Chucky "Janus" Hagel will have to face a primary challenge if he wants to try to hang on to his Senate seat. Nebraska attorney general Jon Bruning will announce that he is running against Hagel today. It would appear that Hagel has ticked a lot of Nebraskans off with his Janus act and Bruning polls show that Hagel is in trouble with the voters.
A poll conducted for Mr. Bruning shows him leading Mr. Hagel among likely Republican primary voters by 9 percentage points. Mr. Bruning assails Mr, Hagel for being, "The Republican that talks like a Democrat," pointing to Mr. Hagel's support for a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq, as well as his discussion of impeaching President Bush. "He's become arrogant and out of touch," Mr. Bruning said. "His constituent services are very poor."
Mr. Bruning also mentioned New York Sun editorials documenting the weakness of Mr. Hagel's record on Israel, including a recent speech by Mr. Hagel before an Arab American group in which Mr. Hagel said that support for Israel shouldn't be automatic. Mr. Bruning, 38, has been to Israel three times and is seeking backing from the pro- Israel community for his challenge to Mr. Hagel.
As I've mentioned, I know several people from Nebraska who voted for Hagel in the past who will never vote for the man again under any circumstances. (One of our regular commenters is from Nebraska, in fact. Not a Hagel fan, either.)
The first blowback against those who misunderstand the ’06 election and the polls on Iraq has begun. Americans do not like to lose. They do not like to be called losers and they do not defeatists.
Yes, Hagel deserves to go down for being such a total boob, but having dealt personally with Attorney General Bruning here in Nebraska, I can tell you that he is just as much a publicity hound as Hagel. Maybe he’d be better espousing conservative positions and not give aid and comfort to our enemies like Hagel does (and countering Hagle on that point alone counts for a lot with me, BTW), but make no mistake, Bruning is a showboat who runs for higher office not so much out of a sense of public duty as he does because he likes to ride in the front of the train. JPG
I can see right now how this is going down. Hagel will blame it on the Joooos, a la Cynthia McKinney and Earl Hilliard.