Chuck Hagel is not (yet) running for the Republican nomination in 2008. He's been out in front for Republicans opposed to the war and in a number of other ways has behaved in a way that is appealing to frustrated centrists. It is tempting to think he might be a good guy to have around. He's not.
Not too long ago, he was about to announce what he was going to do with his future. He showed up and all but spluttered, saying, duh, I'll get back to you guys in the fall. This might seem somewhat mysterious. I would assert that it is not.
http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2005/09/hagels-electronic-theft-of-us-senate.html
Yes, a bit excitable, but a reasonable summary.
You don't have to run faster than the bear. It's better to get off the bus a stop or two earlier than you'd like, than to be pushed off the back of the bus. And run over.
Hagel won't be running in 2008. Not for President. Not for Veep. Not for Senate. And one of these days, he's going to be answering some hard questions under oath. Or not answering, as the case may be. He isn't so sure about this, and he's making some efforts to squash the ugly truth.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/04/30/hagel_interview/print.html
In this article, he makes a series of factually true statements about the whole ES&S thing that are horribly misleading. He says he never had anything to do with ES&S -- except he was chairman/ceo of one of the two companies which, when merged, became ES&S. Oh, and he still has a substantial stake in the parent company. Little things like that.
The massive misrepresentation of the news conference is something else again.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/12/AR2007031201222.html
The Salon author implies that the non-announcement was somehow "calibrated". She's the only one out there who seems to think that.
Christine Jennings may yet make some real progress in her efforts to clean up the dirty race that denied her her seat. And ES&S is at the heart of it.
http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/jennings-bullish-after-pre-election-letter-shows-equipment-problems-2007-03-14.html
Hagel was the only unannounced candidate to recently speak to a firefighters' union. He screwed up. He started his remarks by praising volunteer firefighters.
Moron.
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/sens.-mccain-and-obama-fail-with-firefighters-union-2007-05-09.html
You cannot pay any attention to this guy and buy the hype that whatever he does he's
thought through carefully.
