“Chuck Hagel’s leadership of our military would be historic,” the president said. “He’d be the first person of enlisted rank to serve as secretary of defense, one of the few secretaries who have been wounded in war, and the first Vietnam veteran to lead the department.”
The 66-year-old Hagel, who earned two Purple Hearts as an infantry squad leader in the Vietnam War, is considered a very controversial nominee, particularly within the Republican Party.
Arizona Senator John McCain said in a press release today, “Chuck Hagel served our nation with honor in Vietnam and I congratulate him on this nomination. I have serious concerns about positions Senator Hagel has taken on a range of critical national security issues in recent years, which we will fully consider in the course of his confirmation process before the Senate Armed Services Committee.”
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham went a little further in his criticisms toward the Hagel nomination. On CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, prior to the official nomination, Graham said, “He would be the most antagonistic secretary of defense toward the state of Israel in our nation’s history.”
“He has long severed his ties with the Republican Party,” Graham said. “This is an in-your-face nomination by the president to all of us who are supportive of Israel. I don’t know what his management experience is regarding the Pentagon — little, if any — so I think it’s an incredibly controversial choice.”
In addition to the Hagel nomination, President Obama nominated John Brennan as the next CIA director.
Chuck Nagel is a real American hero unlike John McCain! McCain’s military career has become quite controversial and questionable by conflicting eyewitness. Anyways one has to take into consideration too. That McCain’s father was the commanding officer and a cover up could of happen.
Simply put today, MR Nagel is the foreign affairs and military expert not John McCain. All McCain is, is a old, bitter, jealous, revengeful hateful warmonger.
http://pol.moveon.org/mccain10/thanks.html?id=-17340335-0gXtorx
[…] The Hagel nomination has drawn some harsh criticism from the left as in the case of pro-Israel attorney Alan Dershowitz, and the right, as demonstrated in statements from South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. […]