WASHINGTON —
Two senators predicted Sunday that former Sen. Chuck Hagel would face a difficult confirmation if nominated by President Barack Obama to be defense secretary.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent who’s retiring and wouldn’t have a vote, cited Hagel’s less-than-hawkish positions on Iran. Lieberman told CNN’s “State of the Union” that it would be “a very tough confirmation process,” and “there are reasonable questions to ask and that Chuck Hagel will have to answer.”
On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said it would be “a challenging nomination.”
“I don’t think he’s going to get many Republican votes,” Graham said.
Hagel, 66, is considered the leading candidate to replace Leon Panetta at the Pentagon, although a number of GOP senators have expressed reservations about a nomination. Their concerns largely center on Hagel’s past comments about Israel and Iran. Outside groups have suggested that based on Hagel’s remarks, he isn’t sufficiently supportive of Israel, an important ally in the Middle East.
Opponents point to his votes against sanctions on Iran and letters that Hagel signed, along with ones he declined to add his name to, many of those favored by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the powerful pro-Israel lobby. In August 2006, Hagel refused to sign a letter pressing the European Union to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization, one of 12 senators who balked. In 2007, he sent a letter to Bush urging talks with Iran.
Hagel, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, has favored diplomacy over military action with Iran, and criticized talk of a strike by either the United States or Israel against Iran.
Lieberman said sanctions are the only way to change Tehran’s behavior “short of war.” Lieberman said that Hagel had “some very outlying votes” against economic penalties on Iran over its nuclear program.
Georgia Republican U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson said on ABC’s “This Week” that he’ll “reserve any judgment until after the hearings we have on confirmation if in fact he is nominated.” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., was non-committal about Hagel, saying she’ll see “what happens with these hearings.”
Hagel once made reference to the “Jewish lobby” in the United States, a comment that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called “inappropriate.”
“There’s no such thing as a Jewish lobby,” McCain said. “There’s an Armenian lobby, there’s not a Jewish lobby. There’s an Israeli lobby. It’s called AIPAC, very influential.”
At least two other candidates remain under serious consideration — former Pentagon policy chief Michele Flournoy and Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter.
National News
Senators: Hagel would face tough confirmation
- National News
-
-
American will favor passengers without roller bags
If you’re traveling light, you can board earlier on American Airlines.
-
Senate panel considers labor board nominees
Senate Republicans said Thursday they would not support five nominees to the National Labor Relations Board, raising the possibility the troubled agency could be rendered mostly inoperable later this year.
-
No Powerball winner; jackpot soars to $475 million
So you didn’t win Wednesday’s $360 million Powerball jackpot? Make that you and everyone else.
-
INFLUENCE GAME: Tech, labor spar on immigration
To the U.S. technology industry, there’s a dramatic shortfall in the number of Americans skilled in computer programming and engineering that is hampering business.
-
Health reforms penalize some Indians
When Liz DeRouen needs any kind of health care services, from diabetes counseling to a dental cleaning, she checks into a government-funded clinic in Northern California’s wine country that covers all her medical needs.
-
Pennsylvania abortion doctor gets third life sentence
A Philadelphia abortion doctor was sentenced Wednesday to a third life term for killing an aborted baby he described as so big it could “walk to the bus.”
-
For Minnesota gay marriage sponsors, it’s personal
When Gov. Mark Dayton adds his signature to the bill legalizing gay marriage in Minnesota later Tuesday, its two main sponsors will stand triumphantly beside him admiring the fruits of their long and often demoralizing struggle for gay rights.
-
Angelina Jolie says she had double mastectomy
Angelina Jolie says that she has had a preventive double mastectomy after learning she carried a gene that made it extremely likely she would get breast cancer.
-
Wind farms get pass on eagle deaths
It happens about once a month here, on the barren foothills of one of America’s green-energy boomtowns: A soaring golden eagle slams into a wind farm’s spinning turbine and falls, mangled and lifeless, to the ground.
-
Govt obtains wide AP phone records in probe
The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative’s top executive called a “massive and unprecedented intrusion” into how news organizations gather the news.
- More National News Headlines
-
American will favor passengers without roller bags
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash
NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash
Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country
Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital
Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest
Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting
CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools
$1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest
NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor
Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool
Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids
Raw: Bear Falls From Tampa Tree
Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics
Terror Suspect Due in Court in Idaho Friday
Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge
Could Tobacco Be the Next Biofuel?
Wash. State Releases Draft Rules for Legal Pot
Dying Man's Blinks Lead to Murder Conviction
Officials: Texas Tornado Likely Had 200 Mph Wind
Brothers Arrested in NOLA Parade Shooting
