No, says Mickey Kaus, merely opportunistic.
UPDATE: It doesn't matter to me if Hagel is being opportunistic. So what? He's saying the right things now, and frankly, he's the only Republican I have the least interest in voting for in 2008 (there are no Democrats). I'd bet that the Iraq situation, and the general international situation, is going to be so bad by year's end that we'll be looking for a man like Hagel to get us out of it and to set a new course in US foreign policy. Thing is, absent a profound change of heart on the part of the GOP rank-and-file primary voters -- and it could happen -- he's got a ghost of a chance for the Republican nomination. Jim Pinkerton suggests that Hagel would be a big hit with independents, and might consider an independent run for the White House. I think a Hagel-Webb ticket could pull enough disaffected Republicans, conservative Democrats and independents to whip anybody the GOP or the Dems are likely to nominate.
Is Hagel really all that brave?
Tuesday January 30, 2007
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About Crunchy Con
Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
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Is telling the truth about Iraq brave?
No.
Hagel has got common sense and he'll have my vote if he runs.>
I think Pat Buchanan is good. He's mean and nasty. He's conservative. He fits the profile of the Republican party very well.>
Tell you what, you support a very limited draft RIGHT NOW along these parameters and I'll bet you Iraq and the rest of the planet will not be so bad off. Draft the best and brightest of COLLEGE GRADS and put them with me in military intelligence to learn Arabic and human intelligence and analysis, and put them in Special Forces who don't barricade themselves in their camps. Let us follow the counterinsurgency manual and give us leeway on rules of engagement, but pay CLOSE attention to our detention policies. We can do this. Politics to this point has only stood in our way, and I am afraid that politics heading off in the other direction is only getting more in our way.
The best dividend to drafting only a random selection of bright college grads is that these natural leaders will arrive on Capitol Hill and Wall Sreet and the biggest newspapers, and the Pentagon for those who choose to stay with the military and international expertise to actually debate and analyze and reason out the threats against us, and choose the battles more wisely in the future.
Unfortunately, no one will vote for this as the best and brightest think anyone but THEIR children should serve. And it takes two years to field an intelligence specialist with language expertise, or a Special Forces operator. This call should have happened September 12, 2001.>
I hate the amnesty bill, but I think Iraq, and foreign policy in general, is by far the most important issue in 2008.
I absolutely disagree. Mass immigration, legal and illegal, may not be as sexy headline-wise as Iraq, but it' far more important than any other issue we'll be facing in the near future, short of, perhaps, a nuclear exchange with Russia.
Besides, are there any major candidates of either party who wouldn't be lousy on immigration, from an immigration-restrictionist point of view?
I think this points up the case for not even bothering to vote. The fact that on one of the most critical of issues (here I'm speaking of illegal immigration, not legal), you can't get a candidate in favor of enforcing existing law demonstrates that our system is broken, and probably beyond repair at that.>
Hola Derek. Me comprendes, muchacho. Estoy aqui y aqui me quedo lo quieras on no!>
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