Preview: Hagel’s Rough Confirmation Hearing

By dave-dr-gonzo with comments January 11, 2013 09:17

Jonathan Weisman and Jeff Zeleny on what SecDef nominee Chuck Hagel will be up against as the Senate holds confirmation hearings:

For a man who spent 12 years in the Senate, Chuck Hagel will find himself with few close allies when the Armed Services Committee takes up his nomination to be secretary of defense this month.

…

 Of the senators who will ultimately sit in judgment, 42 never served a day with Mr. Hagel. The ones who remain include powerful Republicans who clashed repeatedly with him over what was the singular issue of the time: the American invasion of Iraq and its bloody aftermath.

And in Washington, apostasy from within a party can leave far deeper scars than the routine clashes between the parties.