The Insurgent Candidate:
January 28th, 2007Or,
How Chuck Hagel Might be the Best Chance the Republicans have in 2008.
The Republicans haven’t got much going for them in terms of candidates for President, although they have got a few sleepers (who I’ve talked about before, like Huckabee, or the media’s favorite, Mitt Romney). Newsweek today raises a possibility worth pondering, and that’s a potential run by Chuck Hagel. The article is worth reading for its look at Hagel’s anti-Iraq-war position and the criticisms he’s faced from within (himself and the Party), but it concludes that Hagel would have little shot at the Presidency because the Republicans wouldn’t nominate him because he was disloyal to the President. It is this very reason that has caused me to, in the past, discount Hagel’s candidacy, but then I thought about it and figured, Hagel has a chance.
Know why? Almost all of the candidates are rebels as far as the Republican orthodox is concerned. McCain has long feuded with Christian Conservatives and Bush; Giuliani defies the Party Line on everything, whether or not he wants to admit it (I saw him on TV last night, talking about his Conservative credentials, and he is absolutely full of shit when he talks about his “Conservative credentials”); Romney is a Mormon who governed Ted Kennedy’s Taxachussetts; Huckabee is from Hope, Arkansas, and hasn’t got much insider support, although I like his chances; and Tancredo is insane. Hagel’s a rebel for criticizing the White House as firmly as he has, but he’s also got impeccable Conservative credentials, has been right on the War (as far as the American public is concerned) since the beginning, and has a military background.
If he runs for President, he could raise hell in the Republican Party. More importantly, he could raise support, too.