H.R. Paperstacks
06-20-2008, 07:20 PM
I wonder what you R's have to say about this.
Talk about change.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-06-19-obama-hagel_N.htm
OMAHA (AP) — Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel says he would consider an offer to serve as Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's running mate.
But the Nebraska senator says he doesn't expect to be on any ticket this year.
Hagel's vocal criticism of the Bush administration since the 2003 invasion of Iraq has resulted in speculation that if Obama were to pick a Republican running mate, it might be Hagel.
Hagel spoke Friday in an interview with the Associated Press.
Hagel also says he hasn't yet thought about who he'll vote for in November. He's differed on foreign policy with Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee.
On Thursday, a former Kennedy White House speechwriter had said Hagel would be a good running mate for Obama.
Ted Sorensen, who collaborated with John F. Kennedy on the 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning "Profiles in Courage," said Obama should pick a running mate who can help where he's weakest. Hagel's national security experience makes him a logical candidate, Sorensen said.
"I don't think Mrs. Clinton fits those criteria," Sorensen said, referring to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who suspended her campaign after Obama clinched the nomination. "But I think a Republican would. And I'm from Nebraska. I think Chuck Hagel might make a great national ticket vice presidential nominee."
The 80-year-old Sorensen was speaking to about 70 people at a Democratic Party fundraiser in Omaha for Scott Kleeb, a Democrat who wants to replace Hagel, who's not seeking re-election. Former U.S. Agriculture secretary Mike Johanns is the Republican nominee.
Hagel has drawn the ire of his party for his stinging criticisms of fellow President Bush and his administration, dating to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Hagel has said he doesn't intend to be a candidate for any office this year, after opting against making his own presidential bid and deciding not to seek a third term.
In an interview after the speech with the Associated Press, Sorensen said Hagel served his country with tremendous honor in Vietnam, and has "first-rate experience on national security issues."
"I've never recalled a point in this country where putting the country and national security first seems to make more sense, rather than putting the party first," Sorensen said.
Hagel served as an Army sergeant in Vietnam and was twice wounded in 1968, earning two Purple Hearts.
Caroline Kennedy, the late president's daughter, is on Obama's vice presidential search committee, and Sorensen said he has spoken to her about the selection.
Sorensen was born in 1928, the son of Nebraska attorney general C.A. Sorensen, a Republican.
His new book, "Counselor," begins with Sorensen's childhood in Nebraska and continues to the present. Sorensen is a supporter of Obama and campaigned for him in Iowa.
Sorensen was deeply affected by the life and death of Kennedy. His liberal ideas and poetic turns of phrase became so entwined with Kennedy's that the president called him his "intellectual blood bank."
Sorensen has publicly compared Obama to President Kennedy, and on Thursday called Obama "the best on the public platform of any candidate since Kennedy, with the exception of Robert F. Kennedy," one of the president's three brothers.
In a book published this year, Hagel said that despite holding one of the Senate's strongest records of support for President Bush, his standing as a Republican has been called into question because of his opposition to what he deems "a reckless foreign policy ... that is divorced from a strategic context."
Hagel wrote that the invasion of Iraq was "the triumph of the so-called neoconservative ideology, as well as Bush administration arrogance and incompetence."
Talk about change.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-06-19-obama-hagel_N.htm
OMAHA (AP) — Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel says he would consider an offer to serve as Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's running mate.
But the Nebraska senator says he doesn't expect to be on any ticket this year.
Hagel's vocal criticism of the Bush administration since the 2003 invasion of Iraq has resulted in speculation that if Obama were to pick a Republican running mate, it might be Hagel.
Hagel spoke Friday in an interview with the Associated Press.
Hagel also says he hasn't yet thought about who he'll vote for in November. He's differed on foreign policy with Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee.
On Thursday, a former Kennedy White House speechwriter had said Hagel would be a good running mate for Obama.
Ted Sorensen, who collaborated with John F. Kennedy on the 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning "Profiles in Courage," said Obama should pick a running mate who can help where he's weakest. Hagel's national security experience makes him a logical candidate, Sorensen said.
"I don't think Mrs. Clinton fits those criteria," Sorensen said, referring to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who suspended her campaign after Obama clinched the nomination. "But I think a Republican would. And I'm from Nebraska. I think Chuck Hagel might make a great national ticket vice presidential nominee."
The 80-year-old Sorensen was speaking to about 70 people at a Democratic Party fundraiser in Omaha for Scott Kleeb, a Democrat who wants to replace Hagel, who's not seeking re-election. Former U.S. Agriculture secretary Mike Johanns is the Republican nominee.
Hagel has drawn the ire of his party for his stinging criticisms of fellow President Bush and his administration, dating to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Hagel has said he doesn't intend to be a candidate for any office this year, after opting against making his own presidential bid and deciding not to seek a third term.
In an interview after the speech with the Associated Press, Sorensen said Hagel served his country with tremendous honor in Vietnam, and has "first-rate experience on national security issues."
"I've never recalled a point in this country where putting the country and national security first seems to make more sense, rather than putting the party first," Sorensen said.
Hagel served as an Army sergeant in Vietnam and was twice wounded in 1968, earning two Purple Hearts.
Caroline Kennedy, the late president's daughter, is on Obama's vice presidential search committee, and Sorensen said he has spoken to her about the selection.
Sorensen was born in 1928, the son of Nebraska attorney general C.A. Sorensen, a Republican.
His new book, "Counselor," begins with Sorensen's childhood in Nebraska and continues to the present. Sorensen is a supporter of Obama and campaigned for him in Iowa.
Sorensen was deeply affected by the life and death of Kennedy. His liberal ideas and poetic turns of phrase became so entwined with Kennedy's that the president called him his "intellectual blood bank."
Sorensen has publicly compared Obama to President Kennedy, and on Thursday called Obama "the best on the public platform of any candidate since Kennedy, with the exception of Robert F. Kennedy," one of the president's three brothers.
In a book published this year, Hagel said that despite holding one of the Senate's strongest records of support for President Bush, his standing as a Republican has been called into question because of his opposition to what he deems "a reckless foreign policy ... that is divorced from a strategic context."
Hagel wrote that the invasion of Iraq was "the triumph of the so-called neoconservative ideology, as well as Bush administration arrogance and incompetence."