Video: Blumenthal won’t commit to voting for Hagel
posted at 9:01 am on January 14, 2013 by Ed Morrissey
Another Democrat refused to offer a vote of confidence in Defense nominee Chuck Hagel yesterday. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) told Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday that he wants to “reserve judgment” on Hagel, and expressed disappointment with colleagues who have immediately and irrevocably decided on their positions without first hearing from Hagel. However, Blumenthal has significant concerns about Hagel’s record and wants answers to a number of questions arising from them (via The Corner):
Blumenthal predicted Hagel would get his confirmation, although not from Hagel’s answers or record but based on the history of nominations and confirmations. That history does show that Presidents normally get the benefit of the doubt, but it’s not a slam dunk, either. John Tower once sat in Hagel’s seat, nominated by George H. W. Bush, and ended up on the wrong end of a 47-53 vote on confirmation. Tower was also known for antagonizing members of the upper chamber when he served in his four terms in the Senate, and the “club” didn’t come to his rescue in the end. Dick Cheney ended up with the job.
At any rate, Blumenthal doesn’t sound like he’ll oppose Hagel in the end, but this was hardly a vote of confidence in Obama’s choice to lead Defense. If Chuck Schumer ends up opposing Hagel, Blumenthal could end up following his lead, too. It again raises the question of just how much groundwork the White House did with its fellow Democrats before making this decision, because whatever was done certainly looks pretty ineffective now. The most robust defense of Hagel in the past two weeks came from Colin Powell, who won’t get a vote.
Update, 1/15/13: I originally wrote that Caspar Weinberger was the second choice for Bush 41′s SecDef, but Weinberger was Reagan’s final SecDef. It was Dick Cheney who ended up with the job. Thanks to reader David G for the correction.
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Mao had his Gang of Six, and we have our Gang of Eight.
No good can come from this.
Liam on April 10, 2013 at 10:03 AM
Apprehending one out of 500,000 is a “high bar” for a democrat.
darwin on April 10, 2013 at 10:06 AM
These back room deals always seem to work out so well…
d1carter on April 10, 2013 at 10:07 AM
Boy, howdy! The idea they will enforce the law when they didn’t enforce the law is the stuff made in a drug induced state.
Limerick on April 10, 2013 at 10:08 AM
Ed said (naively):
Baloney. It’s an obvious fraud. The real normalization- the soc-called “provisional” legal status (which of course will never be revoked- happens on Day One, before any new enforcement. The “trigger”- which will likely be gutted in future legislation- comes later and is just for citizenship.
Jon0815 on April 10, 2013 at 10:09 AM
It doesn’t matter. If we’re not going to deport them now, why would we deport them after the “high bar” is raised and after they’re granted temporary legal status, even if it’s later revoked?
The moment they get any kind of temporary legal status under any kind of conditions, they’ll never ever be deported. That’s unconditional amnesty.
elfman on April 10, 2013 at 10:09 AM
Which universe do you live in?
ninjapirate on April 10, 2013 at 10:10 AM
Republicans never learn. Cue the horde of so-called “journalists” tooting tear-jerking stories of “suffering”, “unfairness”, and “humanitarian problems” that have to be taken care of prior to securing the border.
Archivarix on April 10, 2013 at 10:11 AM
Rubio betrayed conservatives on the Universal Registration for Amnesty…
The GOPe adding and abetting the Marxist Take-over of America. Thank you John McCain and Marco Rubio.
SWalker on April 10, 2013 at 10:11 AM
MARCO RUBIO ~ the NEW face of TREASON.
Pork-Chop on April 10, 2013 at 10:12 AM
Why the hell is Rubio the key? Why is his vote more important than that of, say, Ted Cruz?
I’m starting to think we’d have been better off with Charlie Crist.
Jon0815 on April 10, 2013 at 10:13 AM
And you trust the same government that’s been releasing detained illegals and reducing the presence of border agents over the last month using the BS excuse of budget cuts to enforce the security measures in this legislation? The Dems just want the thing passed so they can legalize 20 million people and eventually add them to the welfare and voter rolls. That’s their endgame and everyone knows it. Why the GOP continues to go along with this charade is beyond me.
Doughboy on April 10, 2013 at 10:14 AM
And I’m sure the gang of 8 has addressed all the financial fraud, tax evasion, identity theft let alone all the typical violent crime these illegals have committed.
And they want to take away our guns.
Philo Beddoe on April 10, 2013 at 10:14 AM
You know what they say about assuming. If nothing is done and 2014 doesn’t got the demorats way then they will find some method to kill the entire mess or Bark will sidestep Congress.
