I will not apologize for my comments. Nothing I said is a lie nor incorrect. If it’s not the jewish lobby controlling congress, it’s the jewish controlled media controlling what news we see, hear, and read. Do you see German-Americans advancing the best interests of Germany? Do you see Russian-Americans advancing the best interests of Russia? Do you see African-Americans advancing the best interests of Africa? Do you see French-Americans advancing the best interests of France? No you don’t. But you do see neocons and the jewish lobby getting us to advance the best interests of israel, including the depletion of our money and the shedding of our blood all for israel.

I completely agree with tristram on his comments.

How much money did it take for the Log Cabin Republicans’ R. Clarke Cooper to go from supporting Chuck Hagel as SecDef two weeks ago on the basis of his military background and foreign policy credentials to blasting him for being soft on Iran (and, oh yeah, too tough on Israel and squishy on gay rights, too).

http://gaycitynews.com/clarke-cooper-sings-new-tune-as-log-cabins-blast-hagel/

Whoever paid off the LCR for the ad got Timothy as a free bonus. Do we really want to be dupes for the likes of Sheldon Adelson?

Hagel has committed in print: “I am fully supportive of ‘open service’ and committed to LGBT military families.” I expect Senators to grill him on this in confirmation hearings. How much more can we ask of a SecDef on this issue?

We need someone in Defense who will stand up to the bellicose neocons, not be their pawn.

As for Israel, the issue is not what you care about. The issue is that anyone Obama nominates has to be confirmed by the Senate, which means s/he has to get 60 Senators to vote to end the inevitable filibuster and then a majority to confirm the appointment, which means that virtually all Democratic senators and some Republican senators have to at least vote for cloture. The Christianist/Israeli-expansionist organizations are pressuring senators to oppose Hagel because of his purported positions on Israel. They can count on a majority of GOP senators and several Democrats. So the vote on Hagel would be extremely close because of Israel. I don’t know much about Kerrey’s positions on Iraq, Iran or Israel, but I doubt he would be any more acceptable to these people (nor would Webb be, as far as I can tell).

As for Hagel’s positions on Israel, I could care less one way or the other. He’s up for SecDef, not SecState. POTUS sets the policy regarding Israel and every other nation, backed up by the SecState. The SecDef’s job is to manage defense of the nation as well as implement more steely diplomatic measures when called upon by POTUS.

Dropping Hagel without a fight means giving McCain and Graham (if not Hagee and CUFI) a veto over any potential nominee.

And seriously, we’re getting Plan B at State, along with Senator Scott Brown. Who is Plan B for Defense? Joe Lieberman? Jim Webb would be battered worse than Hagel. Let’s see some names.

While in my dreams I might want a Secretary of Defense who had been at the front of DADT repeal, rather than one simply “fully supportive of ‘open service’ and committed to LGBT military families” now that that is the law of the land, in the real world we live in it is far more important that we have someone willing to stand up to AIPAC and Netanyahu, who won’t let them pull us into a war in Iran, and who will start imposing sanctions against the Israeli government until it stops its aggressive settlement-building.

P.S. The abbreviation for Nebraska is NE, not NB.

LCR just took out a full page ad in the NYT opposing the nomination, only days after its president issued a statement that came close to *endorsing* the nomination. Something smells very fishy. Those ads don’t come cheap, and it seems likely they were “assisted” with cash from an outside organization. If true, it’s likely they aren’t the only ones being offered money. It’s fine if some in our community sincerely oppose the nomination, but I think *every* gay organization opposing the nomination needs to explicitly affirm their stance is not the consequence of a quid pro quo.

Israel, AIPAC, and the neo-cons have already gotten us in a disastrous war in Iraq. Now they’re pushing us towards an even more disastrous war in Iran. Our community needs to ensure our leaders are not corrupted by dirty money.

Good points. I think Hagel would set bad precedent but also, for reasons you gave, is probably not even a good fit for the job.