NO, NO, NO, NO, NO – AT 8:43 A.M. ET:  It's only a brief report, but it may spell trouble.  From The Politico:

Vice President Biden will have breakfast on Tuesday with former Sen. Chuck Hagel, the White House says.

Hagel, a co-chairman of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, was scheduled to meet with Biden at the Naval Observatory at 8 a.m. The White House didn’t say what they would talk about.

COMMENT:  Now we must all emulate Stonewall Jackson, and stand there like a stone wall, blocking this man Hagel from any further government appointment.

The man is a certified creep.  As Johnny Carson might have asked, "How creepy is he?"

And he would have answered, "He's so creepy that he declined to run for reelection to the Senate from Nebraska in 2008 because he own party wouldn't nominate him."

Hagel came to the Senate as a Republican, and then proceeded to oppose almost every military step George W. Bush took.  He claimed to be a military expert, based on some brief service in Vietnam.  A real Kerry clone.

In 2008, he turned his back on fellow Republican and fellow Vietnam vet John McCain.  While Hagel himself didn't endorse Obama, his wife did, which sent the necessary signal.

So Obama rewarded him with a government job.  But now there's buzz that Hagel might be appointed to succeed Bob Gates as secretary of defense, when Gates presumably leaves next year. 

No, no, no.  Rewarding a political turncoat is not what we need at Defense.  Hagel has never demonstrated good judgment, and seems more comfortable among liberal Dems than among Republicans. 

So, I hope the breakfast with Biden wasn't a job interview.  There are far better applicants.

November 9, 2010