VULGAR – AT 9:05 A.M. ET:  It is remarkable that Chuck Hagel remains Obama's nominee for secretary of defense.  It is vulgar.  New revelations demonstrate that all the rotten things we've heard about Hagel are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Hagel refuses to turn over requested financial records, and even transcripts of his speeches.  The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Democrat Carl Levin of Michigan, calls these requests unprecedented, and promises a quick vote on Hagel.  The Dems seem outraged that anyone would ask any questions at all.

The fanatical loyalty of the Democrats to Barack Obama is a disgrace to their party and the country.  Why is this man Hagel so desired by Barack Hussein Obama Jr?   From Breitbart:

On Thursday, Senate sources told Breitbart News exclusively that they have been informed that one of the reasons that President Barack Obama’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, has not turned over requested documents on his sources of foreign funding is that one of the names listed is a group purportedly called “Friends of Hamas.”

Yesterday, 25 senators sent a letter to Hagel demanding information on his foreign funding. Hagel has refused all such requests, prompting the senators to state, “in the judgment of the undersigned, a Committee vote on your nomination should not occur unless and until you provide the requested information.”

Called for comment and reached via telephone, Associate Communications Director at the White House Eric Schultz identified himself, heard the question, was silent for several seconds, and then hung up the phone immediately without comment.

We are talking about one of the most sensitive positions in the United States Government.  And Andrew McCarthy at NRO reports that Hagel has been associated with controversial leftist groups financed by George Soros. 

My friend Sam Nunberg of The Legal Project alerts me that Hagel sits on the board of the Soros-supported Ploughshares Fund, a left-wing group that allegedly funds various organizations sympathetic to the mullahs’ regime and, as night follows day, hostile to Israel. One such group is the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), which is basically the Iranian regime’s lobbyist in the U.S.

COMMENT:  If this nomination goes ahead, our side should target all those vulnerable Democratic senators, up for re-election in swing states, who vote for Hagel.  Just target them for political extinction and run rough ads against them.

Here in New York, I hope some sane Democrats will try to mount a primary challenge to Chuck Schumer, whose "okay" on Hagel tilted things in Hagel's favor.  I don't think we should take the Hagel episode as "politics as usual."  Did you ever see a candidate for high public office with Hagel's strange background? 

February 8,  2013