Neoconservative Republicans are none too pleased by President Obama\u2019s nomination of Chuck Hagel to the position of Secretary of Defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Anyone who has been listening to neoconservative talk radio for the last couple of days, or reading such neoconservative publications as The Weekly Standard <\/em>and National Review, <\/em>is all too familiar with the litany of charges of which Hagel is presumed guilty.\u00a0 When it comes to foreign policy, Hagel is an \u201cappeaser,\u201d \u201cna\u00efve,\u201d and \u201cno friend of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n These allegations may or may not be true.\u00a0 What is <\/em>true is that Hagel\u2019s accusers haven\u2019t even come close to substantiating any of them.<\/p>\n Mine is an attitude of indifference toward Hagel.\u00a0 To his credit, he was a trenchant critic of the Iraq War.\u00a0 However, he had none of the prescience of those of the war\u2019s opponents who resisted it from the outset, for Hagel initially voted for it. The point, though, is that it is his opposition to this war that first rendered him persona non grata <\/em>to his fellow neoconservative Republicans who aggressively advocated on its behalf.<\/p>\n They will not publicly admit this now, obviously.\u00a0 After all, as the elections of 2006 and 2008, to say nothing of poll after poll,\u00a0proved beyond a doubt, it has been quite some time since the majority of the nation has decided that the Hagels of the world were correct about the war while the Kristols, Krauthammers, Hannitys, Limbaughs, and Bennetts were sorely mistaken. \u00a0<\/p>\n The Iraq War was a foreign policy disaster of epic proportions.\u00a0 This is how most people view it today\u2014even if Hagel\u2019s neoconservative critics refuse to do so.<\/p>\n The neoconservative\u2019s reaction to Hagel\u2019s nomination is as revealing an indication as any that the Republican Party has not <\/em>amended its ways.\u00a0 To put it another way, it proves that America\u2019s neoconservative party is as committed to its ideology as Obama is committed to his.<\/p>\n Every election season neoconservative pundits are quick to chastise as \u201csingle issue\u201d voters those \u201csocial conservatives\u201d who express reluctance to vote for candidates who they believe are, say, insufficiently \u201cpro-life.\u201d\u00a0 Yet these same pundits show none of the tolerance, patience, or flexibility of those to whom they preach, for there is one issue on which they will not <\/em>compromise.<\/p>\n Of course, that issue is \u201cforeign policy\u201d or \u201cnational security.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n And for the neoconservative, this means the following:<\/p>\n First, any politician who isn\u2019t determined to spend even more public monies on the military must be depicted as an \u201cappeaser,\u201d \u201cna\u00efve,\u201d and, invariably, \u201cno friend ofIsrael\u2019s.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Second, any politician who suggests the need for reductions in military (\u201cdefense\u201d) spending must be characterized as an \u201cappeaser,\u201d \u201cna\u00efve,\u201d and \u201cno friend of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n Third, any politician who refuses to paint any Islamic militant as a \u201cterrorist,\u201d \u201cradical Muslim,\u201d or \u201cIslamist\u201d must be described as an \u201cappeaser,\u201d \u201cna\u00efve,\u201d and \u201cno friend of Israel.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Fourth, any politician, like Hagel, who makes a point of reminding his colleagues that they have been elected to represent the people of America<\/em>, <\/em>not of Israel<\/em>,<\/em> must be smeared as an \u201cappeaser,\u201d \u201cna\u00efve,\u201d and \u201cno friend of Israel.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Finally, any politician who opposes efforts to enlist the American military in the service of fundamentally transforming the planet into a bastion of Global Democracy must be decried as an \u201cappeaser,\u201d \u201cna\u00efve,\u201d and \u201cno friend of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n The key to understanding the neoconservative\u2019s reaction to Hagel\u2014as well as to understanding everything else that\u00a0 does\u2014lies in understanding his foreign policy vision and the all-importance that he attaches to it.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Neoconservative Republicans are none too pleased by President Obama\u2019s nomination of Chuck Hagel to the position of Secretary of Defense.\u00a0 Anyone who has been listening to neoconservative talk radio for the last couple of days, or reading such neoconservative publications as The Weekly Standard and National Review, is all too familiar with the litany of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n