Wow!
On comedian Rush Limbaugh:
“We are educated by the great entertainers like Rush Limbaugh,” said Hagel, sarcastically referencing the talk radio host who once called him “Senator Betrayus.” “You know, I wish Rush Limbaugh and others like that would run for office. They have so much to contribute and so much leadership and they have an answer for everything. And they would be elected overwhelmingly,” he offered. “[The truth is] they try to rip everyone down and make fools of everybody but they don’t have any answers.”
He spent an hour discussing how Congress works and how this government need to work with the rest of the international community:
“Eighty-seven percent of the American people said America is going in the wrong direction,” said Hagel. “You don’t need to know another number about anything, and so the election was pretty predictable: the American people don’t like what is going on… they want us to start doing what leaders are expected to do, address the problems, find some consensus to governing. Get along. There will be disagreements, sure… but in the end we can’t hold ourselves captives to this raw, partisan, political paralysis.”
And on the people who found their panties in a bunch over the French or Muslims:
“There is always going to be a certain know-nothing element to democracy,” said Hagel. “That is their choice. But in a world that is so vitally interconnected, it does help if you try to understand the other side… Ask them: ‘What is it that scares you about the French so much?'”
Great stuff — and he does have some good things to say about a few people in that article, but keep in mind that Hagel is a pretty doctrinaire conservative — he just always had issues with the incredibly petty way BushCo wanted the US to be in the world.