Sticks and Stones

It's no surprise at this point to see Chuck Hagel noting that George W. Bush is a really bad president or to see Steve Clemons hailing Hagel's good sense. And, indeed, if Hagel were a blogger, I'd be reading his posts thinking to myself it's really too bad this guy isn't a Senator from Nebraska, if he was, he could use the powers of his office to impact the course of events in this country. But of course he is a Senator from Nebraska, and instead of finding myself admiring his work in that capacity I find myself thinking that Hagel would make a damn good "reasonable conservative" blogger.

I mean, at America's moment of crisis standing in the crossroads is Hagel running for President to offer the country a more credible version of Ron Paul's efforts to break the Bushist orthodoxy? No. He's not even running for re-election. He's retiring and thus guaranteeing that Nebraska's Senate seat falls into the hands of a more conservative Republican rather than standing and fighting -- or doing anything at all -- to help advance the ideals he allegedly espouses. It's a huge horrible waste.