Senator Chuck Hagel On Hannity & Colmes: Stop Big Government Spending, the Iraq War, and Conservativism

So on March 26^th, Senator Chuck Hagel the Great (R-NE) was interviewed by Sean Hannity the Great (R) and Alan Colmes (D) on the Hannity & Colmesshow, to discuss the war in Iraq, conservativism, government spending, and his new book America: Our Next Chapter: Tough Questions, Straight Answers.  Here’s a video of the interview:

And here’s a couple of quick quotes that I liked of Senator Hagel’s:

• Well, I don’t know if you define your position on the war based on your conservative credentials.  I mean, there are some pretty significant conservatives out there the late William F. Buckley was a pretty significant critic.
• I have always defined my position on the war based on what I think our interests are.
• I was against that [Medicare spending], I voted against it.  I voted against No Child Left Behind.  I voted against the real big government type programs.

So, again, I really enjoyed this interview with the Senator – it shows some great principles, especially that we HAVE to cut out all of this pork barrel spending and earmarks.  Earmarks are SOMETIMES (but not very often) ok in small amounts and for certain circumstances (the Office of Management and Budget “(OMB) defines earmarks as funds provided by the Congress for projects or programs where the congressional direction (in bill or report language) circumvents Executive Branch merit-based or competitive allocation processes, or specifies the location or recipient, or otherwise curtails the ability of the Executive Branch to manage critical aspects of the funds allocation process.”), but they should NEVER be tacked on to bills as pork.  I am very glad that John McCain has promised that he would veto all bills with pork attached to them.

Again, I heard a lot of good things from Senator Hagel here, and I express my wishes that he’ll seek another public office.  America needs someone like him.

Done Ranting,

Ranting Republican
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Tags: Alan Colmes, Chuck Hagel, Conservative, Democrat, Democrats, Earmarks, Executive Branch, Fox, Government, Hannity & Colmes, Hannity and Colmes, Iraq, John McCain, Legislative branch, Medicare, Nebraska, No Child Left Behind, Office of Management and Budget, OMB, Politics, pork barrel spending, Republican, Republicans, Sean Hannity, Senator, Spending, War, William Buckley, William Buckley Jr.