Senator Chuck Hagel (Nebraska) didn’t hold back. When Rice said that she wouldn’t call the ‘surge’ an ‘escalation’, Hagel asked her, then “how would you call it, a decrease?” Some other Republicans who said that they cannot support the escalation augmentation: George Voinovich (Ohio) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska). Democratic Senator Nelson also said that he cannot support the escalation augmentation, same goes for Boxer.
To watch how both Republican and Democratic Senators “absolutely hammered Condoleezza Rice” at yesterday’s Armed Services Committee hearing, go to Crooks and Liars.
Joe already linked to this video at Think Progress in which Senator Chuck Hagel and Condi Rice have a heated debate about the word ‘escalation’. If you haven’t watched it yet, watch it and read Joe’s post about augmentation.
Chuck Hagel for President?
The main question is – of course – will these Republican Senators perservere (for instance if and when the Democrats will try to use the ‘power of the purse’ as Senator Russ Feingold calls it)? Doing so would, in my opinion, be a mistake unless Republicans support it as well. A kind of bipartisan view on Iraq will, then, finally be accomplished, albeit not the (bipartisan) consensus many expected.
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