Stupid Objections to Hagel

POLITICO

As Chuck Schumer goes, so goes Chuck Hagel

Chuck Schumer is quietly letting out the word: He’s far from sold that Chuck Hagel will be a staunch advocate of Israel.

. . . several sources say he has told senators it would be “very hard” for him to support Hagel as the next defense secretary because of his positions on Israel over the years.

How the hell did this happen? How did we get to the point where the most important factor determining a nominee's qualification for an important position in the US government is his fealty to a foreign country? And this isn't even one of the right-wing, mouth-breathing, rapture-awaiting religious fanatics, this is moderate Democrat Chuck Schumer! And no one is going to call him on it. No one is going to say "Senator Schumer, um, you do know that Mr. Hagel hasn't been nominated for secretary of Israel, right?"  Everyone acts like this is a perfectly reasonable objection. They may disagree, but they'll disagree on the basis that Hagel really is sufficiently pro-Israel, not on the basis that Israel is not the purview of the UNITED STATES Secretary of Defense. 

I don't know which is stupider, the objection that Hagel is not sufficiently dedicated to a foreign nation which has, frankly, never done anything for us, or the gripe from the McCains and the Grahams that Hagel is not sufficiently Republican.