The Bring Hagel Down gang in the Senate is beginning to remind me of those nice kids down the street we played with, the kids who suddenly turned bad and beat up the guy at the MiniMart, nearly killing him. The guy at the MiniMart? Why? Well, earlier on, before they became little hoods, he was one of their friends. But he opted out and stayed straight and got an after-school job . So they beat him up.
As the National Memo points out, John McCain used to regard Chuck Hagel as one of his best pals. McCain referred to Hagel as “one of the two, three or four leading voices on national security and foreign policy in the Senate,” and said that — were McCain elected president — he would “be honored to have Chuck with me in any capacity.” ...
And now? McCain has "serious concerns."
Mitch McConnell? Hagel was... "one of the few genuine foreign policy experts in the Senate and an independent, serious voice on many of the most challenging issues we face,” adding that Hagel is “one of the premier foreign policy voices… in the United States Senate.” Now he dissing the guy.
Ditto Lindsey Graham, and Bob Corker. Bill Kristol has done the same thing. All former friends and allies, now nasty big kids gone bad. As with any gang, they depend on solidarity. Chuck Hagel's doubts about the direction the gang was taking -- his apparent refusal to join them in creating the most brutal and partisan Congress of several generations -- are costing him.
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