Kirk's Vote 'Not To Vote' Is Payoff To War Party

When my Senator Mark Kirk (War Party, IL) voted with 26 other Republicans February 26 to continue filibustering confirmation of Chuck Hagel as Defense Secretary, he was simply paying off a debt to the war party which is his true constituency as Senator. Kirk's vote was purely symbolic: Hagel's confirmation was assured once less war crazy Republican Senators joined all Democrats to invoke cloture, ending the filibuster used for a month to smear this twice wounded Viet vet who shed more blood on the battlefield than his detractors likely possess in their entire bodies.
 
Kirk's band of war loving brothers had to smear Hagel because the substance and integrity of this patriot is overwhelming and irrefutable. Instead of leading the smears, Kirk stood on the sidelines cheering as firebrands like Ted Cruz (War Party, TX) told the Senate he needs to know if Hegel's wealth "came directly from North Korea". Then Rand Paul (War Party, KY) chimed in to inquire if Hagel received funds from the fictitious group "Friends of Hamas." Jim Inhofe (War Party, OK), ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, chirped, "Isn't it interesting, that Iran supports Chuck Hagel's nomination to be Secretary of Defense? That is a frightening thing". Upstairs in Demagogue Heaven, Tail Gunner Joe McCarthy was beaming that the poisonous hate he spread within the Senate from 1950 to 1954 us still coursing through the veins of the Grand Obstreperous Party. 

Kirk and company were reduced to this despicable display of non-governance because Hagel represents the first real threat to the endless and senseless wars these folks have feasted on since their launch in October, 2001. Hagel called out the Vietnam War for the folly it was. He called out the Iraq war for the folly it was. He's working to end the failed Afghan war and is pushing back against the next senseless war against Iran for the same reasons. He's also determined to reign in gargantuan and bankrupting military spending when our own nation is crumbling under us.
 
Senator Kirk, who never met a criminal war of choice he didn't love, will have none of this. He's made his intentions perfectly clear to those of us who responsibly study this issue. He's also made it clear to his masters in the war party, who give him a A+ rating for his efforts.  He and his fellow warmongers take satisfaction that Hagel comes to this struggle wounded by their scurrilous attacks. We must continue to call out Senator Kirk and his band of Merry Pranksters to make sure Chuck Hagel, a hero beyond reproach, gets the opportunity to turn the Titanic of American foreign policy away from the iceberg of criminal war.