Max Cleland: Next Week ‘The Bullshit’ Stops On Hagel Nomination

[Honeycombe8]

60. The only thing...

I'd regard as anti-gay was the vote "no" on the adding of sexual orientation to hate crimes. He voted no on that twice.

As for his statement (14 years ago), I know what he meant. It was the norm of thought for the time, and he was referring to how others would respond or react to him. It didn't matter what HAGEL thought of him being "openly, aggressively" gay, but he thought it would impede his effectiveness in his job because of how others in other countries would respond to it. A valid point, for the times. A discussion worth having. Many would have thought it but not said it. Hagel seems to lay his thoughts out there to be seen. Not his finest hour, but taken in context of the times, understandable and forgiveable.

The same discussion was had when Condi Rice and Colin Powell were made Secretaries of State. How would other countries, more backward than our own, react to a black and a female Sec of State? Esp Condi Rice? We all know how the Middle East regards women.

If you're anything but a heterosexual white male, this is a thought or discussion that will be had...or would've been, back in the day.

Times have changed quickly. Is Hagel the sort of person who changes with the times? I think he is.