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Senate Confirms Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense in 58-41 Vote

PHOTO: GETTY

The Senate has finally confirmed former Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel as the next Secretary of Defense. The 58 to 41 vote ended "a long and contentious nomination process marked by an unprecedented GOP filibuster of a presidential cabinet level nominee," notes TalkingPointsMemo.

The Republican filibuster of their former colleague ended this afternoon. Hagel will succeed Leon Panetta and will "immediately inherit a budget crisis," notes USA Today.

Last week, the Pentagon announced that it plans to furlough the majority of its 800,000 civilian employees to help meet a $46 billion shortfall caused by automatic spending cuts that begin March 1 and its stop-gap budget that prevents shifting funds to urgent needs.

Four Republicans joined 54 Democrats to approve Hagel: Cochran (MS), Johanns (NE), Shelby (AL) and Rand Paul (KY). "All 41 no votes came from Republicans," adds the Washington Post. Former Republican presidential nominee John McCain also switched his vote to a "no."

Hagel voted to authorize the Iraq War in 2003. The Nebraska Republican later became a frequent critic of the Bush Administration prosecution of the war.

Senate Confirms Pro-LGBT Ambassador to El Salvador

The Senate has finally confirmed Mari Carmen Aponte as Ambassador to El Salvador after a stalemate that lasted more than a year and a half. Republicans filibustered the pro-LGBT interim ambassador's confirmation only six months ago. But the nomination finally moved forward Thursday in a 62-to-37 vote.

Aponte had served as ambassador in San Salvador from September 2010 to December 2011. President Obama made her a recess appointee after she was unable to win Senate confirmation. But her temporary tenure ran out at year's end,  reports the New York Times.

In December, the same nominee got just 49 votes. Republicans had raised questions about whether her former boyfriend was a spy for Cuba and said an opinion piece she wrote for a Salvadoran newspaper had offended the people of El Salvador by praising President Mauricio Funes for banning discriminating against gay men and lesbians.

"The op-ed upset a large number of community and pro-family groups in El Salvador who were insulted by Ms. Aponte’s attempt to impose a pro-gay agenda in their country," Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, said during a confirmation hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at that time.

This time there was hardly a peep. Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, was the only lawmaker to speak before the vote, and he spoke on behalf of Ms. Aponte’s Puerto Rican heritage. Nine Republicans voted to confirm.

Latino activists are credited with pressuring the Republicans to move forward. The activists targeted Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, notes the AP.

Hispanic groups had pressed Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., to break ranks with conservative Republicans to ensure Aponte's confirmation. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus urged him to follow through on a promise to secure the votes for Aponte. Puerto Rico Secretary of State Kenneth McClintock, a Democrat, questioned whether Rubio would stop a qualified Puerto Rican woman from representing the United States.

DeMint––who has said that same-sex marriage is "destructive" to society and gays are "immoral"––led the opposition against Aponte. DeMint also vocally opposed Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor' confirmation––as well as that of Washington D.C. Superior Court. Judge Marisa Demeo, one of President Obama’s first openly LGBT appointees.

Aponte becomes the first Puerto Rican-American woman to serve as a U.S. ambassador. All Democrats and Independents supported the vote. The nine Republican senators voting "yes" were Rubio, Collins and Snowe of Maine, McCain of Arizona, Graham of South Carolina, Murkowski of Alaska, Lugar of Indiana, Ayotte of New Hampshire and Scott Brown of Massachusetts.

Some Background ...
GOP Senators Block Ambassador to El Salvador
Senate Confirms Lesbian Judge Marisa Demeo
DeMint: Gays Are "Immoral"

VIDEO: McCain Says Santorum's Campaign is "Irrelevant"

Rick Santorum's campaign has become "irrelevant", says Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.

"Whether Rick Santorum stays in or not, is now basically irrelevant and Mitt [Romney] has a lot of ground to make up," the former Republican presidential nominee told CNN's Soledad O'Brien. "I'm confident he can make it up, but every day that goes by that he's not in the general campaign is a day lost."

Romney won the Wisconsin, Maryland and District of Columbia primaries on Tuesday. New polling released today shows Romney is leading in former Sen. Santorum's own state of Pennsylvania. Romney leads with 42% of likely GOP voters, according to PPP.

One problem: McCain admits that Romney's "unfavorables are very high" among GOP voters. No surprise there ...

Watch the video AFTER THE JUMP ...

