Former Secretary of State Colin Powell was the exclusive guest on NBC's Meet The Press on Sunday, where he extolled the virtues of Chuck Hagel, the former Republican Senator from Nebraska just nominated by President Obama to serve as his Secretary of Defense in his second term in office.
Hagel is "superbly qualified based on his overall record, based on his service to the country, based on how he feels about troops and veterans and families," Powell told MTP anchor David Gregory." "I think he will do a great job as secretary of defense, and I think in his confirmation hearings, all of these issues that you have raised, others have raised, he will be prepared to deal with."
Neoconservatives like William Kristol are running a campaign to try to bring down the Hagel nomination, saying his previous statements (and votes) on Iraq, Iran and Israel put him outside the mainstream of the contemporary foreign policy establishment.
But Powell is just the latest member of that establishment (including former George H.W. Bush national security advisor Brent Scowcroft) who are enthusiastically endorsing Hagel.
Perhaps more interesting his Powell's interview, however, was his broadside against own his own party for their problems attracting minority voters.
