Chuck Hagel’s path to the Pentagon struck another major roadblock on Thursday when Senate Republicans kept up their threat to filibuster, throwing the nomination into limbo as Congress prepared to quit town for a weeklong recess.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on the Senate floor that Republicans were blocking Hagel over their demands that he and the White House give more information about Hagel’s background and the Sept. 11 Benghazi attacks.
Angry Democrats slammed that move, contending Hagel has cleared every bar on his financial disclosures and that he has nothing to do with Benghazi – and that the appearance of a headless Pentagon would only invite trouble for national security.
Nonetheless, senior Democratic aides said Thursday morning that Hagel’s nomination did not appear to have the 60 votes it needs to overcome Republican objections before a key Friday procedural vote, setting up a scenario in which the Senate might not act on Hagel until Feb. 25 at the earliest.
Then again, Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said he expected the Senate to act around 9 a.m. Friday “Whether there’s the [60] votes or not.”
“I just hope we have the votes to end debate,” Levin said.
So who knows WTF is going on. All we really know for sure is that GOP fools intent on grandstanding over Benghazi have put the nomination in real jeopardy. And, if it’s not Hagel, then the next nominee will face the very same problem — despite having absolutely nothing to do with the State Department or Benghazi. Hagel is being held hostage to a completely tangental issue. GOP numbnuts aren’t hearing what they want to hear, so their going to sit in Washington doing nothing with their thumbs up their asses, holding their breath until they turn blue, and demanding that reality change to fit the story they want to tell on the campaign trail. In other words, unless the universe bows to their whims, they’ll confirm no nominee ever.
This is why we need real filibuster reform, not the toothless bullshit Harry Reid agreed to. Republicans cannot be dealt with rationally, they have no interest in governing, all they want to do is create horseshit buzz on talk radio so they can get reelected.
This is not how the founders intended government to work. Hagel would win an up or down vote. It’s time to bring democracy to the US Senate.
