So cute that Richard Painter said it wasn't classy! MAGA Trumpers shredded "classy" years ago. And even at his most aggressive, Senator Kaine was still a gentleman. But yes, it is really uncomfortable that Hegseth has so much personal and professional baggage that we can quibble over which way to go in the questioning! That's on Hegseth, not Kaine.
It is Hegseth, not Hegesth (you may have edited it by the time my comment posts). I agree with your friend Richard. It is entirely hypocritical and quite ironic that milquetoast Kaine found his balls and decided to use them for this particular line of questioning in light of his own disregard for Bill Clinton's marital affairs (numerous, and also many settlements - at least 2 to my knowledge) AND the way he (Kaine) campaigned for Kamala alongside her cheating husband Doug Emhoff (who impregnated the nanny!) RICH for sure. Sen Mullen's follow up calling out the hypocrisy was beautiful.
No, he didn't overdo it. If anything, he under did it. Speaking as a Navy vet, what you don't get is that in the military, unlike most other occupations, character is a life and death matter. People's lives depend on whether you keep your word. There is a reason, and it's a great one, that in the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice) adultery is considered a relieve of command offense. If you will break your marital vow to your wife you are just as likely to screw over the people under you. And they end up DEAD.
I think that's a great point and one Sen. Kaine should have made directly, but he didn't.
Unfortunately, there are plenty of examples of infidelity high up in the military. And how then does the military handle the question of the character of the incoming Commander-in-Chief?
There was only one round of questions allowed. We have to assume that committee members were baiting the nominee. Let’s see what comes of all this, whether relevant to his confirmation or not.
I was frankly dumbfounded by the jarring muscular Christianity of Hegseth twinned with the lying. At the very least, his refusal to acknowledge the encounter as a sexual fling makes him look weak. The police were called, for pity’s sake! I counted six Senators who reminded the nominee that they were looking at names on pieces of paper before them—and yet Hegseth had the cheek to keep saying “anonymous smears.” Politics is one thing, but I’m not sure that vast numbers of service members will be able to square their oaths of service with this unbecoming conduct of Hegseth’s? I suppose we’ll see…
I think Kaine’s goal was to make Hegseth look weak. I don’t care what the pundits say who support him, he did not look like leadership material to me in today’s hearing. He came across as a weak man-child. His non profits are known to be tools of Koch. “Give me a joke,” as one Senator said so inelegantly.
One function of readiness is unit cohesion. This is one of the reasons why war crimes cannot be tolerated. I try to put myself in the shoes of officer candidates in the service academies and wonder how many of them were cringing today as the nominee attacked their honor by calling the quality of their education into question. Hegseth’s performance today will come back to haunt him. That’s my feeling anyway.
Yes, there are lots of times the higher ranking members of the commissioned clown corps , oops, I mean officers and gentlemen, break their vows. And sometimes, not nearly enough, suffered the consequences.
As for how the military handles the CINC character issue, under the U.S. civilian/military divide system, it is, officially, not their job to do anything. It's job is to follow orders. Historically speaking, where have we heard that before?
Unofficially, of course, the military does have its workarounds. It is a HUGE bureaucracy. It can delay and slow walk directives and policies that come from the White House. But the incoming Trump crowd has at least some people who understand that, which is why they are demanding incoming people take loyalty tests to Trump and vow to bend the knee.
Kaine wasn't the only Senator asking questions, so the fact he didn't bring up other aspects of Hegseth's character wasn't the end of the world. It's ok that he only hammered on the infidelity. Infidelity is a HUGE aspect of the military. People do get in serious trouble over it. So now we have a Secretary who doesn't uphold the values of our military, but neither does our Commander in Chief, so oh well.
Kaine did make an excellent point when referencing the sexual assault allegations. How can Hegseth be both innocent of the sexual assault allegations and a changed man? That appears to be incredibly contradictory.
Ultimately, he will be confirmed. He shouldn't be, but he will. That's not Kaine's fault.
Oh... and can we stop beating up Hillary for her husband's infidelity? She kept her marriage vows, her husband did not.
Interestingly, I learned in DC last night that of the three branches in the military, the army takes infidelity the most seriously (the navy and air force not so much, according to the vets I spoke to). However, per these sources, even the army only uses it rarely: either as an excuse to get rid of someone if a. they want a reason to get rid of them or b. the adultery is clearly negatively impacting others in the unit/command.
