"Can Republicans embrace Hagel?"

Is the question asked by the WashingPost's David Ignatius. The PowerLine guys mention it here.

Now I'm no expert in philosophy, so I'm not exactly sure about him. Given that there were both Right and Left Hegelians make it a tougher call. The Left (or Young) Hegelians' more revolutionary view of the man's work, and their advocacy of atheism, would lead me to conclude that Hegel would be a tough sell for Republicans.

Hm? Hagel?! The Senator from Nebraska? Embrace him for what?

Let's see... from Ignatius's article: "WASHINGTON -- A month ago, the idea that Sen. Chuck Hagel would make a serious run for the Republican presidential nomination would have been a nonstarter."

And it still is. No need to read further.

(See here for Carol Liebau's take)

"Botched Joke" Redux

John Kerry stuck to his lame "it was a botched joke" excuse when he got called to the carpet to explain why he was slagging the armed forces right before the election.

(UPDATE: Kerry is now dead last in "likeability" survey... gee, I wonder why.)

Well, now here comes Charlie Rangel:

I want to make it abundantly clear: if there’s anyone who believes that these youngsters want to fight, as the Pentagon and some generals have said, you can just forget about it. No young, bright individual wants to fight just because of a bonus and just because of educational benefits. And most all of them come from communities of very, very high unemployment. If a young fella has an option of having a decent career or joining the army to fight in Iraq, you can bet your life that he would not be in Iraq.

A few weeks AFTER the election we can see that the Left End of the Democrat Party really DOES think the military is made up of nothing but the poor and desperate.

What kind of dimwits continue to support Charlie Rangel?
(HT: Rantburg, via Little Green Footballs and Hot Air)

Protein Wisdom has this article. Among the comments, a charge of "swiftboating" Charles Rangel. To review: "To Swiftboat" is "to tell the truth about your opponent's record or history." This isn't "swiftboating" this is plinking a congressjerk who richly deserves it.

Powerline has the video.

Scientists say it is now okay to pull my finger

Here's the headline from our neighbors to the north:
Methane levels no longer rising, say scientists

There you go: SCIENTISTS say so.

From the story: "Methane levels have stayed nearly flat for the past seven years." Seven whole years? That's not a very impressive interval given a geologic timescale. Indeed it is only a little longer than the Bush administration. Someone must have slipped up in allowing this to be reported.

(h/t: Rantburg)

Big Brave Rosie?

Rosie O'Donnell declared that we should not fear the terrorists since they are just mothers and fathers.

The terrorists we are concerned with are young, Muslim men of Middle Eastern background. Just to keep the record straight.