Hagel: Rush Has No Answers

Photo of Mark Finkelstein.

Door, meet Hagel.  

That's how many Republicans are likely to react after retiring Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel blasted Republicans in general and Rush Limbaugh in particular, claiming Rush and fellow conservative talkers "don't have any answers."

David Shuster, subbing for Olbermann on tonight's Countdown, highlighted Hagel's remarks of today.

After rolling tape of two Republican senators looking on the bright side, Shuster quoted at length from Hagel, whose name had been bandied about as a possible Obama VP pick.

SHUSTER: Not all of the GOP is so sunny about their party. Retiring Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska took some time at a forum at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies to analyze just how the Republicans ended up in their current predicament.

Shuster then gave a dramatic reading of Hagel's remarks, emphasizing the sarcasm:

We are educated by the great entertainers like Rush Limbaugh. You know, I wish that Rush Limbaugh and others like that would run for office. They have so much to contribute and so much leadership.  They have an answer for everything. And they would be elected overwhelmingly.  The truth is, they try to rip everyone down and make fools of everybody but they don't have any answers.

Shuster then brought on liberal WaPo columnist E.J. Dionne, who observed, "I would love Rush Limbaugh to run for office: that would be a hoot."

No doubt. In the meantime, was Hagel seeking to burnish his resume for a slot in the Obama administration?

—Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters contributing editor and host of Right Angle. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net.


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Rush Doesn't Have Answers ...

So Rush may not have the answers, but Hagel doesn't have his seat anymore.

Good riddance!!! That's one less "David Gergen Republican" the Democrats can throw back at Republicans.  Hopefully, he will follow Lincoln Chafee's lead and switch parties.

Hey chuckie

What happened to your seat? You run out of answers?

i love it

when you guys eat your own!  it's like watching the nature channel.  i bet you regurgitate him and feed him to your young.  

Chuck Hagel is an arrogant

Chuck Hagel is an arrogant RINO windbag who couldn't find his a** with both hands...but good God, he certainly loves the sound of his own voice.  Remember, this is the same clown who held a massive press conference to announce that he hadn't yet decided whether to run for President or not.  Good riddance, scumbag...the Party (hell, the American people) will miss you like a cold sore.

"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." -Ronald Reagan

fitzfong.blogspot.com

President Rush?

 After Obama being elected anything is possible. And Rush is more qualified IMHO. If TPTB do silence Rush, I think he should run for office. Any office would be good considering thecurrent state of affairs.

 

Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Coward... The real

Coward...

The real problem here is... Chuck Hagel would never have the guts to try and implement any of Rush's ideas. Rush's ideas are Conservative ideas, and we all know how the GOP shys away from those!!! Just ask McCain.

Teach Your Children Well

 

 

 Making Fun of AGW http://giovanniworld.wordpress.com/  

Chuck, Chuck, Chuck

Chuckie, you don't think Rush has any ideas because he isn't touting your RINO sell-out BS.  He's never sacrificed his ideals or principles and that's what has your undies in a bunch because you don't know what those words actually mean. 

Please, do us and the rest of the country a favor and duct tape your mouth.

Republicans believe every day is the 4th of July.  Democrats believe every day is April 15th ~ Ronald Reagan

Rush is one of the most..

...savvy political thinkers of our time! (and very humble too!)  too many people stop at his huge ego. But what they don't understand is that Obama has a huge ego too, but his is untested! Whereas Rush is 98.9% accurate. Or correct, or whatever you want to call it. I find that most of Rush's critics either 1. Can't get past his sizable ego OR b. Don't listen to him. One thing about Rush that can be said he always treats his callers with respect, not matter how much of a dumbass liberal jerk off they happen to be.

:)

"There are two types of people in this country; those who provide freedom and those who enjoy it." MM says...

small difference..

rush is a talker, obama is a doer.  where rush sits in his little studio wacked out of his mind on painkillers spewing his opinion (and nobody's opinion is right 98.9% of the time) obama has run and won the highest office in our country, is implementing his ideas (for better or for worse) and putting his neck on the line every day.  you may hate obama, hate his ideas, etc, but obama has the balls to follow through and therefore trumps rush in every conceivable way.  as does anyone who is a doer instead of a human whoopee cushion.

Hagel doesn’t get it. To

Hagel doesn’t get it. To gain maximum mileage, the Pres-Elect wants to appoint Republicans who still pretend to be conservative….