Look no further than the absolute hyperbole from the R side of the aisle on all things about morality. Senator Kaine probably feels as tired as the rest of us do over this nonsense and wants to hit back in a way dems rarely do. Who remembers when John Kerry was unfit to run for President because he was married to a divorced woman. Republicans will never have an argument for why they're being unfairly treated on the morality clause. They've roasted every Dem with a blue stained dress and then elected a man who is convicted of sexual assault and of covering up his marital affairs with porn stars.
Wow. This Southern lady is shocked, shocked I say, that military officers can be punished for adultery. How antiquated. I wonder how many times that provision has actually been applied.
Wow, another fair piece. You left out Barney Frank had a male prostitute living with him and the taxpayer paid off Adam Schiff 19 yr old boyfriend, just for starters :)
It's not the sex.... its the sexual assault that should 100% disqualify him from public service.... the sexual assaulter in chief has set the standard pretty low for his accolades to follow.
Republicans would approve charles Manson? After all their president is a rapist, extortionist, business cheat, insurrectionist, etc. the approval is a farce. No behavior is too low for republicans
Forget the fact that he's an active alcoholic and a misogynistic rapist...this man has never run any organization with more than 100 employees, and when he did, he was forced to resign under allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual improprieties and misconduct. He left that organization, Veterans for Freedom, unable to pay its debts. And yet we are to believe that he can lead 1.3 million active-duty service members and the nearly 1 million civilians who work for the U.S. military, which has a nearly $1 trillion annual budget? They end DEI to prevent highly qualified people of color from positions of power, in order to give the least qualified fragile white males opportunities that they can't handle. CALL YOUR SENATORS AND CONGRESSPERSONS TO VOTE NO ON HEGSETH.
So cute that Richard Painter said it wasn't classy! MAGA Trumpers shredded "classy" years ago. And even at his most aggressive, Senator Kaine was still a gentleman. But yes, it is really uncomfortable that Hegseth has so much personal and professional baggage that we can quibble over which way to go in the questioning! That's on Hegseth, not Kaine.
It is Hegseth, not Hegesth (you may have edited it by the time my comment posts). I agree with your friend Richard. It is entirely hypocritical and quite ironic that milquetoast Kaine found his balls and decided to use them for this particular line of questioning in light of his own disregard for Bill Clinton's marital affairs (numerous, and also many settlements - at least 2 to my knowledge) AND the way he (Kaine) campaigned for Kamala alongside her cheating husband Doug Emhoff (who impregnated the nanny!) RICH for sure. Sen Mullen's follow up calling out the hypocrisy was beautiful.
Edited! Thank you!
No, he didn't overdo it. If anything, he under did it. Speaking as a Navy vet, what you don't get is that in the military, unlike most other occupations, character is a life and death matter. People's lives depend on whether you keep your word. There is a reason, and it's a great one, that in the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice) adultery is considered a relieve of command offense. If you will break your marital vow to your wife you are just as likely to screw over the people under you. And they end up DEAD.
I think that's a great point and one Sen. Kaine should have made directly, but he didn't.
Unfortunately, there are plenty of examples of infidelity high up in the military. And how then does the military handle the question of the character of the incoming Commander-in-Chief?
Exactly. The point driven home was that this man cannot be trusted.
There was only one round of questions allowed. We have to assume that committee members were baiting the nominee. Let’s see what comes of all this, whether relevant to his confirmation or not.
I was frankly dumbfounded by the jarring muscular Christianity of Hegseth twinned with the lying. At the very least, his refusal to acknowledge the encounter as a sexual fling makes him look weak. The police were called, for pity’s sake! I counted six Senators who reminded the nominee that they were looking at names on pieces of paper before them—and yet Hegseth had the cheek to keep saying “anonymous smears.” Politics is one thing, but I’m not sure that vast numbers of service members will be able to square their oaths of service with this unbecoming conduct of Hegseth’s? I suppose we’ll see…
I think Kaine’s goal was to make Hegseth look weak. I don’t care what the pundits say who support him, he did not look like leadership material to me in today’s hearing. He came across as a weak man-child. His non profits are known to be tools of Koch. “Give me a joke,” as one Senator said so inelegantly.
One function of readiness is unit cohesion. This is one of the reasons why war crimes cannot be tolerated. I try to put myself in the shoes of officer candidates in the service academies and wonder how many of them were cringing today as the nominee attacked their honor by calling the quality of their education into question. Hegseth’s performance today will come back to haunt him. That’s my feeling anyway.
Yes, there are lots of times the higher ranking members of the commissioned clown corps , oops, I mean officers and gentlemen, break their vows. And sometimes, not nearly enough, suffered the consequences.
