Transcript: Sen. Chuck Hagel on 'FOX News Sunday'
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Senator, welcome to "FOX News Sunday."Snip...
WALLACE: But basically, you think the president had overstepped his bounds.
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WALLACE: But, Senator, your party jumped on this decision. I want you to take a look at something that was issued by the Republican National Committee the day of the decision. Here's the title: Liberal Judge Backs Dem Agenda to Weaken National Security. And a Republican spokeswoman says that this shows the fundamental choice between Republicans and Democrats.
HAGEL: Excuse me. Well, Chris, I can't speak for the party. I don't speak for the party. I don't defend the party. They do a very adequate job of that themselves.
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We have on the one side the Democrats running around saying well, the Republicans are warmongers, they want to take your rights away from you, you can't trust them. The Republicans, evidenced by that headline you threw up, are saying about the Democrats they're cut and run, you can't trust them.
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WALLACE: All right. Let's turn to one of those wars, Iraq. In an interview you gave to the Omaha World Herald a couple of weeks ago, you said — and let's put it up on the screen — "Conditions in Iraq are an absolute replay of Vietnam." You said, "U.S. soldiers are easy targets in a country that has fallen into absolute anarchy."
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WALLACE: Do you think it's going to happen?
HAGEL: Snip...
The answer, in my opinion, is not to just keep feeding more American troops into it. The Iraqi people have already made some decisions here. We, in fact, are in probably a low grade, maybe a very defined, civil war.
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WALLACE: But you have said that you think that we should begin pulling troops out within six months.
HAGEL: I do.
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WALLACE: Snip...
You've been very critical, as we've just heard, of U.S. policy in Iraq. And you have problems with NSA wiretaps and parts of the Patriot Act. When it comes to national security, are you closer to John Kerry than you are to George W. Bush?
HAGEL: Chris, I'm going to go back to the comment I made earlier. When it comes to war, Americans dying in a war, national security, it should never be held captive to a political agenda. I think that's wrong. I've said it's wrong.
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WALLACE: Would you agree that Ned Lamont's positions on all these issues we've discussed today are closer to yours than Joe Lieberman's are?
HAGEL: No. That's — Ned Lamont's position on issues...
WALLACE: On Iraq, on...
HAGEL: ... all the issues...
WALLACE: ... on the Patriot Act, on NSA warrantless wiretaps?
HAGEL: Those are some issues. But when you're...
WALLACE: Pretty big issues.
HAGEL: But we also have a lot of other issues like pro-life, like tax policy, like spending policy. See, that's my point, too, Chris. Being a United States Senator is more than just talking about Iraq.
And no, I'm not very close to Lamont on the whole scope of issues. He's a liberal Democrat.
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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,209499,00.html Yet Hagel voted against withdrawal, and has yet to voice support for Kerry-Feingold.
The Republicans simply deal in rhetoric.