Hagel strikes me as a guy whose ego prohibits him from admitting his opinions about Iraq were wrong. (But don’t worry, Chuck. Barack can still lose this thing.)

I think Republicans should...

...should stop letting RINO's speak for us and take back the party! 

"There are two types of people in this country; those who provide freedom and those who enjoy it." MM says...

AMEN MM... I'm praying

AMEN MM...

I'm praying that this election has been the last nail in the coffin for the RINO's!

Teach Your Children Well

 

 Making Fun of AGW http://giovanniworld.wordpress.com/  

if..

there where enough of you they would.  fortunately you are a small minority led by some extremely grating and controversial characters.  good luck with that.  

Chuck, see you around like

Chuck, see you around like a donut and thanks for nothing.

Sincerely, America.

The cost of living's going up, and the chance of livin's going down. - Flip Wilson

Chuck who??  I don't

Chuck who??  I don't remember a "Republican" named Chuck.  And what did this guy ever do that was noteworthy?

Another "life-long

Another "life-long Republican" prepping for his five minutes of fame in the lib media spotlight?

You go Chucky baby!

Probably looking for a job

Probably looking for a job at MSNBC.

Teach Your Children Well

 

 Making Fun of AGW http://giovanniworld.wordpress.com/  

Good riddance to

Good riddance to another RINO, with no answers, no vision and no beliefs. 

Hopefully a few more rinovirus will be joining you in the future.   Hagel and Stevens will have plenty to talk about in retirement, unless Hagel gets an Obama job offer and gets counted as a bipartisan Republican being on his team (sarc).  

Sayonara 

No representation in NorCal 

 

Hagel still chairs GOP organization

Hagel still sits as the Chairman of the Senate Advisory Committee for a supposed Republican political organization - The Ripon Society. The organization was a joke in the 1980's and it clearly is a joke now.

http://www.riponsociety.org/advisory-board.htm

 

Hagel was and is a democrat.

Glad to see that he is leaving congress, as he would just be another rubber stamp for the messiah.

-Dave

Did this country just elect Obama/Biden, or was it Soros/Ayers?

He's right

He's right. Now flame Hagel, flame me, flame anyone that disagrees with you. Rush has spent the 2 weeks since the election trying to spin how terribly wrong he was about the election. "People didn't vote down conservatism - it wasn't on the ballot." Nothing in life is as nuanced as Rush is trying to nuance what happened in this election. I get a bad feeling when someone never takes responsibility for being wrong.

But he's an entertainer. He's not a political leader.

No NWAHS

Rush is right. The MSM and Dems are trying to present this election as a flood of Niagara proportions for the Democrats and Left. When you look at the numbers of the popular election votes, it is again a statistical dead heat. With the Millions of dollars spent by the Dems, during this cycle, the popular vote should have buried the Republicans. The Obama Campaign ran an effective strategy of targeting states for Electoral College votes. The Electoral College votes are a landslide for Obama but this hasn't translated into a landslide of Senators or Representatives in Congress. If there had been a landslide, no Dem would care about Joe Lieberman or the Senate elections in Minnesota and Georgia.

The most effective approach for Republicans is to present a firm position on principles instead of trying to move to the middle. Almost all of the seats lost in the last 2 Congressional elections have been to Democrats who present more conservative views like Scoop Jackson and Zell Miller presented when they were running.

NC... Right you

NC...

Right you are...just too friggin' bad the majority of them don't vote that way when they are in congress...also too bad those running against these same people do not point this out.

We shall see how Begich (sp) does from Ak. in the Senate seat now for Stevens replacement in Ak.... he is for drilling in ANWR, the pipeline being built ect ect ect...

these blue dogs tend to not vote the way the run on in the House anyway...

Time will tell...unfortunately most people pay zero attention to how these critters vote, let alone know who their congress-critter is.

