Free Republic

Journal Editorial Report (Paul Gigot) - FNC show page Meme: Fissures in the GOP - immigration Topics: "Are Republicans headed for a political meltdown over immigration?" (as per Opinion Journal web site)"Immigration reform controversy: We'll examine policies under consideration" (as per FNC show page)"Plus, what a hard line on immigration means for this year's midterm elections" (as per FNC show page) Guests Colorado Governor Bill Owens I have a plan, just like the plan that's failing the President Ramesh Ponnuru, National Review illegal immigration isn't really a problem, really Stephen Moore, Walls Street JournalJason Riley, Walls Street JournalPaul Gigot, Walls...

Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska once again will wade into the political minefield of immigration reform, planning to introduce legislation that would allow immigrants here illegally to work their way to legal status. The plan Hagel is expected to introduce Tuesday also will include stronger controls at the border to stem the flow of undocumented workers into the United States. Sen. Chuck Hagel The Republican said Saturday there are about 10 million illegal immigrants here now who are an integral part of the nation's economy. Any immigration proposal must recognize and provide a way for them to earn legal status....

Sen. John McCain rebuked his Senate colleague and good friend Chuck Hagel on Sunday, saying that the Nebraska Republican was wrong to claim last week that Iraq was becoming another Vietnam. "Chuck Hagel is one of my dearest and best friends and will always be that," McCain told CBS's "Face the Nation." "We just have an honest disagreement here." McCain said that in contrast to Iraq, South Vietnam "never had a legitimate government in Saigon that the people believed in and trusted." The Vietnam war also featured "superpower engagement in a huge way," McCain added. "We have a problem [in...

We all respect Hagel for his bravery in Vietnam but when it comes to policy Hagel leaves a lot to be desired. Vietnam was a nationalism fight, the jihadists in Iraq want to use Iraq as a launching pad for terrorist attacks on our homeland. We have seen in the past that when we retreated from Lebanon, Somalia, USS Cole that made us look weak in Bin Laden's eyes and emboldened them. Bin Laden has specifically referred to us cutting and running from Somalia as making the US look weak in his eyes and a green light to attack us....

Has Chuck Hagel lost his mind? The Republican Senator from Nebraska’s comments on ABC’s “This Week” were obviously politically motivated, but to what end? His remarks are the kind of rabid garbage one hears from Howard Dean or MoveOn.org. If Hagel figures on running for president he can forget it now, because he didn’t shoot himself in the foot; he shot himself between the eyes. If he felt the need to criticize the president’s Iraq policy there are rational ways to go about it, but the stuff Hagel spouted has no basis in fact. Credibility is essential for a presidential...

Chuck Hagel is Partly Right , but… Senator Chuck Hagel has been drawing favorable reviews from the “Mainstream Media” for a change - because the Nebraska Republican says Iraq has become another Vietnam ; and that we should just get out of there – the sooner the better. I respect the Senator’s opinion. He is a combat veteran, and knows more about war than most of us would ever care to hear. Moreover , he is voicing an increasingly popular sentiment . Most of us would like very much for this whole thing to be over : a sentiment that...

LONDON - In a British newspaper editorial, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger urged governments - including that of President George W. Bush - to face up the reality of global warming. "The debate is over," he wrote in Britain's Independent on Sunday newspaper. "We know the science. We see the threat posed by changes in our climate. And we know the time for action is now." Climate change is one of the major issues to be discussed at this week's summit of the G8 wealthy nations at Gleneagles in Scotland. But reports suggest that Bush is blocking a deal on action to...

The Left-wing antiwar group MoveOn, a key Democratic support, has found a new spokesman in Republican Senator Chuck Hagel (R., France). Last week, the Nebraska senator made headlines when he criticized the administration’s Iraq policy saying, “The White House is completely disconnected from reality... It's like they're just making it up as they go along.” Hagel also warned that Iraq was on the verge of becoming another Vietnam. While Hagel’s comments faded from media attention, MoveOn went into action. The same day as this week’s speech by President Bush on Iraq the MoveOn PAC began a new advertising campaign calling...

Two prominent US Republican senators have delivered stinging rebukes to President George Bush over his handling of Iraq.Bush needs to tell Americans that the nation faces "a long, hard slog" in Iraq, Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. On the same day, Senator Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, said the White House is "disconnected from reality" in its optimism over the war.McCain, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said: "Too often we've been told and the American people have been told that we're at a turning point."What the American people...

If Sen. John McCain seeks the Republican nomination for president in 2008, as expected, he could face stiff competition from another conservative Vietnam vet considered a maverick within the party - Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel. Observers say Hagel could be attractive to many of the centrist Republicans who voted for McCain in the 2000 primaries. Like McCain, Hagel has parted ways with the Bush administration on a number of issues. He's been critical of American troop levels in Iraq and U.S. preparation for the reconstruction of the country. He's spoken out about U.S. policy regarding prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, saying...

