Chuck Hagel
On the prospects of running for President in 2008:
- "At some point somebody's going to ask you in a debate: 'Well, senator, will you pledge if you're elected president never to raise taxes?' I couldn't take that pledge. It would be irresponsible. That may cost me the nomination." -- 2004
- "I happen to believe that by 2008, this country is going to be ready for some people to talk very clearly, plainly -- not frighten them, not demagogue them, but say it straight, say it honest." - 2004
On the Republican Party that he says has "lost its moorings":
- "Look at the deficits that have been run up. . . . And Republicans have been in charge. . . . We've been adrift in a sea of incompetence, with no fiscal responsibility." -- fall 2004
On John Kerry:
- "I like him. He's smart, he's tough, he's capable. I don't agree with him on a lot of things [though] I am closer to him on foreign policy questions. . . . He's certainly qualified to be president." -- 2004
On correlations between the Vietnam War an the war in Iraq:
- "The tough questions were not asked when we sent young men and women into Vietnam. Where were our elected officials then? Eleven years and 58,000 deaths later, we lost. I don't want that to happen in Iraq." -- fall 2004
On what he learned about the Vietnam War years after fighting in it:
- "I read everything I could about Indochina, about the war, about the French, about Vietnam, about our policy, what got us there. . . . And the more I read, the more I understood. . . . I got a sense that there was just so much dishonesty in it. And it was chewing these kids up. . . . So I started connecting all the deaths and all the suffering and the chaos and wounds. I started to sense a dishonesty about it all." -- fall 2004
On questioning the war policies of fellow Republican George W. Bush:
- "I have a responsibility to do everything I can to assure our men and women who are serving in uniform and their families that America has a policy that is worthy of their sacrifices. . . . The deadly struggle for Iraq is not a video game that can be turned off until Nov. 2. War is not an abstraction. . . . I know. I've been to war." -- fall 2004
On Iraq:
- "We really do not have a good handle on the insurgency in Iraq." -- 2005 February 20
- "I don’t think you ever define victory by time frames." -- 2005 February 20
- "It is very, very important that we reconnect with our allies." -- 2005 February 20
On deciding whether or not to go to war:
- "Many of those who want to rush this country into war and think it would be so quick and easy don't know anything about war. They come at it from an intellectual perspective, versus having sat in jungles or foxholes and watched their friends get their heads blown off." -- 2002
On the idea of a federal constitutional amendement banning same-sex marriage:
- "I don't think the federal government has any business in dictating what constitutes a marriage." -- 2005 May 03 in New Hampshire
On Vice President Cheney's accidental shooting of Harry Whittington during a quail hunt in February 2006:
- "If he'd been in the military, he would have learned gun safety" -- quipped Hagel, a decorated Vietnam veteran, referring to Cheney, who received five draft deferments.
On Bush the GOP and the Patriot Act:
- "I took an oath of office to the Constitution, I didn't take an oath of office to my party or my president," [2]