NEWS: Giffords Critical; 2nd Suspect Sought; Fed Judge Killed

The latest on the tragedy in Tucson: 

Authorities seeking the man seen above who is possibly associated with 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner, the suspect in the tragic shooting Saturday morning that killed 6 people and injured 13, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The man is described as a "person of interest" and was seen at the same location and at the same time.

Giffords was shot in the head and critically wounded in what authorities describe as a "targeted attempt on her life." Doctors at the University of Arizona Medical Center say she "is not in a medically-induced coma, but still under sedation from surgery."

Timeline of the events in Tucson.

FBI: Loughner is not cooperating.

Watch: Loughner's bizarre YouTube channel on mind control.

Report: Loughner had become increasingly erratic in recent months: "Started to act oddly during his classes at Pima Community College, causing unease among other students. That behavior, along with a disturbing video, prompted school administrators to call in Mr. Loughner’s parents and tell them that their son had been suspended and would have to get a mental health evaluation to return to college."

Among those killed: 63-year-old John M. Roll, chief judge for the United States District Court for Arizona. Roll was appointed in 1991 by George H.W. Bush.

Other victims include: Gabriel Zimmerman, 30, who was the director of community outreach for Ms. Giffords. The others who died were identified as Christina Green, 9; Dorothy Morris, 76; Dorwin Stoddard, 76; and Phyllis Schneck, 79.

 

 

Mitch McConnell's Last-Ditch Amendment to Block DADT Repeal

Luckily, it was blocked by Sen. Joe Lieberman, reports Politico.

A last-ditch effort by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to complicate the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy was blocked Tuesday night after Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) objected, Senate aides said.

McConnell attempted to add an amendment to the so-called stripped-down defense authorization bill that would have required the consent of the military service chiefs to proceed with "don't ask" repeal. Under legislation passed by the Senate last week, certifications are required from the president, the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. All the incumbents in those positions support repeal.

"It was a McConnell proposal," a GOP aide confirmed. "There was an attempted to get unanimous consent for it to be included in the defense bill and someone objected." McConnell's amendment, which Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and other GOP senators have been urging for months, called for certifications from the four service chiefs. All of the incumbents in those positions have expressed at least some reservations about repeal at this time.

Repeal advocates have long viewed such an amendment as a poison pill. Presumably, this is what prompted Lieberman's objection. ... Of course, any such amendment, or even the prospect of it, could be seen as an effort to upstage President Barack Obama as he prepares to sign the conditional repeal bill into law on Wednesday morning.

Bitter to the very end.

More on McConnell's cowardly, late-night parliamentary antics at The Caucus ...

WATCH: John McCain's Meltdown Before "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Vote

Once considered a voice of some optimism in the Republican Party for repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", Sen. John McCain has been determined to fight repeal until the bitter end.

"Today is a very sad day," said the four-term incumbent before the historic vote. "I'm aware this vote will probably pass the lame duck-session. And there will be high-fives all over the liberal bastions across America and on cable news programs ... most by people who have never served or known anyone who has. I hope that when we pass this legislation that we will understand that we are doing great damage."

In 2006, the Arizona Republican had a vastly different position. "The day that the leadership of the military comes to me and says, 'Senator, we ought to change the policy,' then I think we ought to consider seriously changing it," he said at the time.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is in favor of gays serving openly in uniform. And the overwhelming majority of troops surveyed said they are not concerned about repeal ... and most knew of fellow troops who were gay and they served with distinction. But as always, McCain and his fellow right-wing ideologues will be on the wrong side of history. Thankfully we won't have to hear their speeches much longer.

Watch the meltdown AFTER THE JUMP ...

WATCH: Jonathan Capehart Slams McCain on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

"What is Sen. McCain afraid of? Who is he fighting for?" asks Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart, slamming the anti-gay Arizona Republican's latest position on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Watch, AFTER THE JUMP ...

WATCH: Sen. John McCain Wants New "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Study

Speaking Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, Sen. John McCain attacked the Pentagon Working Group Study on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" that is due December 1. Last week, the Pentagon leaked results to the Washington Post which concluded most servicemembers didn't care if openly gay members served and the "military can lift the ban on gays serving openly in uniform with only minimal and and isolated incidents of risk." McCain says none of that matters anymore and we need a "new study" that "asks the right questions."

"Once we get this study, we need to have hearings. And we need to examine it. And we need to look at whether it's the kind of study that we wanted," McCain said. "It isn't, in my view, because I wanted a study to determine the effects of the repeal on battle effectiveness and morale."

