Mr. Goldman, sir, your second sentence is gratuitously coarse and distracts and detracts from your arguments. Dial it back a click.

When did Leon Panetta announce his resignation?

#2, Panetta hasn´t officially announced it, but according to news sources he "has made clear" he will leave before his 75th birthday in June. He´s not Obama´s favorite cabinet member, anyway, because he tries to look after the military rather than following Obama´s wishes.

The truth is frequently "coarse". And the left usually attempts to control the language.
The second sentence is why Obama wants Hagel.

i think panetta is retiring.........barry will pick who he wants......remember HE ONE

I didn´t think Obama´s Cabinet picks could get any worse but it sounds like they are about to.

Obama hates Israel. Netanyahu is the only person that can control Obama. All you have to do is corner up some terrorists and threaten to kil them and Obama will do anything you say.

Aaron, Aaron, Aaron. Most secular, Reform and Conservative Jews under 40 could not find Israel on a map. Abortion rights, gay marriage, and fear of conservative Christians trump everything.

And this is coming from one of a handful of members of a Reform congregation that would outwardly admit voting for Romney.

Obama has been saying F*&% you to America for the last 4 years.

OK, allow me to un-coarsen the accurate metaphor a bit. Hagel in effect is that not-so-subtle middle finger alongside the brow that Obama likes to use in public settings to demonstrate his contempt for his adversaries, such as Israel in this case.

Between this story and the gun story it looks like Zippy has opened two cans of worms that have the potential to make this a very interesting year. God help us and be with us all.

The gays have a better chance of stopping Hagel than the Israeli lobby.

Far be it from me to criticize coarseness but that last sentence wherein the writer uses ´Frank´ ,´pleasure´ and ´sweat´ in one sentence makes me want to take a shower.

Hagel is a light weight and a dim bulb and the Republicans need to do everything in their power to send him packing. It will be a disaster if that fool is turned loose on the Pentagon.

When Obama’s through with the military, there may be no need for a Secretary of Defense.

Ah --- yes -- another incompetent added to the bamboozler administration.....

Pick the most illogical candidate to p@ss off Americans....

See the pattern -- folks????

LZK

If you liked Les Aspin, you´ll love Chuck Hagel.

Anybody who even thinks about putting Barney Frank into a position of power again is not a credible writer. Barney has demonstrated everything that is wrong with Washington. Israel is not the problem in the middle east but it seems that obama is trying to make it one. Typical zero move, redirect the focus from what really should be fixed.

From the few Jewish people I know, they really don´t seem to care what happens to Israel. They don´t even care what happens to the USA. And judging by the last potus election, the majority of people in this country don´t seem to care about what happens to our own country let alone an ally.

I think it is less about Bibi and more about sticking it to neocon Bill Kristol. Watching Billy boy pout should entertain.

Hagel will be submissive to Obama´s demands. That´s about the only reason he would pick him, with the added bonus that Obama can openly thumb his nose at pretty much anyone now (including the gay lobbyists).

Poster Pluperfecf: Your intro could have read:


The Obama presidency makes zero sense. Obama´s unqualified, the Pubs hate him, few Dems embrace him, the military fears him. What´s the gain? Is it worth it simply to fling a spitball at Netanyahu? Apparently so.

Hagel is a distraction, as is the push for gun control, since nomination of Obama´s mirror image takes spotlight off of stagnant economy, deficits and malaise.

Panetta lost interest in DoD when word leaked that he used an Air Force jet to commute from his California estate to DC every week. Obama would have objected to this extravagance if Panetta had lived in Las Vegas.

In other words, #22 must be saying that "Barack the Magic Negro" really does have meaning other than in a song.

Zippy plays with his race and racism, rubbing our faces in it when it suits him, retreating from it and letting himself and others take umbrage at it when that works best. The same goes for toying with Israel and taking advantage of the sympathy between American Jews American blacks, as if they´re somehow akin.

Obama rules by division. He knows that a Hagel choice is the most divisive he can pick so when the fighting begins and absorbs all of the oxygen around it, he will force through gun control while everyone is distracted.

I would not be surprised if Obama hits us with more controversial surprises in the next few months. That is how he began his first term, one lambast after another, almost daily. I will never forget.
He plans on tearing this country apart. He wants chaos from sea to shining sea. He is evil personified.