Bishop on April 10, 2013 at 10:14 AM
Here’s an idea…and nobody can cal it racist, either. Let us simply pattern ALL our immigration laws re4garding illegal immigrants after, say, ummm, Mexico?
Under the Mexican law, illegal immigration is a felony, punishable by up to two years in prison.
Immigrants who are deported and attempt to re-enter can be imprisoned for 10 years.
Visa violators can be sentenced to six-year terms.
Mexicans who help illegal immigrants are considered criminals.
Mexico can deport foreigners who are deemed detrimental to “economic or national interests,” violate Mexican law, are not “physically or mentally healthy” or lack the “necessary funds for their sustenance” and for their dependents.
And, along their southern border, the use of deadly force is a common occurrence on the part of federal authorities.
Would certainly cut down on the illegals problem.
Instead, we are offering amnesty with an open border and horribly lax enforcement of current immigration laws.
Common sense, as the saying goes, is, in Washington, a highly uncommon virtue.
coldwarrior on April 10, 2013 at 10:15 AM
Liberals want to register guns but refuse the notion of registering illegals. Sad thing is, we wouldn’t have an illegals problem if we didn’t have liberals.
I say to deport all illegals and send liberals with them.
Liam on April 10, 2013 at 10:16 AM
It’s a secret? 74% it a recent Rasmussen poll say border security first.
Aren’t there already laws on the books about border security right now? Why not just enforce that law, build the damn fence.
RINOs…
tarpon on April 10, 2013 at 10:16 AM
Was that a quote from Ronald Reagan, weeks before the dems pulled the rug out from under him, and diluted all of his demands and “triggers”?
right2bright on April 10, 2013 at 10:19 AM
They gain legal status immediately. The later green card possibility is irrelevant. Once they are given legal status there is no possibility it will ever be revoked. The border security condition is a fig leaf for Rubio so he can shout “Look what I did!” I laughed out loud when I read the phrase “certain areas.”
Mark1971 on April 10, 2013 at 10:21 AM
Yes, Mexico has very strict immigration laws, BUT, they also have strict ENFORCEMENT. Our problem is not our laws, but the complete lack of enforcement.
Pork-Chop on April 10, 2013 at 10:23 AM
Enjoy, folks. You are watching the total collapse of a political party that has existed for 150 years. All that will be left is to make sure the illegals are registered to vote by 2016.
“We are slain. The party is dead, dead, dead!”
Doomberg on April 10, 2013 at 10:26 AM
Let’s Make a Deal- Senate Edition. I’ve not seen anything that is sure to get past the House.
Happy Nomad on April 10, 2013 at 10:30 AM
Yep, nothing more to be said. Once the illegals gain some sort of provisional status, even if it’s just waiting for those “triggers” to occur, they are here for good. End of story.
Bishop on April 10, 2013 at 10:31 AM
True. If the Rubio/obama AMNESTY bill passes, not only will Republicans never win the White House, ever again, but, obamacare will be locked in permanently, and every liberal dream will be fulfilled. AMNESTY will kill the GOP, but it will also kill America.
Pork-Chop on April 10, 2013 at 10:31 AM
Obama blatantly ignores the immigration laws we have on the books now. For example, he spends millions of tax dollars advertising the availability of food stamps for illegal aliens coming into the U.S. from Mexico, and in the U.S. he advertises the availability of food stamps to anyone, regardless of immigration status (even though U.S. law prohibits illegal aliens from receiving food stamps). He grants visas to any unemployed Third Worlder who applies for one, despite the federal law that says no one who is likely to become a “public charge” (i.e. welfare dependent) should be granted a visa (the Obama administration has denied not one single would-be immigrant a visa on the ground that they may become a public charge). He refuses to deport illegals who have remained in the U.S. despite having multiple deportation orders and having criminal convictions (like his uncle from Kenya). He releases convicted criminal illegal aliens back into U.S. communities instead of deporting them, etc., etc.
There is absolutely no reason to believe that Obama would enforce stricter border security laws. He already knows he can do anything he wants without anyone in the legislature or the courts holding him accountable for his violations of his oath to uphold and enforce federal laws. Why, after five years, would he suddenly decide that federal laws should be enforced as written, especially when those laws deny benefits to members of his voting base (illegal aliens and their relatives in the U.S.)?
AZCoyote on April 10, 2013 at 10:32 AM
I wonder how many pages this ‘deal’ will comprise. They may have it concluded in a week, but it will take a battery of lawyers months to figure it out.
