Why Hagel? Is there not even one actual fucking Democrat who can be SecDef?

[Stinky The Clown]

What the fuck?

[Autumn]

1. My guess would be there are no qualified Democrats.

[reteachinwi]

2. Max Cleland

[Cynicus Emeritus]

3. What not Joe Lieberman?

He's looking for a job. Only problem is he is one who would might prefer the deaths of 20-50K Americans in Iran, and our Social Security.

But what do I know? I'm just a dumbaxx schmuck that doesn't believe in propaganda.

[xxxsdesdexxx]

4. Yes I'll take Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense.

[YvonneCa]

5. Sequestration. n/t

[SDjack]

6. Gen. Wesley Clark (retired)

[dogman]

7. It's called the bi-partisan move in MD Chess.

You and I will never understand. At least I don't think I will.

[leveymg]

8. Not one who turns Benjamin Netanyahu to stone with one glance, there isn't. Sadly.

Can't think of one who would also be plausibly acceptable to the Pentagon bureaucracy and top uniformed military. Not one.

Wes Clark comes close, but he's perceived as a threat and an outsider to the political Inner Circle.

It's time for the Dems to break with AIPAC and to bob the tail that's been wagging this country. For our good. For Israel's. Maybe, Obama can do that this time around, he seems to be trying a bit harder. Better late than never.

[Still Sensible]

9. I suspect, if the administration intends

to secure some meaningful cuts in defense spending, the political calculation is that it will be somewhat easier to achieve if there is a republican SecDef leading the charge.

[DonViejo]

10. May I suggest this excellent column...

by Glenn Greenwald? I'm not a Greenwald fan but, in all honesty, this particular column changed my way of thinking about him.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022143812

[s-cubed]

11. Someone made the point (maybe Chris Hayes) that you need a Republican to give cover to

cut the military budget substantially. That makes some nice to me: rather like Nixon going to China. I'll believe defense cuts when I see them. But I find it comforting to have someone who saw the horrors of war in person, not some chicken hawk.

[leveymg]

12. Check on several good points.

Well said.

[indepat]

14. 'pukes won't be quite so quick to label BHO as weak on national defense with a 'puke SEC-DEF:

they'll probably wait a few days longer before doing so.

[PennsylvaniaMatt]

13. As it was posted in another thread...

It will be easier for President Obama to get cuts to the Defense Department because if it were a Democratic Secretary of Defense, the GOP would call the Democrats "soft on defense" and "soft on terrorism." If a Republican Secretary of Defense calling for cuts, then the GOP would have a hard time opposing them.

Plus, it seems Chuck Hagel is one of the last people in the GOP not calling President Obama a "Kenyan-born terrorist sympathizer." He was a vocal critic of the Iraq War and wasn't afraid of ruffling feathers in his own party.

When it comes to some of the criticism within our own party when it comes to gay-rights and abortion issues, all I can say is he will be serving as Defense Secretary and his boss will be a pro-gay rights, pro-choice Democratic President. There will not be too many times when his past stances on gay-rights or abortion will get in the way of his duties as Defense Secretary.

[TwilightGardener]

15. Name somebody else, and we'll go over the pros and cons.