Hit by friendly fire With his polls down, Bush takes flak on Iraq from a host of critics--including some in his own party By Kevin Whitelaw Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel is angry. He's upset about the more than 1,700 U.S. soldiers killed and nearly 13,000 wounded in Iraq. He's also aggravated by the continued string of sunny assessments from the Bush administration, such as Vice President Dick Cheney's recent remark that the insurgency is in its "last throes." "Things aren't getting better; they're getting worse. The White House is completely disconnected from reality," Hagel tells U.S. News. "It's...

The retreat is on. Even Republican Sens. Chuck Hagel (Nebraska) and Mel Martinez (Florida) are scurrying along with the panicked pack calling on the U.S. to close its detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden (Delaware) has been a leader of what should be loosely called the “Release Suspected Terrorists Now!” caucus. Biden says everyone should be let go from Gitmo — except, in a crucial caveat, “Those we have reason to keep, keep.” Ah, there’s the rub. We captured more than 10,000 people in Afghanistan. Roughly 750 ended up at Gitmo — exactly because we had reason...

The John Bolton nomination would have already gone through if not for the actions of Republican Senators Lincoln Chafee and Chuck Hagel. The Democratic Party has conducted itself in a shameful manner with regard to its scrutiny of John Bolton. This, of course, hardly comes as a surprise given the Democrats propensity for obstructing President Bush’s judicial nominees, or conduct with respect to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. These days the Democrats are more of a high school clique than a loyal opposition. However, in the case of John Bolton, Democrats would not have been able to take their shenanigans...

Democrats trying to sink the nomination of John Bolton as United Nations ambassador scored a big victory yesterday, when Sen. George Voinovich, an Ohio Republican who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee, declared himself unready to back the nominee. The Dems' efforts to beat Bolton on ideological grounds--that he's too pro-American and has "disdain" for the U.N.--having failed, they turned to that old standby, the politics of personal destruction. Voinovich's concern for the Golden Rule is certainly touching, but does it apply to air traffic controllers? What prompts the question is an incident that occurred in 1995, when he was...

HAGEL: Well, because our borders, north and south, thousands of miles, are the most critical, urgent issue facing our country. Why? It is security. It's economics. And to continue to defer dealing with immigration reform continues to put America in a very dangerous situation. Reports last week, for example, focused on various international terrorist groups starting to talk with groups south of the United States about getting some terrorists into this country. ----snip It undermines our economic growth in this country by essentially supporting a black market in the economy. It deals directly with security and economics and our geopolitical...

OMAHA -- Okay, now that the election is over, are you ready to talk about 2008? Chuck Hagel is. The Republican senator from Nebraska has been thinking seriously about 2008 since he won reelection in 2002, and mulling a run for the White House even longer. He has a long history of doing, and getting, what he wants. He's ready -- well, ready to talk.

Oscar Rios Pohirieth dreads the conversation he's had again and again with some of Lincoln's Hispanic high school students. Lucero Satamaria, a UNL senior psychology major from Columbia, South America, shows her support for the DREAM Act at Broyhill Fountain Wednesday evening. They step into his office and ask how they can go to college. If his first question -- "Do you have a green card?" -- is met with a no, the Lincoln Public Schools bilingual liaison must tell them that high school graduation may be the end of the line.Not, mentioned are the ESL classes supported by the...

Foreign-policy crises, like the current one with Iraq, serve to magnify the inherent strengths of certain leaders in Washington, and so it has been with Sen. Chuck Hagel. The Nebraska Republican has raised senatorial vacuity (his strength) to such exquisite heights, one doubts that the world's greatest deliberative body will ever be the same. Rarely has someone won so many accolades by saying so little, despite so much cable TV airtime. Hagel invariably sets the camera with a determined gaze, then asks questions about a military intervention in Iraq without expressing an opinion himself. The Washington Post's David Broder recently...

WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans and Democrats on Wednesday denounced the Bush administration's slow progress in rebuilding Iraq, saying the risks of failure are great if it doesn't act with greater urgency. "It's beyond pitiful, it's beyond embarrassing, it's now in the zone of dangerous," said Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., referring to figures showing only about 6 percent of the reconstruction money approved by Congress last year has been spent. Foreign Relations Committee members vented their frustrations at a hearing where the State Department explained its request to divert $3.46 billion in reconstruction funds to security and economic development. The money...

WASHINGTON -- The United States is losing credibility in Europe because of the situation in Iraq and must quickly repair the damage or face eroding support for the fight against terrorism, lawmakers said Sunday."If you were president of the United States and I were your secretary of state, I'd say, 'Get on the plane now, go to Europe. This is a time to unite, unite Europe,'" Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., told the host of ABC's "This Week.""And if you continue to lose Europe, you're jeopardizing my country," said Biden, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.Strains in...