Wouldn’t be easier to simply write the law, “All previous immigration laws and restrictions are hereby revoked,” and be done with it? Think of all the trees that can be saved without using all that paper on a ‘deal’!
Liam on April 10, 2013 at 10:32 AM
It’s long overdue to edit the Emma Lazarus poem on the Statue of Liberty – for starters…
and
Drained Brain on April 10, 2013 at 10:33 AM
But Rubio is so sexy. And Romney was gonna drop the bomb on Obama in the last weeks of the campaign. And if only we could get rid of the rinos, the Republican Party would be awesome again.
GhoulAid on April 10, 2013 at 10:36 AM
More like:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to
breathe free. . . live (eat, be educated, get health insurance, etc.) for free at the expense of U.S. taxpayersAZCoyote on April 10, 2013 at 10:42 AM
The House is as pro-amnesty as the Senate. They will pass whatever the Senate puts in front of them. What’s being argued out right now is how the kabuki theater will play out, and the Republicans trying to wrangle fig leaves to cover themselves with so they can claim to be “shocked, shocked!” that the borders aren’t being secured.
Doomberg on April 10, 2013 at 10:43 AM
The “RINOs” are the Republican party at this point, at least in terms of leadership and elected officials.
Doomberg on April 10, 2013 at 10:45 AM
There may not be a conservative on Ed’s radio program every day, but there’s always a RINO.
Who is a bigger squish on amnesty: The Wall Street Journal, Miss Lucy or Ed?
bw222 on April 10, 2013 at 10:47 AM
Dems will screw this up
cmsinaz on April 10, 2013 at 10:48 AM
5yrz to phase in e-verify?
Cripe
cmsinaz on April 10, 2013 at 10:50 AM
Word has it that there’s over 1,500 pages. Like ObamaCare, no one will have time to read it and we won’t find out what’s in it until after it’s passed.
bw222 on April 10, 2013 at 10:51 AM
They’ll have all your gun permits before e-verify gets to first base .
Lucano on April 10, 2013 at 11:05 AM
It’s not the Dems pushing amnesty, it’s the Republicans who are leading the charge.
Doomberg on April 10, 2013 at 11:12 AM
No deals, do nothing. The status quo, as bad as it is, is better for our nation than what the proggies and RINOs have in store for us.
When and how did immigration reform become so urgent? Why now? Who set these priorities?
slickwillie2001 on April 10, 2013 at 11:14 AM
How sad is it really that we find ourselves in a position whereby the only way to get the federal government to perform its primary purpose, protecting our borders, is to trade the normalization of illegal aliens for border security? I mean, think about it. This administration has REFUSED to to it’s job, and instead has held our borders hostage. This is way beyond the making of the sausage. It’s extortion.
Murf76 on April 10, 2013 at 11:17 AM
Who said it can’t be done?
Saudi Fence
Limerick on April 10, 2013 at 11:25 AM
None of the details – NONE OF THEM – offer a single justification for offering CITIZENSHIP to those who came here ILLEGALLY.
I consider ANY proponent of such a plan a traitor to the USA.
Czar of Defenestration on April 10, 2013 at 11:30 AM
+100
If any current illegal wishes citizenship that badly…then leave, go home, get in line, go through the legal process, and hope for the best.
Current legal immigrants have to jump through all sorts of hoops, and incur a lot of expense, with no guarantee of citizenship at the end of the road.
Why give illegals any sort of advantage?
coldwarrior on April 10, 2013 at 11:34 AM
Translation: 20 million New Democrat lawbreaking freeloaders/voters.
Republicans: F*cked.
RovesChins on April 10, 2013 at 11:35 AM
Come on, laws and promises about boarder security under Obama, like any laws and promises he doesn’t like, are not to be taken seriously. Suppose such boarder security does happen initially and the amnesty part goes full speed, then the boarder security enforcement goes lax (Obama is going to want to keep those undocumented future democrats coming), will the amnesty part then be stopped? Seriously doubt it. Americans will be played for the suckers they are, again.
Chessplayer on April 10, 2013 at 11:37 AM
Yanquis
SI!
Illegals
NO!
TimBuk3 on April 10, 2013 at 11:44 AM
RovesChins on April 10, 2013 at 11:45 AM
1. A flood of new dem voters.
2. Cheaper labor to compete with citizens for jobs at all levels.
3. and an enormous expansion of government dependents which ties in with point number 1.
4. Keeping the flood of immigrants coming in with more chain migration.
hawkeye54 on April 10, 2013 at 11:54 AM
That about sizes it up.
hawkeye54 on April 10, 2013 at 11:55 AM
Once illegals become ‘legal’, they too will be unemployed because why hire an uneducated illegal who speaks in broken English when you have to pay them minimum wage, carry insurance on them, and pay employer taxes?
