Forgettable Chuck Hagel: Senator WHO Attacks Rush Limbaugh

Chuck Hagel:
Most Known For

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For the complete version of this article, plus updates:

Chuck Hagel Attacks Rush Limbaugh: Senator WHO Retires Gracelessly

at DBKP - Death By 1000 Papercuts.com - DBKP

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Chuck Who?


Chuck Hagel celebrated the end of a Washington career by attacking Rush Limbaugh and others in Congress who disagreed with him.

"We are educated by the great entertainers like Rush Limbaugh," Hagel said Tuesday during a speech in Washington, according to the Huffington Post.

"You know, I wish Rush Limbaugh and others like that would run for office," a sarcastic Hagel continued. "They have so much to contribute and so much leadership and they have an answer for everything. And they would be elected overwhelmingly. [The truth is] they try to rip everyone down and make fools of everybody but they don't have any answers."

"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."

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The Wit and Wisdom of Chuck Hagel

Hagel has compiled quite a record during his 12-year tenure in the U.S. Senate.




Hagel was initially elected in 1996 in a stunning upset that might be called "ethically-challenged".

[Hagel] also served as a Chairman and was CEO of American Information Systems Inc. (AIS), a voting machine manufacturer, this same company electronically counted 80% of the votes in the state in the very same election that he had his stunning upset. He did not disclose his position as CEO of the company in his mandated disclosures, until its name-change to Election Systems & Software (ES&S) in 1997. He had ownership interest in ES&S through its parent company The McCarthy Group as of January 29, 2003, when The Hill reported that, due to his ownership interest, “Hagel’s ethics filings pose disclosure issue”.

Hagel has been mentioned--most notably by his staff--as a cabinet possibility in the upcoming Obama administration. Failing that, he may return to lobbying.

Hagel will most be remembered for




Friends of the Senator, who wished to remain off-the-record, did say that "he works and plays well with others".

by Mondo Frazier
image: CNN-Getty

Ted Kennedy's Autobiography: How Chappaquidick Will be Portrayed Waterloo or Water Under The Bridge?

"Do we operate under a system of equal justice under law? Or is there one system for the average citizen and another for the high and mighty?"
~ Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy, 1973

Senator Ted Kennedy earned an 8.5 million advance on his upcoming autobiography.

The book deal eclipses the $8 million Sen. Hillary Clinton was advanced for "Living History," but falls short of the $10 million former British Prime Minister Tony Blair commanded and the $12 million Bill Clinton snagged for his memoirs. [1]

Hachette Book Group USA won the bidding war held by DC attorney Bob Barnett.

Just what can readers expect from the upcoming Ted tome?

For $8 million, Hachette will expect more from Kennedy than he revealed in his last book. That one enticed readers with a story about a dog with the provocative name of Splash.

Published in 2006, Senator Kennedy's children's book, My Senator and Me, tells about Washington, DC through the eyes of Splash, the Portuguese Water Dog.


From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 1-5–Kennedy's introduction to the political process is clear, informative, and loaded with child appeal, in part due to the choice of narrator: his Portuguese Water Dog, Splash. [3]

Kennedy said in a statement: "I've been fortunate in my life to grow up in an extraordinary family and to have a front-row seat at many key events in our nation's history." [1]

Front row driver's seat.

"Teddy Kennedy was the weak kitten in the litter, never able to measure up to his brothers. The accident at Chappaquiddick displayed his chronic immaturity. One problem Teddy has always had was keeping it in his pants - even when other people are around."
- Cleo O'Donnell - wife of former Kennedy campaign aide. [2]

Chappaquidick

The mysteries of the case (Chappaquidick) continue to haunt Ted Kennedy as well as the authorities who investigated them. Charges of ineptitude and lack of diligence abounded, as did insinuations that the machinery of justice crumbled beneath the power and prestige of the Kennedy family. George Killen, former State Police Detective-Lieutenant, and chief of a never-revealed investigation, lamented that the failure to bring the case to a satisfactory conclusion was "the biggest mistake" of a long and distinguished police career. Senator Kennedy, he said, "killed that girl the same as if he put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger."
~ Senatorial Privilege by Leo Damore [2]

Pundits are weighing in:

Political pundit Dick Morris said, "I don't think they'll make their money back because he won't level about Chappaquiddick, or William Kennedy Smith. They might as well just title it, 'The Collected Speeches of Ted Kennedy.' "

Asked if Kennedy would come clean on what proved to be a political watershed for the Senator, conservative author Ann Coulter quipped: "He'll cross that bridge when he comes to it . . . If he does talk about Chappaquiddick, I believe he'll have to forfeit his advance under the Son of Sam laws." [1]

Mary Jo Kopechne, pre-Chappaquidick

Chappaquidick was Kennedy's 'summer of 69.' It's also one of the dates inscribed on Mary Jo Kopechne's tombstone.

Some might feel it's time to move on, to forgive and forget. Forgiveness only applies to the Kopechne family. Forgetting only applies if Ted had chosen a private instead of public life.

Senators are supposed to ethical, moral, and law-abiding. Kennedy's behavior before, during and after Chappaquidick gave the public the information it needed in order to access Senator Kennedy's character.

Ethical, moral and law-abiding.

Thirty-eight years after Chappaquidick, Kennedy still remains, 0-3.

Source - 1 - NYPost
Source - 2 - YTedK
Source - 3- Amazon

By Little Baby Ginn
Image [Randy McCoy]
Image [Ron Moody]

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.