Yesterday, Kos had a FP post about the Hagel nomination and I wanted to respond to it then but work took up my time. Anyway, the gist of it was the hilarity of republicans eating one of their own and the complete fiasco that the hearings were. He said because he's against Democrats picking republicans, he has no dog in this fight and won't defend Hagel, i.e. leave it to Obama, but still enjoyed the hypocrisy of watching republicans beat each other up.
This is wrong on so many levels I don't know where to begin. I won't bother trying to convince Kos or other progressives of the idiocy of wanting a "Democrat" to be SecDef for the heck of it without realizing that there are just many FP hawks in the democratic party as there are in the republican party. In fact, this should be the one cabinet position where we just judge the person on his views, and ignore irrelevant party labels. But thats not my main issue with the thrust of Kos' thinking.
I have 2 main issues:
1)I don't believe in Mccarthyism for thee, but not for me. What republicans are doing to Hagel is wrong, wrong, wrong. Its demagogic and would make McCarthy proud. Liberals are supposed to be the people in this country that defend EVERYBODY, not just our fellow thinkers. So for Kos to say he won't bother fighting against this smear campaign because the guy's a republican is the least progressive impulse possible.
2)If you're a supporter of the president, nothing would weaken him more and revive the republican party faster than the successful defeat of the Hagel nomination. The sharks will be smelling blood, and the rationale that you can quarantine this fight from the rest of the Obama agenda is naive. Its a package deal, and thats why defending Hagel even if he's not your preference matters.
Now, if you actually want him to not get confirmed and thats your preference, thats fine. But you should be taking that position with eyes wide open in regards to the political capital such an act would sap from Obama.
I had to get that off my chest:)