Yeah. No more cheap labor for the enabling illegal alien employers. They’ll have to wait for the next 20 million illegals. Meanwhile, these New Democrat voters will want their Obama phones, food stamps, section 8 housing, Medicaid that ‘deserve’.
RovesChins on April 10, 2013 at 12:00 PM
If Rubio can pull this off, he would be unbeatable in 2016.. Democrats would lose an issue they keep beating the GOP with and the GOP would get a higher margin of the hispanic vote. On immigration GOP candidates have to be on the extreme right in the primaries, and the rhetoric in the primaries drives away hispanic voters.
Romney’s “make life hard for them till they self deport” formula did not do him any good… he tried to moderate after the primaries but the damage was done.. without this issue we can get better candidates and tone down the rhetoric..
jdivito on April 10, 2013 at 12:05 PM
Ed Said, “Again, assuming that these triggers actually are implemented, this is a pretty good trade for all sides.”
Really, Ed? You think that Amnesty is a good deal? What about the 660,000 citizens who left the workforce last month? What about all the college grads of the last few years who have had to take minimum wage jobs in restaurants and bars? Not to mention the Black, Latino and teenage unemployed whose rates are 2-3 times higher than our listed 7.6% Unemployment Rate!
Never mind that the previous onetime Amnesty of 1986, with all it’s specifed enforcement conditions, was never implemented and led directly to the 11,000,000 plus who are looking for another wink and a nod from our bozos in D.C. You must be kidding!
tomshup on April 10, 2013 at 12:06 PM
Wow. This really has become a parody site – unwittingly. This post is serious, not meant as satire?
Of course the joke’s on intelligent, rational, serious citizens with respect for rule of law, and a revulsion for racism – and its main contemporary manifestations, state-based racial engineering and race-baiting in politics and culture.
Rubio’s a twink and a lightweight – and obviously always was, so this (and his absurd, arrogant, repugnant little bit of race-baiting coercion about “you can’t get someone to vote for you if you just deported their grandmother”) is hardly a surprise. But Ed sort of beclowns himself here, doesn’t he?
It reminds me of Allahpundit way back in the dark days of Iraq, when things were so bad that the bad guys could actually attack Coalition forces in miniscule engagements (leading to hysterical, ridiculous Iwo Jima-like “reporting” in the “press”), musing about whether a snap opinion poll here or there should be the basis of our national security policy.
Based on 2008, and 2012, and the intervening surreal period of lawlessness, degradation, decline, and disgrace, I’d not be surprised if this comically unserious b.s. actually gets close to passage. Seems that gun-grabbing is the actual last live “third rail” in American politics. Even this massive, degrading, civil society and rule of law-shredding race-baiting festival was unimaginable just 6 years ago.
Now, Hot Air reads like a press release from McCain or some slimy Dem senator in a western/mountain state …..
IceCold on April 10, 2013 at 12:12 PM
Great, Ed. They can get their grubby little fingers into YOUR wallet first when they make Minnesota into Little Tijuana. They want your money. They already have a beloved homeland and it’s not the USA:
http://baldwinpark.patch.com/articles/two-thirds-of-legal-mexican-immigrants-don-t-apply-for-citizenship
RovesChins on April 10, 2013 at 12:14 PM
So, we are supposed to believe that a legislative proposal under which illegals are legalized and then the border is secured as outlined by the Wall Street before these individuals are eligible to receive a green card is a prudent course of action?
— Byron York (@ByronYork) April 1, 2013
NO Illegal Amnesty Without Border Security: Reject Any Rehash of Reagan’s Immigration Error
john.frank on April 10, 2013 at 12:27 PM
Ya got that right. Even some Mexicans here as legal residents don’t want citizenship, just whatever they can milk from our economic system for their families back home and their own retirement back there too.
My wife once worked in the office of a furniture mfg company whose owner was a resident alien, a Mexican who loathed the US and made that clear to his employees, and almost all in the assembly factory were Mexicans themselves. He had no desire to remain in the US, and once retired, he intended to live out his remaining years in the splendid home he already owned in Mexico. Living off what he earned courtesy of his USA customers.
hawkeye54 on April 10, 2013 at 12:28 PM
Amnesty is not an option. Go home, get in line. Immigration is to be controlled.
O/T – It looks like MM has switched methods of allowing comments on her site. It is using DISQUS. Most sites where I have seen DISQUS being used, it does not work. MM’s site is no exception.
