If nothing else, Hagel’s potential run for the White House will provide us with loads of entertainment and a couple of open seat opportunities in Nebraska. For media intent on finding the unconventional pick, the “straight-talker” who is always good for a quote, Hagel has emerged as the new John McCain. (The old John McCain doing his best to turn himself into the new George Bush).

He’s not struggling to find the spotlight, but he may be running in the wrong primary if he really wants to be President. The fawning media praise for his stance on the war - which until recently had been all bark - probably doesn’t help him with the party faithful. Another such article appears in this week’s Newsweek, “Rebel Chuck Hagel: A President in the Making?”

Eventually, they cut to the heart of why Chuck Hagel will not win the nomination:

But Hagel, who as of late last week was in the final stages of weighing a presidential run, is never mentioned in the top tier of Republican candidates for one, simple reason: since the initial buildup to the war in Iraq, he has assailed the Bush administration’s policy—in sharp words, in constant refrain and, most unforgivably, in public. His outburst last week was the culmination of a four-year campaign to raise public outrage about a war he’s always considered disastrous. His stance has earned him the enmity of the White House. Asked about Hagel last week in an interview with NEWSWEEK, Vice President Dick Cheney said: “I believe firmly in Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment: THOU SHALT NOT SPEAK ILL OF A FELLOW REPUBLICAN. But it’s very hard sometimes to adhere to that where Chuck Hagel is involved.”

They, really, really try hard to explain away Hagel’s outright hypocrisy in 2002. I remember Hagel coming to my high school, speaking quite strongly against the war. And on the matter of war in Iraq, his words have rarely been off the mark. But when the war came to a vote, Hagel voted for war:

It was a painful contortion—one that could hurt him in a presidential contest—perhaps understood only by those who knew Hagel best. “I’m sure in the end it was, ‘Damn, he’s my president’,” Tom says of his brother’s vote. “It was, ‘I have strong doubts about things, but I can’t be disloyal’.” Hagel, who now says he regrets his vote, admits a sense of duty played a role. “He’s the commander in chief,” Hagel says. “We all owe some loyalty, not to the president, but to the office itself.”

But Hagel owed a greater loyalty - to the American people, to his own conscience. Dissent is not disloyalty, and Hagel should know that. Simply because he is the president does not give him the authority to take us into an illegal and immoral war.

Hagel also (thank God) puts to rest the rumors of his pursuit of an independent bid for President:

Hagel’s speech at the Foreign Relations Committee last week earned him new fans on the left, some of whom are hoping he’ll run for the White House as an independent—a notion he dismisses as ludicrous. He chafes when it’s suggested he could run as an “antiwar candidate,” and thinks he’s earned the right to define himself.

If there’s one thing the Republicans won’t forgive, it’s embarrassing their President in public. (Though, Bush has done more of that than anyone else, lately). But, believe me, it’s going to be fun to watch Hagel make the rest of the Republicans look bad in the debates. We underestimate him at our own peril, of course, but for now, I’ll be satisfied to watch Republicans tear each other apart for a change.