"Hagel Ponders White House Run".... as a Chuck Hagel (R-NE) watcher for quite some time, I've never doubted it.
Hagel has been grabbing headlines with his White House-confrontation style of opposition to the war in Iraq. And, he speaks well and looks the part.
But, he's a wolf in sheep's clothing!
True, he is against the war in Iraq, but he's a dyed-in-the-wool corporate conservative. Hagel's voting record is a little different than the widely held view that he is a moderate Republican battling the White House.... he voted in support of The Decider 95% of the time as of December 2006.
Look at his voting record carefully....
Hagel's voting record on reproduction rights:
Voted NO on $100M to reduce teen pregnancy by education & contraceptives. (Mar 2005)
Voted YES on banning partial birth abortions except for maternal life. (Mar 2003)
Voted YES on banning Military Base Abortions. (June 2000)
Hagel's voting record on corporations:
Voted NO on repealing tax subsidy for companies which move US jobs offshore. (Mar 2005)
Voted YES on reforming bankruptcy to include means-testing & restrictions (Mar 2005)
Voted YES on restricting rules on personal bankruptcy. (Jul 2001)
Hagel's voting record on immigration:
Voted YES on establishing a Guest Worker program. (May 2006)
Voted YES on allowing illegal aliens to participate in Social Security (May 2006)
Hagel's voting record on civil and workers rights:
Voted YES on recommending Constitutional ban on flag desecration.(Jun 2006)
Voted NO on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes. (Jun 2000)
Voted YES on loosening restrictions on cell phone wiretapping. (Oct 2001)
Voted NO on expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation. (Jun 2000)
Voted NO on raising the minimum wage to $7.25 rather than $6.25. (Mar 2005)
Hagel's voting record on gas and oil and the environment:
Voted NO on $3.1B for emergency oil assistance for hurricane-hit areas. (Oct 2005)
Voted NO on reducing oil usage by 40% by 2025 (instead of 5%). (Jun 2005)
Voted NO on banning drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Mar 2005)
Voted YES on Bush administration Energy Policy. (Jul 2003)
Voted NO on including oil & gas smokestacks in mercury regulations. (Sep 2005)
And, Hagel's history on the receiving end of votes....
In 1996 when Hagel first ran in Nebraska for the U.S. Senate, his company's computer-controlled voting machines showed he'd won stunning upsets in both the primaries and the general election.
According to Bev Harris of Black Box Voting, Hagel won virtually every demographic group, including many largely Black communities that had never before voted Republican. Hagel was the first Republican in 24 years to win a Senate seat in Nebraska.
Six years later Hagel ran again, and as his website said, Hagel "was re-elected to his second term in the United States Senate on November 5, 2002 with 83% of the vote. That represents the biggest political victory in the history of Nebraska."
What Hagel's website fails to disclose is that about 80 percent of those votes were counted by computer-controlled voting machines put in place by the company affiliated with Hagel.
Yes, Hagel is much more than a one-issue politician. He needs a much closer look before we loose him among the flock.
2 comments:
Great post. I have thought for a long time that if Hagel ran then he would be sworn in as President because of the voting machine connection.
Interesting background to the potential candidate--one wishes that people actually took the time to check out the people they intend to vote for in this fashion. So much for an informed voter base.
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