"Events Have Borne out Sen. Hagel's Skepticism."

The following is an editorial from the North Platte Telegraph in Nebraska, a newspaper which has made its displeasure with Senator Hagel known for his stance against the President. Take a read.



01/23/2007

NORTH PLATTE TELEGRAPH EDITORIAL

We often say we want our politicians to stand for more than just getting re-elected. We profess to want lawmakers who will take a well-reasoned, ethical stance, and then stand by it regardless of the political winds of the day, and what might be most expedient.

You don’t see many politicians who actually do that, however. In the rarified, presidential launching pad of the U.S. Senate, it’s common to, in the words of one failed candidate, “vote for the bill before I voted against the bill.”

By that standard, regardless of whether you agree with him or not, you’ve got to give credit to Nebraska’s U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel.

It is not uncommon to hear grousing about Hagel from Republicans, due to his ongoing disagreement with President George W. Bush over the way the war in Iraq has been conducted. We’ve done a little complaining about Hagel’s apparent lack of party loyalty on this very page. (He quickly fired back a personal note, citing his conservative voting record, and defending his independence.)

As the violence continues to escalate in Iraq, however, and as support for the war continues to drop, and as the president asks his critics if they have any better ideas about how to pursue the war, Hagel’s consistent questioning of the war has established a level of credibility on the issue that is enjoyed by few other politicians. As the president “changes course” in Iraq, it is obvious that Hagel was right all along in his dogged skepticism.

Asked last Sunday on the CBS program “Face the Nation” if Vice President Dick Cheney is correct that opposing the war gives aid to our enemies, Hagel replied that it is preposterous to think that the war should not be debated in Congress. He added he appreciated those who questioned the Vietnam war back in 1968, when he was serving in the Mekong Delta. Asked if he would ever leave his party, he told host Bob Schieffer that he had no plans to do so, but added that the Republican Party he voted for in 1968 was far different than the Republican Party today.

While in the past Hagel’s skepticism had the appearance of a prospective presidential candidate stomping out turf, at the expense of his own party’s president, events have borne him out, and today it is only fair to give Hagel his due. Today, he looks like a senator who is determined to avoid the mistakes he witnessed first hand in a previous war.

However you feel about Chuck Hagel, only the most ardent partisans will deny him credit for having spoken up when it was not popular to do so, and having stuck by his guns when it would have been far easier to have remained quiet.

If you like a politician who is his own man and stands up for what he thinks regardless of the consequences, we’ve certainly got that in Chuck Hagel. A state could do far worse in this day and age.