And "the right questions"?

"All four service chiefs are saying we need a thorough and complete study of the effects , not how to implement the repeal, but the effects on morale and battle effectiveness. That's what I want, and once we get this study, we need to have hearings and we need to examine it and look at whether it's the kind of study that we wanted. It isn't in my view."

After appearing on Meet the Press in February 2010 and demanding that the troops be surveyed, McCain has reversed himself (again) because the results of that survey don't tell him what he wants to hear. McCain won't be satisfied until a report definitively and categorically says gays and lesbians are unsuited for open service forever. But all the researc and data, as well as the experiences of Israel, Candad and the UK, say otherwise.

The video, WHEN YOU JUMP ...

Obama's Nominee to Lead USMC: Most Marines Against DADT Repeal

Only hours before the Senate will begin voting on the process to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the Obama Administration's nominee to lead the Marine Corps claims a Pentagon survey shows Marines are "predominantly" opposed to lifting the ban. General James Amos made the remarks this morning to the Senate Armed Services Committee as it considered his nomination to be Commandant of the Marine Corps, reports AFP.

As part of the administration's plans to end the ban, the Pentagon has carried out an elaborate survey of marines and other service members at military bases and online, but the results have yet to be released. "I've heard at the Marine bases and the Marine input for the online survey has been predominantly negative," Amos told the Senate Armed Services Committee. But Amos added he had heard about the results second-hand and had not seen the survey responses.

In written testimony to the committee, Amos also said he opposed changing the law, which he described as a "reasonable" compromise. He said he was worried that repealing the ban could be disruptive at a time when nearly 20,000 marines are engaged in major combat in Afghanistan. "I'm concerned that a change now will serve as a distraction to Marines who are tightly focused at this point on combat operations in Afghanistan," Amos wrote. Amos, however, said he was confident that if the law is repealed, the Marines would enforce the new rule without hesitation. "We obey orders," he said.

Outgoing Marine commandant General James Conway has been a critical opponent of lifting the ban. Conway has suggested the Corps should house openly gay or lesbian troops in separate barracks.

In other news ...

  The promise to repeal the ban faces a seemingly imminent filibuster. Senate Democrats are apparently one or two votes short of the 60 needed to limit debate and advance the legislation. Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins, the only Republican to support repealing the law and "widely seen as the crucial 60th vote, announced Tuesday that she would not support advancing the bill because Democrats wouldn't allow the Republicans sufficient leeway to offer amendments." 

Fellow moderate Maine Republican Olympia Snowe has not said that she would oppose lifting the ban ... but now says the Pentagon review should be completed before the law is repealed.

WATCH: Obama Says Koran-Burning "Recruitment Tool for Al-Qaeda"

UPDATE: Reuters reports Jones agrees NOT to burn Korans.

Speaking this morning on ABC’s Good Morning America, President Barack Obama strongly condemned an extreme Florida evangelical church's plans to burn the Islamic holy book on September 11. The President said the "stunt" proposed by Gainesville-based Pastor Terry Jones is "contrary to our values as Americans" and could be a "recruitment tool for Al-Qaeda" ... with deadly repercussions.

Said the President: "As Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, I just want him to understand that this stunt that he is talking about pulling could greatly endanger our young men and women in uniform who are in Iraq, who are in Afghanistan. ... [T]his is a recruitment bonanza for Al Qaeda. You know, you could have serious violence in places like Pakistan or Afghanistan. This could increase the recruitment of individuals who’d be willing to blow themselves up in American cities, or European cities."

  Pastor Terry Jones says he is willing to "reconsider"  if he is contacted by the Administration. "The White House is considering calling Jones [who] has said he is willing to listen to a call from the White House, Pentagon or State Department," reports ABC News.

Reuters reports Jones agrees NOT to burn Korans.

Hundreds of Afghans rallied earlier this week and chanted "Death to Obama" over the proposed Koran-burning.

McCain and McConnell warn the Koran-burning risks endangering US troops in the field.

Fox News says it will not cover any burning of the Koran.

And Terry Jones has inspired at least one copy cat on the far Cristian-right. Rev. Bob Old of Springfield, TN says he will "set fire to a Quran on Saturday at his home and then post a video of the burning book online. And if he had his way, there would be no Muslims in America."

Watch the President's interview WHEN YOU JUMP ...