TerryW on April 10, 2013 at 12:29 PM
And here I was thinking Minnesota was already Little Somalia and Little Cambodia. Ya mean that latinos will get to carve out a chunk of the state for themselves?
hawkeye54 on April 10, 2013 at 12:31 PM
Ed in amnesty shill mode. No, it isn’t a good trade. The idea that we have to excuse lawbreakers before we can start enforcing the law is absurd on its face. And more importantly, it’s absolutely HORRIBLE for America….you know, the only thing that really matters.
Moving ahead? Umm…newsflash….normalization occurs on day one. There are no triggers required.
Which makes him even worse than the rest of them, because this issue likely wouldn’t even be on the table without him running around BS’ing about amnesty. Rubio was never going to walk away. He’ll sign on to whatever they come up with. And hopefully he will be held accountable in any future elections.
If this BS goes through, and it probably will, I will never again vote for a Republican candidate, and will likely start promoting and contributing to democrats. And I’m not alone. So put that in your “autopsy” report, GOP, and stick it where the sun don’t shine.
xblade on April 10, 2013 at 12:38 PM
Yes. Parts of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California are already “occupied”.
RovesChins on April 10, 2013 at 12:45 PM
Every ILLEGAL who is granted AMNESTY under Rubio’s plan, all 20 MILLION+ of them, will be locked-in democrat voters – and Rubio, and EVERYONE else, knows it. Rubio has destroyed his political future by pushing AMNESTY, one of obama’s top priorities – IF his plan, or any AMNESTY plan is passed, the Republican Party is dead – and America will follow suit.
Pork-Chop on April 10, 2013 at 12:50 PM
Your last name wouldn’t be Graham by any chance, would it? Meth is a hell of a drug. I recommend getting help before it’s too late.
xblade on April 10, 2013 at 12:57 PM
You know what they say about that word (a$$-u-me). I have even less reason to trust the feral government now then I did the last time amnesty occurred.
chemman on April 10, 2013 at 12:57 PM
RovesChins on April 10, 2013 at 12:58 PM
Oops. Got all excited.
+100
RovesChins on April 10, 2013 at 12:59 PM
It’s a little early to belly up but here goes. Clink.
chemman on April 10, 2013 at 12:59 PM
I agree with you 100%. Some just can’t fathom Bush or Perry getting 40 percent of the Hispanic votes who (SHOCKER!) may be Catholic Conservative Hispanic voters who just otherwise aren’t too keen on the “send all them mexcuns back!! policy.
Marcus on April 10, 2013 at 1:09 PM
Conquest! Let the Turf Wars begin!!
hawkeye54 on April 10, 2013 at 1:12 PM
Never mind that the claim of “we should let democrats win because it takes the issue of the table” is about as stupid as it gets. It’s so stupid, you have to question either the sanity of the person making it, or their motives, because they are either insane, or they’re working for the the opposition.
xblade on April 10, 2013 at 1:12 PM
Yeah, but you’re a moron, so no shock there.
xblade on April 10, 2013 at 1:16 PM
Test.
IceCold on April 10, 2013 at 1:25 PM
Rubio and all of his, go to Hades.
May you all spontaneously combust, you traitors of the land.
Schadenfreude on April 10, 2013 at 1:35 PM
Well, one more time, but shorter.
This has become like a parody site. Ed – seriously? About half of that post seems like uninspired snark or satire, not actually analysis or commentary.
The infatuation with Rubio has been, from the outset, baffling – and further evidence there isn’t much hope. He’s a twink and a lightweight, with a core of foam (see his revolting and disqualifying “you don’t get someone to vote for you by deporting his grandmother” race-baiting crap).
I can no longer make a serious argument that governing or politicking based on common sense, some semblance of American civic sensibility/constitutionalism, rule of law, or logic have any electoral viability. Expedience, racism (in its current, inexorable manifestations of state-based racial engineering and universal race-baiting in the press and culture), and top-down lawlessness (both the SCOTUS/Roberts kind and the EO exec. branch kind) are now the default setting, the framework.
But it is kind of nauseating to see those who should know better just swallowing the toxic poison gleefully, and expecting golf claps from what they must presume to be a very, very dim audience.
IceCold on April 10, 2013 at 2:25 PM
And if I had wings I could fly.
VorDaj on April 10, 2013 at 2:54 PM
Rubio is a little worm, not to be trusted on anything.
VorDaj on April 10, 2013 at 3:10 PM
How come every time a politician cries “Eureka, we have a deal!” I think “Crap, we’ve been screwed again!”?
jnelchef on April 10, 2013 at 3:42 PM