As for how the military handles the CINC character issue, under the U.S. civilian/military divide system, it is, officially, not their job to do anything. It's job is to follow orders. Historically speaking, where have we heard that before?
Unofficially, of course, the military does have its workarounds. It is a HUGE bureaucracy. It can delay and slow walk directives and policies that come from the White House. But the incoming Trump crowd has at least some people who understand that, which is why they are demanding incoming people take loyalty tests to Trump and vow to bend the knee.
I liked him bringing it up and up again.
Kaine wasn't the only Senator asking questions, so the fact he didn't bring up other aspects of Hegseth's character wasn't the end of the world. It's ok that he only hammered on the infidelity. Infidelity is a HUGE aspect of the military. People do get in serious trouble over it. So now we have a Secretary who doesn't uphold the values of our military, but neither does our Commander in Chief, so oh well.
Kaine did make an excellent point when referencing the sexual assault allegations. How can Hegseth be both innocent of the sexual assault allegations and a changed man? That appears to be incredibly contradictory.
Ultimately, he will be confirmed. He shouldn't be, but he will. That's not Kaine's fault.
Oh... and can we stop beating up Hillary for her husband's infidelity? She kept her marriage vows, her husband did not.
Interestingly, I learned in DC last night that of the three branches in the military, the army takes infidelity the most seriously (the navy and air force not so much, according to the vets I spoke to). However, per these sources, even the army only uses it rarely: either as an excuse to get rid of someone if a. they want a reason to get rid of them or b. the adultery is clearly negatively impacting others in the unit/command.
Look no further than the absolute hyperbole from the R side of the aisle on all things about morality. Senator Kaine probably feels as tired as the rest of us do over this nonsense and wants to hit back in a way dems rarely do. Who remembers when John Kerry was unfit to run for President because he was married to a divorced woman. Republicans will never have an argument for why they're being unfairly treated on the morality clause. They've roasted every Dem with a blue stained dress and then elected a man who is convicted of sexual assault and of covering up his marital affairs with porn stars.
I don't agree that Senator Kaine's questioning was off base.
Officers in the US military can be punished for infidelity under Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).
Explanation
Article 134 covers a range of offenses that could bring discredit to the military or negatively impact discipline and order.
Adultery is considered a violation of Article 134, regardless of whether the service member is married or single.
The punishment for adultery can include a dishonorable discharge, loss of pay and allowances, and up to one year in confinement.
The severity of the punishment depends on the circumstances of the case, including the impact on the military unit and the service member's conduct.
As the head of DOD, he'd be ultimiately responsible for punishing military personnel for something he admits being guilty of.
Great point. But I believe he was not in active service when it happened, correct?
No, he was not in active service. It just goes to show "CHARACTER"!
Wow. This Southern lady is shocked, shocked I say, that military officers can be punished for adultery. How antiquated. I wonder how many times that provision has actually been applied.
Sleeping with your commander’s spouse? Oh yeah plenty of times.
Wow, another fair piece. You left out Barney Frank had a male prostitute living with him and the taxpayer paid off Adam Schiff 19 yr old boyfriend, just for starters :)
Don't forget about Eric Swalwell and Fang Fang!
I think the wrong person is being criticized
It's not the sex.... its the sexual assault that should 100% disqualify him from public service.... the sexual assaulter in chief has set the standard pretty low for his accolades to follow.
Agree. The problem is the sexual assault allegation is denied.
Republicans would approve charles Manson? After all their president is a rapist, extortionist, business cheat, insurrectionist, etc. the approval is a farce. No behavior is too low for republicans
Fair enough.
Democrats always take the high road and continually get kicked in the cajones by republicans for their troubles.
Democrats always take the high road? Thank you for the afternoon laugh :)
It's a done deal now but here is something I wrote re the Hegseth nomination. https://www.washingtonbabylondc.com/p/six-questions-for-national-security
Forget the fact that he's an active alcoholic and a misogynistic rapist...this man has never run any organization with more than 100 employees, and when he did, he was forced to resign under allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual improprieties and misconduct. He left that organization, Veterans for Freedom, unable to pay its debts. And yet we are to believe that he can lead 1.3 million active-duty service members and the nearly 1 million civilians who work for the U.S. military, which has a nearly $1 trillion annual budget? They end DEI to prevent highly qualified people of color from positions of power, in order to give the least qualified fragile white males opportunities that they can't handle. CALL YOUR SENATORS AND CONGRESSPERSONS TO VOTE NO ON HEGSETH.