Video: Lindsey Graham versus Hagel over his “Israeli lobby” comments

You’ve already seen a bunch of video of Hagel today. Get ready to see a bunch more. As I’m writing this, I’m hearing on Twitter that Ted Cruz is destroying him over America supposedly being the “world’s bully.” This isn’t a confirmation hearing, it’s target practice.

The beauty of this clip isn’t just the spectacle of Graham making Hagel eat his own shinola. It’s the fact that 90 percent of the reason the left has gone along with this nomination is to see Hagel push back on questions exactly like this one. He was the guy who was going to speak truth to power by standing up to the neocon warmongers and their “Zionist” puppet-masters — and here he is, rolling over. You could almost hear liberals screaming at their TV sets when Graham asked him to name a dumb move taken by the U.S. at the behest of the Israel lobby, “Say ‘Iraq’, Chuck! Say ‘Iraq!’” But Hagel can’t make that move. The Democrats will happily confirm a lightweight who’s unprepared for this hearing and unqualified to lead the Pentagon because he’s useful as a Republican fig leaf for Obama’s upcoming defense cuts. They won’t confirm a guy whose unapologetic conspiratorial mumbling about Israel’s hidden hand or whatever might alienate Jewish voters, and Hagel knows it. So he’s lying here, and not just about this either, purely in the interest of getting confirmed. Here’s what it looks like when Glenn Greenwald’s heart breaks:

It’s hard to be forceful, articulate and coherent when your whole tactic is to run away from your beliefs in exchange for power #Hagel

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 31, 2013

And lest you doubt Hagel’s lying:

I spent a couple of hours with Hagel a few years ago. Talked about Israel. Happily, he is lying today & knows it. He’ll be a good SeDef.

— MJ Rosenberg (@MJayRosenberg) January 31, 2013

If you don’t know who Rosenberg is and why that’s significant, go read Twitchy.

Update: I doubt he’s lost any Democrats from this morning’s showing but Thad Cochran may well be the only Republican vote.

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