Last Thursday, Stephen Colbert skewered the right-wing media and the Republicans who so easily bought into the "Friends of Hamas" smear of Chuck Hagel.
If you watch this show, if you read the news, if you know what's going on in America, there's no denying that Barack Obama has been a failed President. But as terrible as he has been, his Cabinet appointments have been worse. I mean, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood? Why, because his name's got a car part in it? That's a low standard. What's next, Secretary of the Treasury Penny McNickel?
Now, he wants the new Defense Secretary to be former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel. Thankfully today, 15 Republican Senators demanded the withdrawal of Hagel's nomination, and it is no wonder. Senate Republicans have found all sorts of shady associations in Hagel's past. For instance, he was once a Senate Republican.
And now, according to conservative news angre-gator Breitbart.com, Hagel may have taken money from an organization called "Friends of Hamas". Friends of Hamas, that is serious. Being friends with a Muslim terrorist is a big commitment. You've gotta be a groomsman at all four of their weddings. I mean, the suicide vest rentals alone!
Folks, this bombshell has lit up the conservo-sphere.
2/11/2013:
HUGH HEWITT: Let me bring up one piece of information that Ben Shapiro at Breitbart put out today, which is one of the foreign funders behind Senator Hagel that he has not yet disclosed formally is something called Friends of Hamas.
SEN. RAND PAUL, R-KY: You know, I saw that information today, also, and that is more and more concerning.
....
LOU DOBBS TONIGHT PANELIST: There was a report that came out last week, not confirmed yet, but they've also not denied it very vigorously, that one of the groups behind the speeches may have been an outfit called Friends of Hamas.
LOU DOBBS: That has a ring to it, doesn't it?
Oh, it has a ring to it! A ring that goes something like this.
(bell makes "lalalalalalalalalalalala" sound)
And folks, Friends of Hamas is even worse than it sounds, because this organization is so sinister, that it doesn't even exist. It turns out Hagel's link with Friends of Hamas goes back to Daily News reporter Dan Friedman, who asked a Republican Senate aide looking for dirt in Hagel's past if Hagel had given a speech to the Junior League of Hezbollah, or the Friends of Hamas, assuming that "no one could take seriously the idea that organizations with those names existed".
Why wouldn't you take it seriously? I mean, if there's no Junior League of Hezbollah, who puts out the cookbook of bomb recipes? Besides, the fact that these organizations don't exist only makes it more suspicious that Chuck Hagel has been tied to them. What else is he hiding that hasn't happened?
Is he a member of the Al Qaeda Qidz Club? What about the Muslim Brotherhood? Or the Muslim Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants? And what about non-Islamic non-existent groups? Has Chuck Hagel ever given a speech to Cobra? Or for that matter, Cobra Kai? Has he received donations from the Lollipop Guild? What are his ties to the Dead Poet's Society? And why are they dead? Did they know too much about Benghazi?
President Obama, you must withdraw Hagel's nomination, or you will lose the support of every moderate Republican, another group that doesn't exist.
Video below the fold.
Stephen also looked at how a
for-profit prison company is sponsoring a college football stadium in Florida, and then looked at some
corporations pretending they were hacked on Twitter.
Meanwhile, Jon was
critical of Obama over the legality of the drone strikes, and about the
drone memo he gave the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Jessica Williams then interviewed some
Texas secessionists.
Stephen talked with dancer
Lil Buck, who then performed the street dance known as
jookin. And Jon talked with
Steven Brill about the health insurance industry, which went long. Here's the whole unedited interview in three parts.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3