Hagel harangues White House

No turning back for Republican Senator Chuck Hagel. He's jumped off the sinking ship of state and the White House is unlikely to throw him a life preserver. He openly mocks Cheney's "last throes of the insurgency" claims and he doesn't stop there.

The longer U.S. forces remain in Iraq, he said, the more it begins to resemble the Vietnam war.

...Hagel also did not back away from comments he made in June to U.S. News & World Report that "the White House is completely disconnected from reality" and "the reality is that we're losing in Iraq."

Hagel of course, voted to authorize the invasion but he's not going to be able to satisfy Bush's blood lust to punish disloyalty with this bone.

Hagel did say he agrees with President Bush that the United States should not set a timetable for troop withdrawal, but he also predicted the United States would begin "withdrawing troops from Iraq next year."

It won't help that he also berates Bush for not immediately meeting with Sheehan. I think it's safe to say that Hagel shouldn't expect any help from GOP star-making machine in the next election.