If he makes it...
But if he doesn't, it will be thanks to a congealing of trillion-dollar money- grubbers into a new PAC formed to defeat Hagel and maintain high levels of defense spending. These folks are active and they are nasty and they'll keep going until they get another Republican administration and another promise of war. How many Americans have yet to figure out "terrorism" is measured in dollars and is highly profitable?
A brand new conservative group calling itself Americans for a Strong Defense and financed by anonymous donors is running advertisements urging Democratic senators in five states to vote against Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s nominee to be secretary of defense, saying he would make the United States “a weaker country.”The blitz against Mr. Hagel is of a sort that has generally been reserved for elections and some Supreme Court nominations.Another freshly minted and anonymously backed organization, Use Your Mandate, which presents itself as a liberal gay rights group but purchases its television time through a prominent Republican firm, is attacking Mr. Hagel as “anti-Gay,” “anti-woman” and “anti-Israel” in ads and mailers. ...NYT
"Gay" and "anti-woman" and even "anti-Israel" are, you can bet, the least of their real worries. Their real worries are about losing what goes into their pockets every time the Pentagon orders another missile or Congress sanctions a fresh invasion requested by President Sockincrotch. Hagel has made it clear he knows what war is and it's not something we should be seeking. Oh, dear. He's an actual soldier, not a Wall Street guy.
The media campaign to scuttle Mr. Hagel’s appointment, unmatched in the annals of modern presidential cabinet appointments, reflects the continuing effects of the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which loosened campaign finance restrictions and was a major reason for the record spending by outside groups in the 2012 election. All told, these independent and largely secretly financed groups spent well over $500 million in an attempt to defeat Mr. Obama and the Democrats, a failure that seemed all the greater given the huge amounts spent. ...
... “We were anxious to get back into the battle,” said Nick Ryan, a Republican strategist and the founder of the American Future Fund, which started as a small, Iowa-based political committee in 2007 and has grown larger since taking a leading role now against Mr. Hagel. “Postelection we have new battle lines being drawn with the president; he kicks it off with these nominations and it made sense for us.”...NYT
Yessiree! Battle lines and battles! Milllions of dollars at stake! No, billions!! "Defense" -- as they continue to call it -- is the quickest, easiest way of removing tax dollars from average citizens and turning them over to one of the wealthiest sectors of our economy, the defense industry.
In return for which we become eligible for a flag pin.
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