"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh

Oooh, you're oh so noble

Oooh, you're oh so noble "taking one for the team".  Damn right I'll flame you and Chuck Hagel for your colossal ignorance...and I will not apologize for it.  John McLame should never have been the nominee...he secured the nomination by taking advantage of the structure of the early primaries.  Liberals, Democrats and "Independents" effectively chose the Republican nominee when they were permitted to "cross over" and vote in the Republican primaries in lib states like New Hampshire.  The momentum from those early victories revived his corpse of a campaign and carried him to victory as his opponents dropped out.  His scheming with Huckabee in the West Virginia Caucuses put the final nail in the coffin.  By the time most of the country got to vote in the primaries (like me in California), New Hampshire and South Carolina Democrats had already decided our nominee.  McLame was, is and always will be a liberal Republican.  Had he not selected a conservative running mate, he would have lost all 50 states plus DC because none of us conservatives would have been bothered showing up to vote...but then he had to screw that up, too, by making her parrot all his lame "maverick" positions.  The reason Obama won is that conservatism (and, for that matter, liberalism) was not on the ballot.  It was a popularity contest between a mannequin (Obama) and an unpopular pseudo-Republican...a RINO.  McLame was leading until he out-liberalled himself AGAIN by shutting down his "campaign" to press for that stupid bailout.  Obama just had to sit back and let McLame commit self-sabotage.

Oh, and as to your lazy, ill-informed comment about Limbaugh being an entertainer and not a political leader...Hagel is neither.  He's just a self-important gasbag of no relevance.  Thankfully, he's an EX-Senator.  He's about to learn how insignificant his opinions are.  Good riddance. 

"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." -Ronald Reagan

fitzfong.blogspot.com

When you get a full time job

When you get a full time job, tell me about what I do wrong. I'm tired of the frat boy high school mentality. "Stupid" will never win elections. Reagan survived nicely without Rush. Wanna know why? Reagan had a grace. Reagan had presence. Reagan was a fantastic speaker. Rush didn't create that, Rush leeched off of that. Rush created frat boy humor like "this spud's for you" Rush compared Chelsea Clinton to a Cocker Spaniel when she was all of 13 years old and not in the political arena. Rush jokes about people's height, lisps, education, lack of education, hair, no hair, and just about anything that requires he possess more than a few memorized lines on a subject.

But its ok. He doesn't have to be smart. He's a radio DJ. He was too average looking to be on TV so he lived out his dream in radio and did damn well at it. Kudos to him for being an excellent radio entertainer. But the moment you hold him as an educated political leader, you have revealed how much you don't know. Rush is not smart. Thats why he doesn't have guests. I know he nuances it, but throughout the history of mankind, the most intelligent people on this planet have welcomed discourse with those to disagree with them. Those less intelligent tend to stay in their element.
He's an entertainer, and his words "a broadcaster." There's nothing wrong with that. He's NOT a political leader nor particularly intelligent. Its hard me to believe you are much passed high school if you believe he is.

And one last thing. You want to seriously flame me, star by not making juvenile name jokes- McPlain. There's a whole lot of useful discussion about actual campaign flaws
shrouded in the idiocy of name jokes. If you want to get into those mistakes, bring more to the table than idiotic name jokes.

Rush would never make it as

Rush would never make it as a politician. He's smart enough to know that he should stick to throwing darts from the sidelines.

And there's not a thing wrong with that

And there's not a thing wrong with that. Political satire and commentary is a cornerstone of this country. I only have a problem when people consider such as leadership. It isn't leadership. Is commentary and satire.

shawn...oops, I mean

shawn...oops, I mean nwa....

You are so rich with hilarity tonight I just wanted to thank you...

Oh yeah...and by the way...Rush did have his own half hour television show...I loved it! His ratings were grrrreat!

If he ever ran for anything...he would succeed.

Another thing...tripe like RINO Hagel is good riddance to bad rubbage....of course he may be named something, he's praying for anything in the O camp.

"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh

His ratings were great?

His ratings were great?

:)

Yea, he stopped the show for humanitarian reasons :) It flopped because Rush is not a visual guy. He creates a better radio character. Some radio personalities don't translate well to television ( though notable exceptions- Larry King, Casey Kasm, Tom Snyder etc.).

"America isn't the

"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh

nw...

Did.....you.....ever.....watch.....the...show?

Its not a secret

"Shawn" was taken so I reversed it. My name is attached to an IP address, a telephone number and an address. Its a handle. Its not a disguise.
You are a testament to the prospects of the Republican party.
Not really, I think the frat boys will get the heave ho before 2010. No one likes stupid for long. Everyone gets annoyed with it at some point. I do hope that brings you more hilarity. Some people require less to make them laugh :)

BTW isn't there limit to the number of ellipses that should appear in a post? ;)Try a period. Go 'head. Try..

