Washington has redefined pretty much every other standard. Why not friendship, too? In a town where the only true best friend remains a dog — yeah, yeah, it wasn’t Harry Truman, but rather the “Give ‘em Hell” play about him,...
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Photograph by Susan Walsh/AP Photo
Sen. John McCain, right, asks a question of former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, center, President Barack Obama's choice for defense secretary, on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Jan. 31, 2013, during the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on his nomination. Sen. James Inhofe, the ranking member of the committee, listens at left.
Hagel’s McCain: Friends Like This
Photograph by Amos Ben Gershom/GPO via Getty Images
President Barack Obama with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they walk along the Colonnade of the White House in this March 5, 2012 file photo.
Obama’s Netanyahu Welcome Note: Israeli Flag of ‘Unbreakable Alliance’
It takes an election to raise a peace flag. So much was made of the allegedly deteriorated relationship between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during last year’s U.S. elections — remember Republican Mitt Romney’s tour of...
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Photograph by J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo
At the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Ted Cruz, right, confers with Sen. James Inhofe, the ranking member, left, during a short recess in the confirmation hearing of Chuck Hagel, a former two-term senator and President Obama's choice to lead the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill on Jan. 31, 2013.
Ted Cruz Left Speechless in Sparring Over Hagel
Newly elected Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a leader in the Republican fight against President Barack Obama’s nomination of Chuck Hagel to head the Defense Department, was silent as several party colleagues continued the battle today on the Senate floor. Cruz’s reticence, though, had...
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Political Chocoholics Visit Pentagon Shop for Valentine’s Day
One question former Sen. Chuck Hagel hasn’t been asked during his confirmation hearings for defense secretary: Does he like chocolate? Chris Edwards would like to know. His family’s Edward Marc Chocolatier shop in the Pentagon is the Department of Defense’s...
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Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Chuck Hagel, nominee for U.S. secretary of defense, listens to a question during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington on Jan. 31, 2013.
Panel Said to Plan Hagel Vote Tomorrow
From Bloomberg Government’s Congress Tracker blog: Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin will seek a vote by the panel tomorrow on Chuck Hagel’s nomination as Defense secretary, according to a committee aide who asked not to be identified. Senate...
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Photograph by Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chuck Hagel during Prresident Barack Obama's nominations of White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to be the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense.
Washington Daybook: Hagel’s Turn
Chuck Hagel gets a chance to face his critics at his confirmation hearing for defense secretary at the Senate Armed Services Committee today. Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe, the panel’s senior Republican, will lead the opposition against Hagel. Inofe has said...
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Photograph by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Accompanied by CIA Spokesperson Marie Harf, former Senator Chuck Hagel leaves the Capitol Hill offices of Sen. John McCain after the two Vietnam War veterans met on Jan. 22, 2013 in Washington.
Hagel Draws Bipartisan Backing from Past Secretaries of Defense, State
Former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel’s drive to win confirmation as Defense Secretary got an added push today as a group of former Secretaries of State, Defense and National Security Advisers sent all 100 senators a letter of endorsement. “His approach...
Read more »Biden’s Swearing-In for a Second Term
First came Biden: At 8:21am EST today, Joe Biden was sworn in for a second term as vice president in a private ceremony at the Naval Ceremony attended by about 120 people, including family, congressmen and women and former members....
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Photograph by Said Khatib/AFP via Getty Images
Israeli soldiers keep watch as Palestinian youths demonstrate next to the security fence on the Gaza border east of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Bloomberg by the Numbers: 50
That’s the percentage of Americans who say they sympathize with the Israelis over the Palestinians in the Middle East conflict, according to the Pew Research Center. Ten percent said they sympathize with the Palestinians, while 13 percent said neither. The...
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Photograph by Jamie Grill
Bagel Battle Breaks Out Over Hagel
The fight over Chuck Hagel’s fitness to be the next secretary of defense has now triggered a bagel battle. Maybe it was inevitable, since much of the debate about the Republican former senator from Nebraska has focused on whether he is...
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Contributors
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Al Hunt
is a columnist for Bloomberg View and host of the weekly show "Political Capital with Al Hunt" on Bloomberg TV. -
Mark Silva
is deputy managing editor for government news in Washington and editor of Political Capital. He has covered the White House and national politics. -
Emma Fidel
is political editor for Bloomberg.com in Washington. She previously covered financial regulation as a Bloomberg intern. -
Don Frederick
edits political and government coverage for Bloomberg News. He previously worked for more than a decade at the Los Angeles Times' Washington bureau. -
Gregory Giroux
analyzes elections, financing of congressional and presidential elections, political advertising and demographics in Bloomberg's Washington Bureau. -
Julie Bykowicz
covers the influence of money and lobbying in Washington, and covered the state legislature and city crime for the Baltimore Sun for 10 years. -
Jonathan Salant
covers campaign finance and lobbying in Washington. He was president of the National Press Club and started in Washington in 1987. -
Richard Rubin
covers federal tax policy. He worked at Congressional Quarterly and The Charlotte Observer before joining Bloomberg News in 2010. -
Julie Hirschfeld Davis
is a senior political reporter for the Washington Bureau. She covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News and previously covered the White House for the Baltimore Sun. -
Lisa Lerer
covers the White House and covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News. She covered Congress, lobbying and the 2008 campaign for Politico. -
John McCormick
is a national political reporter looking forward to the 2016 presidential campaign, which will be the fifth he's covered. He's also reported for The Des Moines Register and Chicago Tribune. -
Julianna Goldman
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Hans Nichols
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Margaret Talev
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and covered the White House for McClatchy Newspapers. She has covered California and Florida politics. -
Cary O'Reilly
is Editor at Large at Bloomberg First Word and is Washington Daybook columnist for Bloomberg Government and Bloomberg News.
