Novak: Hagel To "Make Up His Mind" About '08 During August Recess

[Alabama Supporter]

Ron Paul's enthusiastic support cited as a reason for his contemplation of a run.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/08/05/novak-hagel-to-make-up-_n_59193.html

[gravesdav]

This is exactly why we can't just sit around and blow off the summer and the straw poll. Ron Paul has to come out as the anti-war, conservative candidate.

[Mesogen]

How can Hagel be the anti-war Republican when he voted for the war?
It's like calling Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and John Edwards anti-war.

[Badger Paul]

So Chuck Hagel is going to take our corn after we harvest it? He's going to take away our presents on Christmas morn?

You can't legilstae against scumbag opportunists but if Hagel does run if we do well in Ames, he'll catch hell for it.

[Alabama Supporter]

So Chuck Hagel is going to take our corn after we harvest it? He's going to take away our presents on Christmas morn?

You can't legilstae against scumbag opportunists but if Hagel does run if we do well in Ames, he'll catch hell for it.

I totally agree Badger. I don't know that Hagel would come close to the grassroots support, but he does have the MSM in his back pocket for whatever reason. I honestly think it is too late for him to raise the necessary cash and such. Plus, Iowa is so important.

[Badger Paul]

It will look so transparently phony. It will look like Warren Buffet and MSM boys are trying to inflate Hagel as the "aceeptable" antiwar Republican. He's not a radical like RP. Of course the idea is to split that vote which right now is all RP. From a grassroots standpoint, Hagel will have none whatsoever. Most ordinary Republicans hate him and how can independent voters be impressed with a man who suddenly deicdes to run just because there is a antiwar constitutency in the GOP that he should claim for himself. Did he just discover this?

Fortunate favors the brave, the ones who dare. Not those who ride on other people's coattails. If he thinks he's Bobby Kennedy trying to push aside Eugene McCarthy, he's got another think coming.

[Mesogen]

Ron Paul, when asked who he might vote for in a Pres race if he were not running, answered Chuck Hagel.

I don't get that.

In my book, anyone who voted for the Iraq War and/or the Patriot Act is blackballed. You get no vote from me ever for any reason.

[freelance]

I suspect that Hagel's renewed interest in running has something to do with Fred Thompson performing worse than expected.

I know that he's against the war NOW, but if he does run, I think that he'll siphon off votes from the selected candidates.

[LizF]

1) Considering his stance on immigration, he probably shouldn't bother-- considering how well it worked for McCain.

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Hagel):
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"On immigration, Senator Hagel supports a "pathway to citizenship" and a "guest worker program" for illegal aliens, which opponents call an amnesty. On May 25, 2006 he voted for S. 2611, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006, which passed the Senate before reaching a stalemate in the House in late 2006.

On June 26, Hagel joined with Senator Ted Kennedy to support the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1639.

Due to displeasure over Hagel's stance on the war, Nebraska State Attorney General Jon Bruning has planned to challenge him in the primaries in 2008 should he not step down, or simply run outright if Hagel enters the 2008 presidential race.

In July 2007, Hagel was one of three Republican Senators who supported the legislation proposed by Democrats to require a troop withdrawal to begin within 120 days. "This thing is really coming undone quickly, and [Prime Minister] Maliki's government is weaker by the day. The police are corrupt, top to bottom. The oil problem is a huge problem. They still can't get anything through the parliament -- no hydrocarbon law, no de-Baathification law, no provincial elections," [Rovert Novac Inteview with Hagel published in the washington Post" "Hagels Stand".]"
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2) Possible/suggested connection w/voting machine manufacturers:

"Although he was pressured by some to run for Governor of Virginia, where he had lived for 20 years, in 1992 Hagel moved back to Nebraska to become president of the McCarthy Group, an investment banking firm. He also served as CEO of American Information Systems Inc. (AIS), a voting machine manufacturer, which changed its name to Election Systems & Software (ES&S) in 1997."


Some find this all the more curious because:

"In 1996, Chuck Hagel ran for the US Senate against Ben Nelson, who was the sitting governor of Nebraska. Although many people believed he had no chance of winning, he won a "stunning upset" in the election, receiving 56% of the vote (Nelson was later elected to Nebraska's other Senate seat, in 2000). During his first campaign, Hagel indicated that, were he to be elected, he would retire in 2008 after two terms in the Senate. [2] Six years later in 2002, Hagel overwhelmingly won re-election with over 83% of the vote, the largest margin of victory in any statewide race in Nebraska history."

(both of these quotes come from same Wikipedia article mentioned above)