When you get a full time

When you get a full time job, tell me about what I do wrong. I'm tired of the frat boy high school mentality. "Stupid" will never win elections.

Wow, three sentences, three toothless non-sequiturs.  I know I'm not supposed to mock the afflicted, but intellectual lightweights like yourself make it so much fun!  Do you realize how desperate you sound making such rash assumptions about someone else's employment status?  Probably not.  Not that it's any of your business, but I'm quite secure in a full time job...but your concern is quite precious.

Reagan survived nicely without Rush. Wanna know why? Reagan had a grace. Reagan had presence. Reagan was a fantastic speaker.

Reagan survived nicely because his ideas were better, and he was willing to articulate them...without watering them down with the populist shortcuts endorsed by vision-deficient, bureaucratic RINOs like Hagel and McLAME

Rush didn't create that, Rush leeched off of that. Rush created frat boy humor like "this spud's for you" Rush compared Chelsea Clinton to a Cocker Spaniel when she was all of 13 years old and not in the political arena. Rush jokes about people's height, lisps, education, lack of education, hair, no hair, and just about anything that requires he possess more than a few memorized lines on a subject.

Obviously you don't listen to his show, for you are trotting out the same uninformed cliches that come from people who have no clue of the show's content.  By the way, not that it's particularly important, but do you have evidence that Limbaugh compared Chelsea Clinton to a Cocker Spaniel, did you borrow that accusation from Media Matters, or did you make it up?  Limbaugh's show is entirely substantive, he speaks in depth about issues of taxation, social policy, national defense...the whole enchilada.  But feel free to marinate in your ignorance...it's gotten you this far.

But its ok. He doesn't have to be smart. He's a radio DJ. He was too average looking to be on TV so he lived out his dream in radio and did damn well at it. Kudos to him for being an excellent radio entertainer. But the moment you hold him as an educated political leader, you have revealed how much you don't know. Rush is not smart. Thats why he doesn't have guests. I know he nuances it, but throughout the history of mankind, the most intelligent people on this planet have welcomed discourse with those to disagree with them. Those less intelligent tend to stay in their element.

Well, geez, nwahs, your paragraph above is simply littered with mindless cliches, it's hard to know where to start.  A DJ?  Grow up.  He spends three hours a day discussing current events.  He's forgotten more about the constitution, the federal government, economic policy and world events than you will ever know.  The suggestion that he is not "smart" is frankly laughable.  He's a self-made success story who excelled at something he always wanted to do.  How many people can say that about themselves?  He has dissenting voices on his show all the time...from liberal callers to the occasional Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Just because he doesn't let liberal panelists walk all over him like Bill Kristol, Fred Barnes and George Will do does not make him less intelligent than they are.  Would it make him more intelligent if he just conceded his principles like David Gergen, Peggy Noonan and David Brooks do on a routine basis?  He would run rings around these "most intelligent people on the planet" because he has the courage of his convictions not to concede principled arguments to populism and voter block segmentation.
 

He's NOT a political leader nor particularly intelligent. Its hard me to believe you are much passed high school if you believe he is.

For the record, moron, I have a Masters Degree.  I could buy and sell you.  That said, Rush Limbaugh never claimed to be a political leader.  But your suggestion that he's not "particularly intelligent" illustrates how much your emotional distaste for the man trumps your rational abilities.

And one last thing. You want to seriously flame me, star by not making juvenile name jokes- McPlain. There's a whole lot of useful discussion about actual campaign flaws
shrouded in the idiocy of name jokes. If you want to get into those mistakes, bring more to the table than idiotic name jokes.

By the way, I don't need your affirmation.  I don't take etiquette lectures from my inferiors.  I gave a sharp, reasoned analysis of why the Republicans lost earlier this month.  But it seems you just blew right past it because you didn't like that I attacked your sacred cow.  Tough toenails!  If you want to educate yourself, I suggest you read what I wrote earlier on the subject.  And get it right!  It's McLAME.

"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." -Ronald Reagan

fitzfong.blogspot.com

I doubt it

I doubt you could buy or sell me or anything else. You're looking toward a radio personality for leadership. Does that strike you as odd? Not in the least? Could you imagine the left canning Howard Dean and David Axelrod for Mathews and Olbermann? Do you have a clue what you are confusing? Do you even remember Lee Atwater? Do you recall what a real leader is. Rush Limbaugh is a radio personality. What part of that are you missing?

