Hagel Mocks McCain’s Trip To Iraq: ‘We Did No Shopping While We Were Here’

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/16/hagel-iraq-shopping/

Hagel Mocks McCain’s Trip To Iraq: ‘We Did No Shopping While We Were Here’

Over the weekend, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) visited Iraq, his fifth visit to the country. He held a press conference yesterday where he reminded reporters that the U.S. commitment was never intended to be “open-ended,” adding, “We can’t continue to stay in Iraq the way we are.”

Hagel also took a jab at the recent trip by Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) and Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsay Graham (R-SC), stating, “We did no shopping while we were here.” Watch it at link:

In a press conference after his Baghdad tour, McCain told a reporter that his visit to the market was proof that you could indeed “walk freely” in some areas of Baghdad. Graham noted that he “bought five rugs for five bucks” and Pence said the Shorja market “was just like any open-air market in Indiana in the summertime.”

CNN’s John Roberts summed up Hagel’s dig at McCain: “I didn’t go to the Shorja market with 100 soldiers around me and helicopters overhead and snipers on the roof.”


Transcript:

BLITZER: Sen. Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska. He’s in Iraq right now. He had a news conference in Baghdad. He’s a big critic of the President’s strategy in Iraq. Listen to this dig he gave Sen. McCain. Listen to this.

: We did no shopping while we were here. I think, my assessment, as I noted on my fifth trip, is that Iraq still has great challenges ahead of it.

BLITZER: The reference to “no shopping” clearly aimed at Sen. McCain.

ROBERTS: I didn’t go to the Shorja market with 100 soldiers around me and helicopters overhead and snipers on the roof.

BLITZER: Right.

[TwilightGardener]

1. BWAH! I was just about to post this, but you beat me to it. Yikes,

I guess the romance is over for these two lovers!

[blm]

2. I still believe Hagel will jump in to the race and that he has a great chance of winning it all.

I believe that the majority Independent and Libertarian votes will be a lock for him.

[Timmy5835]

3. No, he doesn't have a great chance of winning it all

Other then the war, he's a Bush supporter (far right). This country faces many problems other then Iraq.

[blm]

4. I disagree and think you underestimate the pull he'll have with Independents.

.

[babylonsister]

5. Then Dems will have to make lots of noise on his voting record so

independents are aware of just who/what they're voting for.

[SayitAintSo]

7. I agree with you BLM - I've been watching him for a while - he's waiting for the right time

And he will be a force to be reckoned with. I'm curious though - I thought he and McCain were big buds - He's been taking shots at him for some time now. Is that stage craft? Do you know the backstory ?

[blm]

8. I think Hagel sensed in 03 that Maverick label was up for grabs and has set himself up to claim it.

And he has accrued plenty of news footage of him doing just that - and in a way that gained plenty of airtime from folks like Keith Olbermann.

[TwilightGardener]

9. Do you think his opposition to the war is a crafted "maverick"

position or genuine? I myself think it's genuine, but it helps him to some degree, no denying that.

[blm]

10. I think it's genuine - I just think he's sharper about using it than most GOPs.

He seems to have a sense about how far to take it within his party and without.

[TwilightGardener]

6. A lot of "if's" would have to line up for him--IF he runs, if he manages

to find donors, if he hires a good campaign staff and speechwriter, etc. He could do very well. The recent poll I saw posted on DU that showed that Independents were outnumbering D's and R's would bode well for him--I'll bet most of them lean "R" and are against the war, just like my husband. If he does decide to run, hopefully some kind soul on DU will re-post his voting record. Foreign policy-wise, aside from the war, he's a Democrat--his views are nearly identical to Clark, Obama, etc. On domestic issues, he makes Attila the Hun look like a bleeding-heart liberal pansy.

[Supersedeas]

11. Lindsey Graham ought to be remembered most for his remark--South Carolina take note.

[yellowcanine]

13. Yeah-it calls for a T shirt. "5 rugs, 5 bucks! What a country!"

And we could show Lindsey (kind of a girly name for a guy, no?) with a big toothy grin holding up the rugs with mayhem in the background.

[Timmy5835]

12. Once the campaign starts.........

Hagel will have to talk about things other then Iraq like Social Security, Health Care, the Environment, etc. He'll be dead before he leaves the gate.