We have to much to do and the GOP is going to try to do what they did in 2009 and slow/clog the whole process.

Oh wait, he totally could have!!!!

He only had the votes for the modest reforms, not the tougher ones.

(sorry, no link) the fact that he filed for cloture most likely means that he DOES have the votes, otherwise the behind the scenes stuff would have continued. But still, I agree, sickening is the word.

an ethics or conduct reason to force 60 votes. It's a rebuke to either Hagel or President Obama (probably both) even if he's confirmed.

He must have the votes. I don't think he would embarrass President Obama and Hagel if that were not the case.

Sam

They just have to weigh the political cost of not allowing this to come to a vote (and leaving us with no SecDef in a time of war) against the payoff from their donors to stop this nomination.

It's so out of character, right?

According to a CNN survey of senators, the five are Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Mike Johanns of Nebraska -who both support Hagel taking over the top post at the Pentagon -- and John McCain of Arizona, Richard Burr of North Carolina, and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma -- who all oppose Hagel's nomination but also disagree with blocking it by filibuster.

At least four other Republican senators - Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Dean Heller of Nevada and Roy Blunt of Missouri -- have said they are not inclined to back a filibuster but haven't made a final decision.

http://www.wmur.com/news/politics/Hagel-approval-all-but-certain/-/9857748/18422016/-/w7oe50/-/index.html

they go on vacation after Friday)?

Looks like they're in session the whole month of March. I hope they act quickly.

get to their final vote. And we have 55 Dems. It'll just be delayed.

Ugggg. There is no point to this. It's not about Hagel. It is just pure hatred of Obama by the Repubs.

And of course again.

I think it's about BOTH. Hagel has forcefully stepped on many republican toes.

manages to send Hagel to defeat, they'll keep from power one of the few Repubs who says openly that the Iraq war was a terrible mistake and that spreading freedom-n-democracy in the middle east is a bad idea. This way, opposition to war becomes just a political and purely Democratic position, not a true national-interest position. They'll also make him a permanent ugly example of what happens when you disagree with the tactics or demands of certain...lobbies. Think anyone will ever step out of line again, even in the most mild ways? Also, of course, the war machine wants its $$$, and Hagel is a threat to that--he was known to be a pretty effective businessman. But hurting Obama is also a nice two-fer.

Assuming the cloture vote does not fail, Reid has scheduled the actual vote on the nomination for Saturday.

enemies. Reid should be moved from the Senate Majority Leader for not bringing real reform to the filibuster process. He is such a wimp.

But all Reid can muster is a whisper...like those poor laboratory beagles who've had their vocal chords removed.

By JEREMY W. PETERS and MARK MAZZETTI
Published: February 13, 2013

... Republicans, sensitive to the accusation that they were filibustering Mr. Hagel, tried to draw a distinction between a filibuster and delaying the vote because of unanswered questions.

“There’s nothing unusual about this,” said Senator James M. Inhofe, the senior Republican on the Armed Services Committee, who on Tuesday suggested without evidence that Mr. Hagel was “cozy” with Iran, an accusation that caused the committee meeting to erupt with Democratic outrage. “There’s not a filibuster,” he added.

Even if Republicans succeeded in dragging out the vote into the weekend, Democrats said they remained confident that he would be confirmed by Saturday because Republicans did not appear to have the 40 votes necessary to block the nomination. Such a move would be an extraordinary step, and one that Republicans seem wary of taking should they find themselves in the White House four years from now.

Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, meanwhile, said on Wednesday that he intended to try to block the nomination of John O. Brennan, Mr. Obama’s choice to be director of the C.I.A., until Mr. Brennan provides answers to questions he had on the scope and legality of the Obama administration’s drone operations. Democrats have also sought to extract more information from the White House about those operations ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/14/us/politics/senate-democrats-accusing-gop-of-obstruction-try-to-force-hagel-vote.html?_r=0