Senator Hagel's tour of Nebraska

[existentialist]

This is four short paragraphs pulled from the middle of a story on Yahoo News today about Senator Hagel's tour of Nebraska:



Earlier the same day in Lincoln, an elderly woman asked about Iraq. "Why are we there in the first place?" she asked.

On Tuesday in the central Nebraska town of Lexington, after a meeting with law enforcement officials on drug problems, three sheriffs expressed serious doubts about what the United States was doing in Iraq and whether it could succeed.

Hagel, a Vietnam veteran, acknowledged the U.S. military presence was becoming harder and harder to justify. He believes Iraq faces a serious danger of civil war that would threaten Middle East stability, and said there is little Washington can do to avert this.

"We are seen as occupiers, we are targets. We have got to get out. I don't think we can sustain our current policy, nor do I think we should," he said at one stop.


(I thought DUers might find it of interest.)

[Racenut20]

1. I am interested in the answer he gave to the first question "why are

we there in the first place?"

Or is this just a "listening tour" like the rest of the Republican Senators are taking so they do not have to answer any questions to the press.

[YDogg]

2. About time.

Hopefully this kind of doubt will spread.

[leftylady]

3. I saw that, too. It is interesting.

I think it ws being reported by Reuters. com.

When the people of the Midwest get rattled you've got trouble. They hold on until the very last.

He got some pretty heavy questions from Mr. and Mrs. Everybody and he didn't have any answers for them.

[TwilightZone]

4. As a Nebraskan, I have to begrudgingly admit that I respect Hagel more

than Ben Nelson.

I certainly don't agree with his politics, but he does not fear speaking out against the handling of the "war" or the inevitable backlash of his party's leadership.

[Cosmocat]

9. Hagel is one of the VERY few ...

R/Cons who has not been assimilated ... He is one of the VERY few R/Cons I respect ... And, after McCain sold out, that is a VERY small group ...

[FreedomAngel82]

5. I believe Hagel has been against Iraq since 2003

I find that interesting since he was once considered a slot for Bush's VP and was a close friend to the Bush family for twenty something years and his ties to the ES&S machine's.

[Telly Savalas]

6. He's certainly been critical of Bush's Iraq policy for a while.

He's probably the strongest candidate for the GOP in 2008 if he chooses to run. He'd have a tough fight in the primaries against whoever champions the fundie extremists, but if he makes it through that, he's got a good chance in November since he can come across as a solid guy by distancing himself from Bush. This is why we need to make the struggle less about just Bush and more about discrediting conservatism for the crock of shit that it is.

Hagel may be a lot better than Bush in the same way that cold Macaroni and Cheese is better than horse feces, but we should be doing a lot better than cold Mac and Cheese.

[rasputin1952]

7. I'm in NE, and he didn't stop in my small city...

:(

If he did, he sure was clandestine about it.

I can't say i go either way for Hagel, one one case, I think he is an OK Senator, somewhat moderate...but as PotUS, no way. HIs ties to the voting machinesw make me leery right off the bat, and some of his calls have been less than what i would have expected from a moderate.

He has, on two occassions, had his office call me in regards to letters I've sent, and I've spoken to him once on the phone during one of those calls...:)

[CitrusLib]

8. This article caught my eye too as did the elderly woman's quote.

Doesn't it make you wish more people had asked that up front? The reasons they gave made no sense to me when the Bush Administration first started banging the war drums. I'm still amazed more people didn't have the same reaction 3 years ago. Sheep.

[Independent_Liberal]

10. Interesting...

Thanks for posting this.