I'm confusing nothing.  I

I'm confusing nothing.  I don't need Rush Limbaugh or anyone else for leadership...I look to myself for leadership.  Perhaps you must look to others for leadership?  Maybe that's why you look at Chuck Hagel as something more than the detestable, opportunistic scumbag that he is.  If you must look to others for leadership, you're in worse shape than I thought.  Government's role is to stay the hell out of my business so that I can provide service to my customers.  Rush Limbaugh is a conservative radio talk show host.  He doesn't profess to be anything more than that.  The fact that I hold a self-important douchebag like Chuck Hagel in such low regard does not mean that I expect Rush Limbaugh to replace him.  Limbaugh does what he does best.  However, I do support political candidates who have a similar ideology to Rush Limbaugh...because I'm a conservative.  If you can't make the distinction, that's your problem.

"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." -Ronald Reagan

fitzfong.blogspot.com

I said Hagel was right

Let me ask you. When did Hagel become a "detestable, opportunistic scumbag," before or after he was part of the Reagan administration? You do understand he was a friend of Ronald Reagan, right? Who is the latest person you've had to disown in order to reconcile Rush Limbaugh as a great thinker?
Does it strike you as odd that the list of people Rush has thrown to the curb is a lot longer than Obama's?
THINK.
Hate me all you want, just THINK.
War hero, Veteran's advocate, Reagan supporter to scumbag because he says Rush has no answers. One has to shake their head.

Can't just disagree, no Hagel has to be DEFECTIVE in some way. Sometimes Rush fans sound like the "destroy the messenger" left that Rush preaches to the choir about. Can disagree with them. You have to tare the person down.

Gee, I wasn't aware that

Gee, I wasn't aware that one's military resume and past relationships permanently innoculated one from criticism.  Apparently unlike you, I am more interested in a person's ideology and what he has done lately to promote that ideology than I am about a resume.  Otherwise, I would have voted for John Kerry four years ago.  Chuck Hagel has been a detestable, opportunistic scumbag for a long time...and his past ties to Reagan and the military do not change that fact.  Sorry, but a guy who is more interested in hearing the sound of his own voice and the praise of the media is worth little more than my resentment.   

"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." -Ronald Reagan

fitzfong.blogspot.com

I'd rather entrust the

I'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University. William F. Buckley, Jr.

The cost of living's going up, and the chance of livin's going down. - Flip Wilson

funny

but i have a strong suspicion obama would have trounced any of the other candidates.  huck?  no way.  romney?  i think not.  doesnt leave a lot of options out there.  you complete ignore the mood of the country at the time of the election.  bush/cheney ruined peoples appetite for republicans.  i think the party threw mccain a bone knowing that he was going to most likely get trounced.  gave him his shot against the worst odds so that none of their other 'superstars' would get abused by obama.  

You may be right.  After

You may be right.  After all, a candidate can only beat the opponent that is put in front of him.  Romney, Huckabee and Giuliani all had their weaknesses and Fred Thompson took too long to commit to the race.  But any one of them would have put up a better fight than McCain did.  Besides, Obama's greatest strength as a candidate is in clearing the deck so that he doesn't have to face direct opposition.  Just ask Alice Palmer, Jack Ryan, Hillary Clinton or John McCain...each one was subjected to the Obama media's Jeff Gillooly tactics before they had the opportunity to face him in a fair fight.  But as incompetent as McCain was, he probably still would have beaten Obama if he hadn't panicked in the wake of the September market crash...but McCain's grasp of economics was always weak (so weak that he made Obama look like he had a clue).  Huckabee is effectively a pro-life liberal, but Romney and Giuliani would have reacted much better and made Obama look like the chancer, the reckless, inexperienced clown that he is.

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." -Winston Churchill

Sit down, Chuck: you don't

Sit down, Chuck: you don't have millions of followers.

If anything, this election PROVED that moderates like YOU are complete failures at politics, and are NOT helping our party. Goodbye.

The Rocky Mountain Collegian: Illustrating Idiocy

Hagel...another RINO that I

Hagel...another RINO that I am more than glad we are rid of.

Rush/Liz Cheney 2012!

Edit-I am lmao now that I notice the date here in other posts. 

Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart