Bruning Interview

Over at Townhall, Patrick Ruffini interviews our Attorney General John Bruning on why he's challenging the still undeclared for anything Chuck Hagel. I like what I hear from John on his rationale for running.

Bruning: "In 2004, we had to listen to John Kerry in the debates quoting Hagel to our President. It was painful for Nebraskans, and more and more he was breaking with the President, and more and more he was doing it in a way that was an attempt to embarrass the President and the Republican Party. In March of this year, he votes with the Democrats on the strict timeline for troop withdrawal, and he talks about the impeachment of the President, and I just had had it, and thought, "You know what, I'm in a position to do something about this." Conservatives need a voice. And so ultimately in early April I decided I was going to run......I don't take this lightly. I don't like the idea of a primary fight. But I'm not the one that left the Republican Party. I'm right where I was at the beginning of this thing. Hagel is the one who has turned hard left. And not just on the big issues. He voted with the Democrats on Iraq, which is just very frustrating. He's voting with a mixed coalition that includes the President on immigration, which I think is a very bad bill. But even though I disagree with the President, I'm not going to call for his impeachment on that. I think it's a bad bill. If I was in the Senate I would go down the street and say "Mr. President, I disagree with this bill, and I can't support it." But I wouldn't demagogue the issue, and it's kind of embarrassing when someone talks of impeachment. And he voted for this silly resolution of no confidence against Attorney General Gonzales. Hagel is just gone, in terms of everything. You'll find that even on the little votes now, Hagel will stick it to his own party. That kind of disloyalty doesn't go unnoticed. The other Republican Senators are very frustrated with him. "

No to mention the voters that elected his sorry butt to Washington DC to represent our interests, like me. Bruning goes on to say that we need to give General Petraeus time in Iraq, that he wants to secure the border first, and that he's fifth generation Nebraskan. He's also pro Second Amendment, pro-life, anti-tax, for smaller government, and has, as he puts it, "zero maverick moments" - you know where he stands on things. He also point out the circumstances of Hagel's election, moving in from Virginia, that still makes my skin crawl a bit.

As of right now, Bruning's polling shows him doing well against Hagel, should Chuck ever make up his mind about his future. All I can say is that there is no way in HADES that I would ever vote for Hagel for any other office. No way, no how, ever.

Hagel gets some Press

Meanwhile, the New York Sun begins to wonder whether or not Chuck Hagel could survive a priamry fight against Nebraska Attorney General John Bruning. Uhh...probably not, as I am a guy that voted for him....once upon a time in land far, far away. But I will never do so again, so help me God.

"It'll be interesting to see how Mr. Hagel's weakness on foreign policy plays in the American heartland when challenged by a strong candidate such as Mr. Bruning. There's been talk of Mr. Hagel mounting a Republican presidential campaign or joining with Mayor Bloomberg on an independent presidential ticket, but it looks to us as if the senator from the cornhusker state may be lucky if he even manages to hold on to his Senate seat."

Limbaugh on Hagel

Daivid Limbaugh skewers what is fast becoming my least favorite Nebraska Senator of all time, Chuck "Media Hound" Hagel.

"Someone needs to deliver Sen. Hagel and his like-minded congressional colleagues a memo explaining that the president is commander in chief and that he cannot be fired either by Congress or the people in the absence of committing high crimes and misdemeanors, which involve monumentally more than policy disagreements with the legislative branch. If anything, it is certain congressmen, not the president, who are exceeding their constitutional authority by attempting to usurp the president's lawful power as commander in chief."

Hopefully David's sixth grade civics lesson won't fall on deaf ears, but I doubt it. I've never regretted voting for anyone in twenty years of voting, until the last two years, but I sure do now. Hagel's quickly become an embarassment, both to his party and his constituents. I appreciate his service to his country in Vietnam (as I do John McCain's, and even John Kerry's, or for that matter, John Murtha's) but the fact a man served in an unpopular war forty years ago does not make him a military expert, does not make him a serious strategist, and does not make him a political stateman - despite what he may think of himself.

Bloviating to the press on national TV about Iraq being "just like Vietnam" is a sign of serious mental impairment, and completely discredits the man on other issues of importance to the nation. If he can't get his act together on the most critical issue of the day, then I certainly have to doubt it on all other matters that come before him in the Senate. If he runs again for the Senate, I will do everything in my meager power to make sure he doesn't get re-elected. I almost hope he runs for President and pulls a Vilsack after spending all his money on focus groups and political hacks.