Redstate

By Ericka Andersen Posted in 2008 — Comments (18) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Chuck Hagel has always been an odd Republican – a rather blue one you might say. And right now, he’s not willing to endorse the presumed Republican nominee for president, John McCain. McCain is the only option for the right in 2008, and his policies and ideas are vastly different from those of both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Hagel disagrees with John McCain’s approach to Iraq and seems to bank on that reason for his lack of support. This morning on CNN, Hagel told John Roberts he was “not ready to endorse him for president.”

Recently, HUMAN EVENTS reporter John Gizzi ran into Hagel at the airport and confronted him about the issue. Gizzi wrote:

I asked the senator whether that meant he had not yet endorsed McCain for President.

'You heard right,' Hagel replied, 'John [McCain] and I have some serious disagreements on foreign policy.' When I asked if this meant their very public difference of opinion on Iraq, Hagel said: 'It’s not just Iraq. It’s about the direction of where U.S. foreign policy is going over the next few years.'

That a sitting Republican senator would refuse to say whether he backs his party’s certain nominee for President was a bit of a jolt -- especially since Hagel was one of a handful of GOP senators to support McCain over George W. Bush for the GOP nomination in 2000.

Hagel refuses to acknowledge the real progress in Iraq or that the country is a central front in the War on Terror. In fact, last year, he was one of only two Republican Senators to vote for troop withdrawal.

Last year, Robert Novak reported :

"...he described Iraq as 'coming undone,' with its regime 'weaker by the day.'

'...Iraq is not embroiled in a terrorist war today.'

Hagel, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, plans to retire to this year but his influence is still significant. Though he has a decent lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union, it's tough for Republicans to align themselves with someone so blind to vested American interests in Iraq. It's not just about the Iraqis, as he often muses, but about our national security and commitment as well.

Here he is this Sunday, speaking about the non-endorsement and his thoughts on Iraq:

Hagel’s new book is called “Moving Forward” but by refusing to support the Republican nominee for President or recognizing the terrorist threat for what it is, Hagel’s not moving anything forward for his party.