Hagel is fine by me. He used to be a Republican, I think. He´s a Vet.. It´s not like Barry´s trying to appoint Dennis Kuchinich. The gay mafia doesn´t like him, so that´s a bonus. Barry is essentially entitled to the cabinet he so desires, per the Constitution. What´s all the fuss about? Jews voted for Barry overwhelmingly, so the constant harping on his alleged anti-semitism rings hollow. There are more productive avenues of critique that don´t seem so callow.

The perfect Sec of Def candidate is a gay Jewish Republican (if there is such a person).

This will pi$$ off Israelis, Arabs, Liberals and Americans as well as the military.

A perfect storm.

Hagel kis the perfect 0blamer pick. He is poised to:
1. Insult Israel
2. Demoralize the pentagon by putting a private in charge. The decorations are purple hearts which although earned the hard way, demonstrate little in the way of military knowledge.
3 . Further the Ayers/0blamer goal of reducing our military to third world status.
4. Cause a battle with republicans who cannot in good consciece vote to confirm an unqualified man who used to be a Republican.
5. Distract from the rael damage the democrats are doing to the country.

#1 that is exactly what´s being telegraphed

#2 The salient point

Disagree with the Canadian born Mr. Goldstein. Former Republican Senator Hagel served our nation and The Free World honorably in Southeast Asia during the war and came away from the conflict with Sergeant stripes and a Purple Heart w/Oak Leaf Cluster...In my opinion, his heart is in the right place and he is well suited to look after the welfare of America´s Armed Services and our nation´s eternal ally, The State of Israel, if he should ever occupy the "front office" at the Pentagon.

Freshman Congressman Tom Cotton R- Ark was on This Week today and I was impressed with his views on Hagel.
Not that they hold any weight-the Democrat
controlled Senate can confirm Hagel and any other Cabinet position by themselves.
Rep Cotton is a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan.
He said that Hagel was against the surge.
The week Rep Cotton came back from Iraq in 2006,
Hagel announced that the war in Iraq couldn´t be won.
Which insulted and undercut ( my words , Cotton´s implication )
the troops fighting there.
Cotton said that Hagel delayed emergency funding for the troops in 2007.
And even after the surge succeeded in 2008, Hagel
" still said that it wasn´t because of the troops addition."
Cotton also said :
"When you add that to his dangerous views on Iran and Hezbollah and Hamas and terrorism,
as well as his strange hostility towards Israel,.."
Hagel sounds like Obama´s kind of guy.
44 years ago as a 21 year old, from 1967 to 1968 ,
Hagel served in Vietnam earning two Purple Hearts.
That does not qualify him to be Secretary of Defense.
His overtly antagonistic behavior towards the current military
( still fighting and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan )
makes it a mystery why he was even considered by Obama.
I kid-it´s exactly why he was considered.

This is pay back to Buffet and the Nebraska quid pro quo.

Hagel is one of the most controversial choices 0bama could make, but that´s 0bama´s pattern, eh? ...Whether it is 0bama´s picks for policy or for filling his Administration´s positions, who can deny his choices on ALL issues & candidates continue to be the most partisan, most lefty/lib/statist and most annoyingly inept of controversial decisions?

0bama apparently intends to keep stiring the sociatal pot of discontent befitting of an urban community agitator, which is what he was trained to be and has always done. He will be known in history as America´s most extremist President, who used strife & discord at every opportunity as his statist modus opperandi tool.

...What kind of person, much less any national leader, apparently delights in sarcasim, ´´revenge,´´ and unfounded grudges? What are the results left behind by such an egotist but chaos? mmm mmm mmm

This is all to embarrass Republicans, again.

Chuck Hagel will be better than the war monger Rumsfeld and Bush. Who got thousands of boys killed and maimed over nothing in Iraq.Do you sleep well tonight Georgie boy? I guess you spend your time grieving your Dad and not all the families you destroyed over nothing in Iraq. Faces gone, no legs, no arms....was it worth it war mongers.....???

Hagel is a pretend Republican who would give Obama some of the political cover that he thinks he needs to reduce the US military budgets and long-term expeditionary capabilities.

Besides as a long-time proponent of mass amnesty for illegal aliens, Hagel would probably go along with Obama proposals to load up the US military will illegal aliens as a basis for future amnesty grants.